Kansas City Chiefs: Trading Patrick Mahomes is the worst idea ever

Vinnie Iyer at the Sporting News suggested the Kansas City Chiefs should trade Patrick Mahomes. Here is why that is the absolute worst idea ever.

Every year when the NFL trade deadline gets close, you start to see a lot of talk about what moves should be made. Many of these trade ideas actually make a lot of sense, even though they almost never happen. However, some are just ridiculous. That’s the case with Vinnie Iyer’s suggestion that the Kansas City Chiefs trade Patrick Mahomes.

Yes, you just read that.

Now, I will give you some background because Vinnie Iyer and the folks at the Sporting News deserve a fair shake. This deal is clearly being approached from the Cleveland Browns side of things. The Browns are awful and clearly don’t believe in their own rookie quarterback DeShone Kizer (which I think is foolish).

So what Vinnie Iyer did is take a look around the league for a quarterback that wasn’t in use and could have a future. Insert Patrick Mahomes who is currently still the backup to current Chiefs starter Alex Smith. Sure, on paper that makes a little bit of sense if you don’t think about it for more than five seconds.

Fortunately, I think about these things for more than five seconds.

No Man…Just No

Flat out, this would be an absolutely awful trade for the Kansas City Chiefs to make. KC traded up in the 2017 draft to get Patrick Mahomes. It cost them an extra first and third round pick to do it. While I like DeShone Kizer as a player, he clearly was not the guy the Chiefs had in mind. They traded up to get their guy…it’s dumb to change that now.

Of course, we all know where this is coming from. Alex Smith is playing some absolutely terrific football right now. In fact, he is still very much in the conversation for the (very early) NFL MVP race. However, that is not something that should be changing the Chiefs plans for the future.

I’ve argued this before. The Kansas City Chiefs have a plan in motion right now, and they need to stick to it. Alex Smith playing great should only help that plan, assuming Patrick Mahomes develops as hoped. Mahomes is the only person who should factor into any trade discussions at quarterback right now.

If Patrick Mahomes is ready to go in 2018, then the Chiefs likely will make a trade. However, that will be Alex Smith being shipped off to a new team. If Mahomes isn’t ready next year, then Kansas City will simply keep Smith around for another season. That is the plan, and it is working great right now.

It’s Not Even A Good Trade

What really gets me laughing about this trade is that the compensation for the Kansas City Chiefs makes no sense. The Chiefs would be getting a quarterback that clearly all parties involved believe is the lesser of the two. KC would also get a 30 year old Jason McCourty, who isn’t much (if any) of an upgrade over Terrance Mitchell at this point in his career.