KC Chiefs: Brett Veach deserves consideration for Executive of the Year

Past free agency and the draft, Brett Veach has shown to be an absolute wizard at one aspect of being a general manager, and that is trading.

Veach is an aggressive trader, and more often than not, he comes out the other side looking like the winner of trades. From Frank Clark to Charvarius Ward, the Chiefs are littered with players that Veach has traded for in order to build a better team.

Brett Veach has shown that he isn’t scared of the big splashes. After trading away the often injured Dee Ford, he went straight to work to replace him.

Enter Frank Clark.

Veach sent away a first and second round pick , as well as a swap of third round picks, to the Seahawks for the star pass rusher. Clark responded by giving the Chiefs a Pro Bowl season, despite battling through injuries and illness. Meanwhile, Dee Ford missed half the season for the 49ers.

Aside from the big trade, Veach also has an eye for sending lower end players or late round picks for high upside players or diamonds in the rough.

• Veach traded Parker Ehinger for Charvarius Ward; Ehinger never played for the Cowboys and Ward is the Chiefs best player.
• The Chiefs could have cut Eric Murray at the end of training camp last year, but instead of doing so, they traded him to the Browns for Emmanuel Ogbah. Murray has been a non factor for the Browns, whereas Ogbah led the team in sacks before his injury.

Veach also doesn’t over value late round draft picks, and instead sends them away for players considered a bust by their current teams but once had high draft pedigree; Reggie Ragland, Darron Lee, and Cam Erving all came to the team this way.

None of those players are stars, but Ragland has been a good run stuffer for the team, and Erving provides extremely valuable depth all along the offensive line. Lee, Ragland, and Erving cost the Chiefs a grand total of a fourth, fifth, and sixth round pick.

Veach also signed Carlos Hyde in the offseason, and when it was apparent they weren’t going to retain him, decided to flip him for former third round pick Martinas Rankin. Rankin actually played well for the Chiefs before being lost for the season due to injury.

So, let’s summarize a little bit here – Brett Veach’s total trades look as follow:

• Chiefs send away: First, second, fourth, fifth, sixth round picks, Eric Murray,Parker Ehinger, and Carlos Hyde
• Chiefs Receive: Frank Clark, Reggie Ragland, Cameron Erving, Charvarius Ward, Emmanuel Ogbah, Martinas Rankin, Daron Lee.

That is extreme value.

Ward and Clark may be worth all the compensation given up alone, and the Chiefs have solid contributors at key positions because of these trades. It was why they were able to survive an onslaught of injuries earlier in the season. This team is deep in large part because of the trades Veach pulls off almost yearly.