KC Chiefs: Possible route to trading Chris Jones and improving roster

The Trade

Jones’ trade value is probably similar to that of what his current teammate Frank Clark brought on the trade market last year. Jones is probably the better overall player, but at a slightly less premium position, so we will cancel those out and assume that their trade value will be similar.

It is fair to assume that Jones would be worth a first and a second-round pick. At the absolute minimum, he is probably valued at a first and a third, but assuming a bidding war breaks out, he gets top value. In this case, the Chiefs would get the 13th overall pick and then either 34th or 44th overall (probably the 44th overall).

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That would be a pretty fair haul for the Chiefs, but thinking back to the beginning of the article you might be thinking “How does this make the Chiefs better?” The answer is it probably doesn’t – at least in the short-term – if the Chiefs stop there, but why stop there when you have the ammo to get better right now?

If the Chiefs stay put at 13, they could probably get a guy like Javon Kinlaw to replace Jones or grab Kenneth Murray to ensure they get their linebacker of the future. There would be a tone of good options for the Chiefs at 13. However, the Chiefs could move up and get a Chris Jones clone.

Derrick Brown is the most exciting defensive tackle prospect in a few years. He definitely has Chris Jones-like potential. If Brown can make it out of the top five or six, the Chiefs could try to entice the Panthers to trade their seventh pick for the Chiefs’ 13th overall pick (via IND) and one of their second-rounders to move up to get Brown.

Per Draft Tek’s trade value chart, the 13th and 44th overall picks would be more than enough to move up to seven and the 13th and 63rd overall is close to an equal value.

If the Panthers decide – for example – that they want to draft Jordan Love if he lasts past the Chargers, then they could be smart to trade back to draft him with most of the next few teams not expected to go after a quarterback. This could be a match made in heaven for both sides.

Back to the Chiefs, why would this be beneficial? Trading up would allow the Chiefs to get possibly the second-best non-quarterback prospect in the draft who could step in immediately and fill in at least a lot of the monster-sized hole that Jones would leave behind as he heads to Indy.

Now, it would be pretty naive to think that Brown would be as good as a rookie as Jones has been over the past couple seasons, but he will be a fringe Pro Bowl type player right off the back with the potential to be Chris Jones caliber in the coming seasons.

What is the best part of this deal? While Brown isn’t quite Jones’ caliber yet, KC would have a lot of money to spend in free agency to improve in other places.