Kansas City Chiefs: Trading Damien Williams could make sense
Damien Williams had a strong case to win Super Bowl MVP and the Kansas City Chiefs should strongly consider trading him prior to the 2020 season.
The Kansas City Chiefs were in a pickle late in the 2018 regular season when they released Kareem Hunt. Fortunately, Damien Williams stepped up and cemented his role as the RB1 for the duration of that season and for 2019 as well.
Williams more than likely will start the 2020 season off as the Chiefs RB1, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea for Kansas City to consider trading him before the season gets underway. Kristopher Knox of Bleacher Report had Williams as the player KC should indeed look to trade this offseason.
"With Edwards-Helaire set to take over the starting role and with second-year back Darwin Thompson behind him, Kansas City should consider moving Williams.Williams is in the final year of his contract and may not be a member of the organization after this season anyway. However, he could potentially bring a lot of value in a trade as plenty of teams would likely want to add a player who probably should have been named Super Bowl MVP.That trade value could be more than what Williams, who was injured or unproductive for long stretches of the 2019 regular season, would provide the Kansas City offense in 2020."
Williams was fantastic in the postseason and that could be all the other NFL teams need to see when it comes to acquiring him in a trade. As Knox also mentioned, the Chiefs have plenty of other options at running back, including their first round draft pick Clyde Edwards-Helaire.
Edwards-Helaire wasn’t drafted to sit on the sidelines, but as long as both he and Williams are in KC, Williams is going to get every chance to win the starting job. With it being risky to pay running backs once their rookie contracts expire, trading Williams and letting CEH take over right away would be the best way to get everything the Chiefs possible can out of the LSU rookie while he’s still in his prime.
While Williams did have a nice run in the playoffs, he hasn’t been able to stay healthy throughout the course of his career and has also been largely inconsistent. Other teams could see him as a nice RB2 or even a starter for their team though and it wouldn’t take a ton to land him.
Trading Damien Williams probably isn’t likely, but it would be wise for the Kansas City Chiefs to consider shipping him elsewhere so that they can get everything they can out of Clyde Edwards-Helaire.