While the Kansas City Chiefs and the Las Vegas Raiders franchises are not very fond of one another, that should not be an excuse to do business via trade if the return would make sense for both sides.
That is the scenario the defending AFC champions find themselves in on Thursday. ESPN's Ryan McFadden is reporting that Raiders wide receiver Amari Cooper is going to retire from the NFL rather than suit up in Sin City for the 2025 campaign
With that being the case, there are several reasons why it would be worth it for Kansas City's front office to make the phone call over to Las Vegas to see what the Raiders would be willing to part with in exchange for veteran Chiefs WR Hollywood Brown.
KC-Vegas Trade Around Brown Makes Sense After Cooper's Retirement
Understandably, the initial reaction from Chiefs fans to this suggestion would be a resounding, "no." When you dig a little deeper into things, however, it makes more sense as to why this is at least a path worth exploring for general manager Brett Veach.
The Raiders responded to the trade request from Jakobi Meyers by, almost immediately, signing Amari Cooper to a one-year deal. That reunion lasted about a week and a half following Thursday's news that the former first-round pick has elected to hang up his cleats rather than rejoin the franchise that drafted him.
The fact of the matter is that Las Vegas desperately needs a WR1, which is why Brown should be dangled as trade bait. With the 28-year-old speedster only under contract for the 2025 campaign, Kansas City will have to decide on his future with the franchise at the end of this season.
Xavier Worthy and JuJu Smith-Schuster are locked in at two of the three starting wide receiver positions entering Week 1. Rashee Rice will return after his six-game suspension is served and will immediately be pushed back into the starting lineup as Kansas City's WR1. Given Smith-Schuster's superior blocking ability, keeping him in the fold over Brown makes a lot of sense.
There is also a worthwhile discussion that must be hard regarding rookie wideout Jalen Royals and veteran receiver Tyquan Thornton. While Royals is currently nursing a knee injury that will keep him out of the lineup for Week 1, the fourth-round pick is not expected to be sidelined for long. Thornton, on the other hand, has proven capable of bringing many of the same attributes to the offense that Brown does for roughly $6 million less.
It goes without saying that Brown would bring in more of a return in any trade than Thornton would. The difference between offering Hollywood to the Raiders instead of Thornton could be a return of a fifth-round pick instead of a seventh-round pick.
At the end of the day, a pre-trade deadline deal could be worth it if the Chiefs have any reservations about signing Brown to a long-term deal. Potentially trading him now for future draft capital to a team that is desperate enough to overpay for his services is worth looking into.