Kansas City Chiefs in talks to trade All-Pro CB Trent McDuffie to Los Angeles Rams and jumpstart roster rebuild with draft picks

A blockbuster trade is developing to send Kansas City Chiefs CB Trent McDuffie to the Los Angeles Rams

Charles Goldman — NFL Managing Editor
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The Kansas City Chiefs have seemingly come to a decision on the future of CB Trent McDuffie.

According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the Chiefs are in talks to trade Trent McDuffie to the Los Angeles Rams for a first-round draft pick and more. NFL insider Jordan Schultz says the Chiefs will also receive a 2027 third-round draft pick and fifth- and sixth-round picks in 2026.

A former first-round pick out of the University of Washington in the 2022 NFL Draft, McDuffie burst onto the scene as a contributor for the Chiefs, but ran into some adversity during his rookie season due to an early-season ankle injury. He’d go on to start 56 regular-season games and 10 playoff games with Kansas City, including appearances in three Super Bowls. Over that span, he amassed 286 total tackles, 15 tackles for loss, 5.5 sacks, nine forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, 47 passes defended, and three interceptions. McDuffie is a two-time Super Bowl champion and a two-time All-Pro, earning First-Team honors in 2023 and Second-Team Honors in 2024.

McDuffie’s college coach, Jimmy Lake, was promoted to passing game coordinator and defensive backs coach with the Rams just weeks ago. McDuffie is also a Los Angeles native, so this move would send him back home. A trade cannot officially be consummated until the start of the new league year on March 11, but the teams can agree to terms right now.

How will the Chiefs replace Trent McDuffie?

It’s going to be tough to truly replace a blue-chip player like Trent McDuffie with one single player. It’s probably going to take a village in terms of contributions. The biggest thing this departure signals is that the Chiefs will need a new player at the nickel cornerback position. Pencil in Nohl Williams and Kristian Fulton for outside cornerback work, while a trio of players currently on the roster battle it out for the slot corner position.

Cornerback options on Chiefs’ 90-man offseason roster

  • CB Kristian Fulton
  • CB Nohl Williams
  • CB Kevin Knowles
  • CB Melvin Smith Jr.
  • (Nickel only) DB Chris Roland-Wallace

There’s also a path to replacing McDuffie through the 2026 NFL free agency period or the 2026 NFL Draft.

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