One move Kansas City Chiefs GM Brett Veach tried to make before the season looks increasingly like it could’ve helped save it
Revisiting the Kansas City Chiefs’ attempt to trade for DT Jowon Briggs ahead of the 2025 NFL season.
Sometimes they say in the NFL that the moves you don’t make are the best ones. That’s not necessarily the case with one of the trades the Kansas City Chiefs tried and failed to make ahead of the 2025 NFL season.
The Chiefs didn’t go through training camp or the 2025 NFL preseason without being aware of their defensive line issues. The problem is that the best solutions that presented themselves didn’t necessarily make the team better in the long run or in the interim. There was one offer the team put in that, as things stand in Week 14, looks like the type of move that could’ve helped save the season for Kansas City.
The Chiefs tried to acquire Jowon Briggs from the Browns during roster cuts
Speaking about the team’s decisions at the defensive tackle position during roster cuts, Chiefs GM Brett Veach revealed to reporters that the team had expressed interest in acquiring DT Jowon Briggs in a trade with the Cleveland Browns. A seventh-round draft pick out of the University of Cincinnati, Briggs put together an impressive 2025 preseason, but was stuck behind a logjam of defensive line talent in Cleveland. The 24-year-old Briggs ultimately ended up with the New York Jets via trade ahead of the season.
“With every position group, we’re trying to get better, and we’re trying to add competition,” Veach said of the D-Line in August. “I think throughout training camp, that was one positional group that we were a little bit more active than others. We had a couple of teams, we had some dialogue with some teams, some players, and those players ended up not being moved. And then we had also some dialogue with Cleveland – the (Jowon) Briggs kid they traded to the Jets – we had expressed interest there. They decided to go with the deal with New York, which sometimes happens with our picks…”
The offer on the table was identical: the Browns would acquire a sixth-round pick in exchange for Briggs and a seventh-round pick, but, as Veach suggested, they went with the Jets’ offer because they felt there was a better chance of a higher pick. No use crying over spilt milk, right? The lack of a deal here directly led to the Chiefs’ reunion with Nnadi. The team would also add some practice squad pieces like Brodric Martin and Zacch Pickens, hoping they’d improved things enough.
Jowon Briggs is having a breakout season in New York
In 393 defensive snaps with the Jets this season, Briggs has recorded three sacks, 28 pressures, 17 defensive stops, and a forced fumble. The 6-foot-3 and 300-pound defensive tackle is providing New York with both run-stopping and pass-rushing depth. His 83.2 pass-rushing grade through 14 weeks is the fourth-best mark in the NFL, according to Pro Football Focus. That’s the exact type of presence the Chiefs are lacking opposite Chris Jones and George Karlaftis right now. It’s the type of presence that would make the secondary better and help the defense get off the field on third down.
Hindsight is 20/20, but given what they know about Briggs and how their season has gone after Omarr Norman-Lott’s injury, I think the Chiefs probably would’ve increased their offer. Briggs is looking like a rising star on the three-win Jets, and Kansas City still needs defensive line talent to pair with Jones and Karlaftis in the future.
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