Tennessee Titans' dysfunction has proven to be a major boon to the Kansas City Chiefs in 2024 and beyond
As things came to a head with the firing of Tennessee Titans GM Ran Carthon, perhaps no team has been a greater beneficiary of the dysfunction than the Kansas City Chiefs. When the 2024 NFL regular season came to a close, the Chiefs officially locked in their draft pick from the L'Jarius Sneed trade. The Titans […]
As things came to a head with the firing of Tennessee Titans GM Ran Carthon, perhaps no team has been a greater beneficiary of the dysfunction than the Kansas City Chiefs.
When the 2024 NFL regular season came to a close, the Chiefs officially locked in their draft pick from the L'Jarius Sneed trade. The Titans will send Kansas City the No. 66 overall pick in the 2025 NFL draft, which will be the second pick in the third round. Cornerback play is traditionally volatile, but Tennessee can't be feeling good about the pick they're giving up to Kansas City. The Titans got just five healthy games out of Sneed in 2024, where he produced no turnovers or passes defended.
That trade looks prescient for Chiefs GM Brett Veach, but it's not the only time he fleeced Tennessee during Carthon's tenure. The deal to acquire WR DeAndre Hopkins ahead of this year's trade deadline has looked better by the day and perhaps hasn't even been fully realized.
Chiefs' trade compensation for WR DeAndre Hopkins is now finalized
According to Spotrac's Michael Ginnitti, the Chiefs did not meet the trade conditions for the draft pick sent to the Titans for WR DeAndre Hopkins to become a fourth-round pick. Instead, it'll stay as a fifth-round pick, with Hopkins playing less than 50% of the team's regular-season snaps. It wasn't an and/or situation, but rather, DeAndre Hopkins had to play 60% of the team's offensive snaps the regular season and reach the Super Bowl for the pick to become a fourth-rounder.
The Chiefs kept Hopkins's workload meager without sacrificing his or the team's on-field successes. He never played more than 65% of the team's offensive snaps in a single game, and he played just 31.1% of the team's total offensive snaps this season. Hypothetically, Hopkins' lack of usage should keep him fresh for an increased workload in the playoffs. Remember, during his career in Tennessee, he regularly played games where he was on the field for 70-80% of the team's offensive snaps. It's very possible that we haven't seen the half of how Hopkins can impact a game for Kansas City.
The only negative aspect of this situation is that opposing general managers might not want to do business with Brett Veach. While the product on the field was probably the death knell for Ran Carthon's tenure in Tennessee, neither of those moves reflected well on him. It's one thing when Kansas City keeps dominating on the field, but it's a whole different ball game when they win the margins on some big-time trades.
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