How a James Washington trade could work for KC Chiefs

James Washington is tired of being buried on the depth chart at broad receiver with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Former NFL wideout Dez Bryant thinks he is aware of the perfect commerce accomplice. Shortly after Washington reportedly requested the Steelers to discover a new residence for him, Bryant pointed to the K.C. Chiefs because the commerce accomplice he’d like to see.

On Friday, rumors about Washington’s frustrations got here out because the Steelers pecking order on offense was made clear as soon as once more in coaching camp. The group has invested fairly a bit on the place in recent times, together with a second-round choose on Washington within the 2018 NFL Draft as an thrilling bodily receiver out of Oklahoma State.

What’s upsetting to Washington is that the group’s different investments have been profitable, instrument, which implies little enjoying time to this point for Washington within the group’s passing assault. Chase Claypool was a second spherical choose in 2020, and Diontae Johnson was a 3rd spherical choose in 2019. Each have crowded out Washington together with the presence of 2017’s large funding in JuJu Smith-Schuster.

This offseason, Washington had cause for hope since Smith-Schuster was hitting free company, however then the wideout determined to spurn the advances of the Chiefs and different groups (together with the Baltimore Ravens) for the sake of returning to Pittsburgh. Similar to that, the depth chart was set as soon as once more and Washington was seemingly going to relegated to fourth in targets for an additional yr.

As Washington approaches a contract right here, he is aware of that (enjoying) time is cash, so a commerce might assist open up wallets subsequent offseason if Washington is ready to place himself in a much less aggressive atmosphere. Or perhaps what he wants is a prolific offense with sufficient targets to share the wealth. That’s what Bryant is probably going envisioning by mentioning the Chiefs.

In fact, it might be an attention-grabbing twist for the Chiefs to commerce for a large receiver from the Steelers once they already pursued Smith-Schuster in such a public approach.

Up to now, the Chiefs haven’t bounced again from the failed makes an attempt to lure in a free agent receiver with an alternate transfer, except somebody needs to rely a sixth spherical choose of Cornell Powell from Clemson. Whether or not or not the Chiefs cooled on the thought of a bigger import is unknown however it’s exhausting to imagine the Chiefs are utterly disinterested in some kind of an improve.

The query, then, is whether or not Washington is the proper man for the job. Washington has bulk at 210-215 lbs. or so however he’s additionally just below 6’0″ tall, which makes him constructed like a security or working again. It’s an intriguing construct for a prospect who entered the NFL with loads of manufacturing within the Huge 12. Sadly, his catch price on the professional stage has not been good. Is {that a} product of poor QB play? Are there points along with his palms?

Any curiosity on the Chiefs half will seemingly stem from how they considered him on their 2018 draft boards, which was again when Brett Veach was first settling into the job. If that’s the case, the Chiefs do have a place of energy to deal from together with potential draft property to think about for a deal like Washington.

One state of affairs might merely match the latest commerce of Anthony Miller to the Houston Texans for a fifth spherical choose (and a returning seventh spherical choice). Mainly a day three choose swap could possibly be sufficient to get the job achieved, except the Steelers are bullish when buying and selling with a fellow AFC contender.

One other state of affairs that could possibly be extra attention-grabbing (however helpful to the Steelers at current) is to commerce one of many group’s veterans alongside the offensive line. It’s seemingly that Andrew Wylie or Laurent Duvernay-Tardif might slide right into a beginning function for a Pittsburgh o-line that has suffered offseason losses in a number of methods. Would they be concerned about Nick Allegretti? It’s exhausting to say, but when Kevin Colbert favored somebody on the Chiefs line, the group has sufficient depth to half with somebody and supplant one other place in response.