While the Kansas City Chiefs are still awaiting an official diagnosis on star wideout Rashee Rice after he suffered a significant knee injury on Sunday, Andy Reid and Co. are expecting the worst.
Rice, who entered Week 4 leading the NFL with 23 receptions and 3.39 yards per route run, is believed to have torn his ACL in the first quarter of the Chiefs’ eventual win over the Los Angeles Chargers.
Kansas City still has future Hall of Fame TE Travis Kelce and first-round rookie WR Xavier Worthy. But general manager Brett Veach might have to consider trading for another pass catcher. Patrick Mahomes already lost running back Isiah Pacheco and wideout Hollywood Brown to injuries, so the Chiefs may need to make a move.
Which wide receivers could K.C. target before the NFL’s Nov. 5 trade deadline? Here are 10 potential options for the 4-0 Chiefs.
Davante Adams, Las Vegas Raiders
Davante Adams is the headline name on the 2024 NFL WR trade market, but it’s worth wondering whether the Raiders would be open to sending their star player to a division rival.
In-division trades are rare but not unheard of. This year, the four NFC East teams were willing to trade with each other.
The Philadelphia Eagles acquired WR Jahan Dotson from the Washington Commanders, while the Dallas Cowboys picked up DT Jordan Phillips from the New York Giants.
Go back a few years, and you’ll find even more prominent players being moved within a division. The most memorable in-division trade in recent NFL memory was the Minnesota Vikings’ 2022 acquisition of then-Detroit Lions TE T.J. Hockenson.
Still, while the 2-2 Raiders probably aren’t ready to give up on their season just yet, few expect Gardner Minshew and Co. to make a serious playoff run. Once Adams returns from the hamstring injury that forced him to miss Week 4, Las Vegas might think about trading the All-Pro wideout — especially if he actively voices his displeasure with losing.
Adams would represent a dream acquisition for the Chiefs: a true X receiver who can line up anywhere on the field. While he’s slowed down since his dominant days with the Green Bay Packers, Adams is still capable of elite performances. He posted nine catches for 110 yards and a touchdown in the Raiders’ upset Week 2 win against the Baltimore Ravens.
Kansas City has less than $5 million in available cap space, but Veach can restructure existing Chiefs contracts to make almost any wide receiver salary fit. Acquiring Adams for a prorated portion of his $17 million salary would represent a bargain, while he would likely be amenable to reworking his deal to better fit K.C.’s books.
What would Adams cost the Chiefs? A conditional third-round pick that can be upgraded to a second based on Adams’ performance? A second with no conditions, given that the Raiders might have to be talked into an in-division trade?
The acquisition price would have to be negotiated, but Adams is the idealized version of a Rice replacement.
Amari Cooper and Elijah Moore, Cleveland Browns
The Browns were reportedly willing to include Amari Cooper in a trade for San Francisco 49ers Brandon Aiyuk earlier this summer. While that doesn’t necessarily mean Cleveland will aim to move Cooper during the 2024 season, general manager Andrew Berry and head coach Kevin Stefanski have at least considered the idea.
If the 1-3 Browns continue to fall out of the race, the Chiefs could come calling on Cooper. Any club that acquires the 30-year-old wideout would only owe him a prorated portion of his $1.21 million salary for the remainder of the year.
AMARI COOPER 80+ YARD TOUCHDOWN CALLED BACK BECAUSE OF HOLDING ON THE BROWNS OFFENSE pic.twitter.com/p8yL9ItoX9
— Arye Pulli (@AryePulli) September 29, 2024
That’s a bargain for a wideout like Cooper, who set a career-high 17.4 yards per catch in 2023 and has topped 1,000 receiving yards in six of his eight pro campaigns.
Elijah Moore wouldn’t have the same impact on the Chiefs as Cooper, but the pending free agent would be much cheaper to acquire. Moore has always offered inside-outside versatility and has spent even more time in the slot (60%) in 2024. The former second-round pick managed 652 receiving yards in a Browns offense that was mostly broken last season.
Diontae Johnson, Carolina Panthers
Diontae Johnson has already been traded once this year. The Panthers landed Johnson and a 2024 seventh-round pick (No. 240) from the Pittsburgh Steelers this offseason in exchange for CB Donte Jackson and a 2024 sixth-round pick (No. 178).
Pro Football Network ranked the Panthers’ Johnson acquisition as the best trade of the 2024 NFL offseason.
Johnson was held to 36 receiving yards with Bryce Young working as Carolina’s starting quarterback but thrived once Andy Dalton took over in Week 3. The veteran WR caught 10 passes for a career-high 122 yards and a touchdown in the Panthers’ victory over the Las Vegas Raiders, then posted a 7-83-1 line this past Sunday.
DeAndre Hopkins and Tyler Boyd, Tennessee Titans
The Titans are 0-3 and could move to 0-4 with a loss to the Miami Dolphins on Monday night. Teams in Tennessee’s position — losing games, relatively new decision-makers — are usually open to trading some of their pending free agents at the deadline.
DeAndre Hopkins and Tyler Boyd both fit that bill. Hopkins is in the final season of the two-year, $26 million deal he signed with the Titans in 2022, while Boyd is on a one-year, $2.4 million pact.
Hopkins was limited to begin this season but caught six passes for 73 yards and a touchdown in Tennessee’s Week 3 loss to the Green Bay Packers. He’s 32 years old, but Hopkins topped 1,000 receiving yards for the seventh time in his career last season. He’s still a more-than-viable option on the perimeter or from the slot.
Boyd, meanwhile, is nearly a slot-only player, having lined up on the inside on almost 80% of his snaps in 2024. He’s a more limited receiver than Hopkins, and the Chiefs might feel he’s redundant with JuJu Smith-Schuster.
Christian Kirk, Jacksonville Jaguars
The Jaguars are 0-4 following their last-second loss to the Houston Texans on Sunday. Head coach Doug Pederson is officially on the hot seat, while GM Trent Baalke can’t feel good about his job, either.
While Pederson and Baalke probably want to hang onto as many talented veterans as possible to keep winning games, an interim GM might take a different view. If Pederson and/or Baalke are fired before the trade deadline, Jacksonville’s new decision-makers could decide to blow things up.
Lawrence finds Kirk in the flat for a @Jaguars TD!
📺: #JAXvsHOU on CBS/Paramount+
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/3vxncQVnsJ— NFL (@NFL) September 29, 2024
In that scenario, Christian Kirk would be one of the Jaguars’ most attractive trade chips. He’s owed a prorated portion of $14.5 million for the remainder of the season, so the Chiefs would have to figure out how his salary fits their books.
However, Kirk could replace Rice as a pass catcher who primarily plays in the slot and works in the short to intermediate areas of the field. Kirk posted 84 catches for 1,108 yards and eight touchdowns for Jacksonville in 2022 and was on a similar pace in 2023 before suffering a season-ending groin injury in Week 13.
Demarcus Robinson, Los Angeles Rams
Demarcus Robinson is playing a pivotal role for the Rams, who are without injured wide receivers Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp. However, Robinson is better as a WR3/4, the job he held for the Chiefs from 2016 to 2021.
Los Angeles needs Robinson right now but might be amenable to moving him if they begin to fall out of the NFC playoff picture. He’d represent a cost-effective addition for Kansas City, both in terms of salary ($2.5 million) and projected draft-pick compensation.
Joshua Palmer, Los Angeles Chargers
Like Adams, Joshua Palmer represents a potential in-division acquisition for the Chiefs. Whether the Chargers are open to sending Palmer to an AFC West rival is unclear, but he is a pending free agent.
If Los Angeles can get a late-round choice in exchange for Palmer now, that might be better than letting him walk next spring and hoping for a 2026 compensatory pick. Moreover, the Chargers have $77 million in projected 2025 cap space. Head coach Jim Harbaugh and GM Joe Hortiz are probably ready to spend, reducing the chance the Bolts will receive any comp selections.
Palmer, 25, is earning just over $3 million this season. He put up a career-best 72-769-3 line for Los Angeles in 2022 before working through an injury-plagued campaign in 2023.
Zay Jones, Arizona Cardinals
The Cardinals signed Zay Jones to a one-year, $2.25 million deal this offseason, but he hasn’t played yet while serving a five-game suspension. Marvin Harrison Jr., Michael Wilson, and Greg Dortch are in place as Arizona’s top three wide receivers, so the Cards could think about trading Jones if they continue to lose games.
Jones spent the last two seasons with the Jaguars. His best campaign came in 2022 when he set career highs in receptions (82) and yards (823) while scoring five touchdowns. Jones isn’t a world-beater by any means, but he’s a competent NFL receiver who Mahomes could elevate.