KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Chiefs general manager Brett Veach certainly has a trade-deadline reputation. The folks at the top of the organization can tell you all about it.
That includes coach Andy Reid, whose time alongside Veach dates to their days with the Philadelphia Eagles in the late 2000s.
“You know how Brett’s wired,” Reid said Wednesday. “He’s endlessly looking for people and trying to bring people on to make us better. So that’s how he goes about it.”
Chiefs owner Clark Hunt says he’s also come to understand Veach’s transactional mindset. During an interview with reporters on Monday, Hunt referenced the midseason tendencies he’d seen from Veach during his nine years as the team’s general manager.
“Brett Veach has historically been pretty aggressive at the trade deadline,” Hunt said. “If he feels like we have a need, he’s not shy about going out and addressing it, and I think that’ll be true again this year.”
Those comments are all accurate. Last season, for instance, Veach used future draft capital to add receiver DeAndre Hopkins and edge rusher Joshua Uche as reinforcements for a Chiefs team that ended up reaching the Super Bowl.
This year, though? It does feel a bit different ahead of the Tuesday deadline.
The biggest reason for that is actually good news for the Chiefs. They enter Week 9 as one of the healthiest teams in the NFL, meaning their depth isn’t getting tested like it might’ve been in other years.
What does it all mean? The Chiefs appear to be in a position, with a 5-3 record, where they’re not desperate to make a deal.
They’ll still certainly listen to what’s out there, though — especially with Veach as the man in charge.
With that in mind, here are the two positions the Chiefs are most likely to target:
Defensive tackle
K.C. was already low on depth at defensive tackle before second-round draft pick Omarr Norman-Lott went down with a season-ending knee injury two weeks ago. The danger with leaving this interior spot thin is that it potentially forces All-Pro Chris Jones on the field more often, and at 31 years old, Jones has already played the 11th-most snaps of any NFL player at his position this season.
The Chiefs already added some help this week. Veteran Mike Pennel — who has had two previous stints with K.C. — was signed to the active roster after getting released by the Cincinnati Bengals. The Chiefs cut Pennel out of training camp, but after he left, it seems both parties realized how much they missed each other. K.C. has gotten almost no statistical production out of Pennel’s replacement, Derrick Nnadi, while Pennel reportedly requested his release from Cincinnati this week so he could look to rejoin his buddy Jones in Kansas City.
Pennel should become the Chiefs’ best run-stopping defensive tackle immediately, but that doesn’t mean the team couldn’t use more rotational juice at that interior spot.
Even before the season, Veach highlighted defensive tackle as a position that the Chiefs were “hyper-focused on, trying to get that competition better and get more consistency.” Veach also revealed then that the Chiefs had preliminary talks with the Cleveland Browns to trade for defensive tackle Jowon Briggs, whom the Browns later traded to the New York Jets in a late-round pick swap.
A minor move similar to that could make sense in the next week, especially when considering K.C.’s biggest weakness defensively continues to be stopping the run. According to TruMedia, the Chiefs defense is 24th in expected points allowed on rushes, while also giving up 1.55 yards per rush before contact. That number ranks 20th in the league.
It’s also worth noting that defensive tackle looms as a much larger current issue than defensive end, where the Chiefs have plenty of rotational bodies, including George Karlaftis, Charles Omenihu, Mike Danna and Ashton Gillotte.
Kareem Hunt has excelled in his complementary role, but the Chiefs could use more depth at running back, especially if starter Isiah Pacheco misses extended time. (Denny Medley / Imagn Images)
Running back
This became a more dire situation this past week, as Chiefs starting running back Isiah Pacheco suffered a knee injury Monday night that could keep him out multiple weeks.
It’s still important to keep proper context when evaluating how much the Chiefs need an upgrade at this position.
For one, 30-year-old veteran Kareem Hunt has performed as well as the Chiefs could’ve hoped. He’s been a short-yardage specialist and also is coming off a two-touchdown game, which included a TD reception where he freelanced his route while remaining on the same page as quarterback Patrick Mahomes to give him a much-needed fourth-down, end-zone target.
Some advanced numbers also love what Hunt has done this season. His 0.8 yards over expected per rush, according to Next Gen Stats, is 11th out of 41 qualified running backs and is also currently ahead of players like Derrick Henry, Saquon Barkley and Christian McCaffrey.
Hunt’s strengths — vision and ability to move the pile forward for additional yardage — are often overlooked because of the one area where he’s not great. The ninth-year pro no longer has the speed he once had, and overall, the Chiefs lack explosiveness in their backfield, with just one 20-plus-yard rush from a tailback this season.
Pacheco’s injury complicates things as well. Hunt acknowledged last year that he wore down after getting workhorse-back-level carries, and the Chiefs would be wise not to overextend him given how valuable he’s been in his current role.
Seventh-round rookie Brashard Smith has been excellent as a pass catcher, but he doesn’t yet profile as a player who would be comfortable (or strong enough) to handle the grinds of being an every-down back.
Those realities could leave the Chiefs sifting through trade options, even if that means searching for a low-cost depth player rather than a flashier name that would draw bigger headlines.
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