I’d love to know what Trent McDuffie is thinking right now.
After being traded away by the Kansas City Chiefs this offseason, McDuffie has just watched his former team trade up to draft his replacement in LSU cornerback Mansoor Delane. I wonder how he feels about that.
McDuffie won two Super Bowls with the Chiefs. He was a first-team All-Pro in 2023 and a second-team All-Pro in 2024. But Kansas City opted to trade him to the Los Angeles Rams after choosing not to sign him to a market-leading deal that would have kept him in red.
Immediately after becoming a Ram, McDuffie signed a four-year, $124 million extension with his new team to become the highest-paid cornerback in NFL history.
Mansoor Delane is going to be a good player for the Chiefs, but it's interesting to think about how Trent McDuffie views things.
I wonder if McDuffie feels slighted by his old team. I would, if I were in his position. Did McDuffie think something like, “Really? You didn’t want to pay me and chose this guy instead?” Is he pissed that Kansas City thought Delane was a better option than paying him? I wonder.
It’s interesting because the best-case scenario for the Chiefs is that Delane becomes as good as McDuffie was for them. McDuffie is a former All-Pro and was Kansas City’s second-best player on defense and arguably their best overall.
Will Delane be able to get to that level? Maybe. Maybe not. If he doesn’t and the Chiefs burned pick six and extra draft capital to take a worse player, while McDuffie goes on to shine with the Rams, that will be rough.
I’d guess McDuffie was already motivated to prove to the Chiefs that he was worth the money they wouldn’t pay him. Now, I wonder drafting a first-round cornerback will add fuel to that fire and make him even hungrier to show Kansas City what they could have had all along, but let him leave.
Who knows? Maybe McDuffie doesn’t care at all. He’s got his championship rings, and he’s got his huge payday and contract extension, too. But I can’t help but feel he’d also feel annoyed that the Chiefs chose someone else over him. I’d love to know what he’s thinking.