The 2025 NFL trade deadline came and went on Tuesday, leaving many teams with some shiny new toys to take them down the stretch run. The Indianapolis Colts picked up an All-Pro corner from the Jets in Sauce Gardner. The Dallas Cowboys also sent a big haul to New York for another All-Pro, defensive tackle Quinnen Williams. You know who did not land a star player from the Jets who would have helped a thin position on their roster? The headline, cover photo, and the mere fact that you're on this site have probably given this away, but it was the Kansas City Chiefs.
I am a blogger. I do not even remotely comprehend the levels of negotiating that go into swapping or signing multi-million-dollar athletes to short-term or long-term contracts. I would never pretend to know as much as an NFL front office executive, let alone a league GM. I don't even understand the salary cap, let alone the consequences of executing a bad trade, much less a desperate trade at the trade deadline. I can count the number of successful trades I've made in fantasy football on less than one hand.
But I do have opinions, and some are rooted in facts. Like the fact that, instead of acting on the seemingly obvious need to enhance the roster, the Chiefs stood pat despite owner Clark Hunt's recent public expectation that GM Brett Veach and the team would be aggressive at the deadline. I guess public pressure from your boss doesn't carry the same weight anymore.
Brett Veach couldn't find a trade he liked to improve the Chiefs and now the road ahead looks even more difficult.
The lack of action from the Chiefs' front office is about as comforting for fans as blinding sunlight ripping through non-tinted glass right into your sunglass-less, hungover eyes. You guys want some headaches in the near future? Let's watch a defensive line that includes a seemingly unmotivated Chris Jones leading a ragtag bunch of castmates that includes Derrick Nnadi, the corpse of Charles Omenihu, and the ghost of Omarr Norman-Lott.
Better yet, rather than trading a third-round pick to the Jets for running back Breece Hall to turn a backfield that's currently a question mark into an undeniable strength, let's stand back and wait for the Jets to take our fourth-rounder instead. This certainly seems like the type of brass-tacks negotiating that no one will look back on and regret, right? After all, Veach wouldn't want to lose the opportunity to draft the next Wanya Morris, Lucas Niang, or Dorian O'Daniel, right? Couldn't risk that, or you may end up with guys like Jaden Hicks or Chamarri Conner (past fourth-rounders).
Some of this is obviously tongue-in-cheek, but it is without question becoming a trend that Veach seems unable to get much done at the deadline. His “aggressive” reputation, as noted by Hunt in the aforementioned comments, appears at this point to be far more hyperbole than reality.
Here is a look at Veach's deadline-adjacent moves in his time as Chiefs GM.
2025 - No Trade
2024 - WR DeAndre Hopkins, EDGE Joshua Uche (who hardly touched the field)
2023 - No Trade
2022 - WR Kadarius Toney
2021 - EDGE Melvin Ingram, TE Daniel Brown (Who?)
2020 - No Trade
2019 - No Trade
2018 - No Trade
2017 - No Trade
Mark that as six out of nine seasons at the helm of the Chiefs front office in which Veach has done, well, nothing at the deadline. Now, there is something to be said when it comes to philosophical approaches to trades and free-agent signings. We can't sit here and act like Veach has been a failure as a GM because of some inaction midseason. He has built and rebuilt championship rosters on the fly. The Chiefs' dynasty started as an offensive juggernaut with little to no defensive infrastructure and evolved into a team that has won two of its three recent Super Bowls primarily on the back of a sterling young defense under the tutelage of dark magician named Steve Spagnuolo.
No one is saying the Chiefs won't make the playoffs without Breece Hall. But there are also not many people banking on the Chiefs claiming the AFC's top seed or taking a relaxing walk in the park to win the AFC West this season, either. The team needed some help, and it was available at the deadline. We will never know what truly halted the talks between the Jets and Chiefs on the Hall trade, or any other potential trades that were discussed in recent days. All we can do is hope that Mahomes Magic is enough to pull Kansas City through another postseason run.