The Kansas City Chiefs began the 2023 season taking on the Detroit Lions. Despite being favorites, the absence of Travis Kelce (injury) and Chris Jones (holdout) was felt as they took the 21-20 loss. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes did his best, but the story of the game was the drops by wide receivers Kadarius Toney and Skyy Moore.
Mahomes finished the game 21 of 39 passing for 226 yards and two touchdowns with one interception. It’s unfortunate that he gets stuck with the interception because he put the ball right into Toney’s hands, but the ball slipped through, was caught by Detroit’s Brian Branch and returned for a touchdown. Toney was targeted five times and finished with just one reception for a single yard. Luckily, Kelce has a chance to be back next week, but it isn’t crazy to think that Kansas City makes a spur-of-the-moment move ahead of next week’s game against Jacksonville. Who could the Chiefs target in a potential trade?
Top Wide Receiver Trade Targets
Marquise Brown
The Arizona Cardinals are in full rebuild mode. They have some young pieces to build around, but with starting quarterback Kyler Murray sidelined with an injury, they are expected to turn to Joshua Dobbs to be the interim starter. With no timetable for when Murray will be back under center and in a tough division, why not ship out Brown for more draft capital to a Chiefs team that could be panicking?
Mike Evans
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are trusting Baker Mayfield and Kyle Trask under center as they deal with Tom Brady’s second retirement. Despite being in a very winnable NFC South this year, they have the worst odds to win the division and are considered long shots. This is the final year of his current contract, and he may welcome a move to catch passes from Patrick Mahomes.
Cooper Kupp
Kupp is an interesting candidate on this list as he is dealing with a hamstring injury, and the Los Angeles Rams are considering adding him to IR. Kupp could be a popular trade target if the injury isn’t that bad. His contract greatly increases in cost next season, but with the Los Angeles Rams barely having a better outlook than Arizona, they could look at some team restructuring. Los Angeles is typically allergic to draft picks but must change their ways and look at getting younger.
Michael Pittman Jr.
This is more of a longshot since the Indianapolis Colts will likely not take away a pass-catcher from rookie quarterback Anthony Richardson. This is the final year of Pittman’s rookie deal, though, so if Indy doesn’t have him factoring into their future plans, they could get something for him rather than letting him walk in free agency.
If a trade isn’t in the cards, it wouldn’t be shocking for Kansas City to turn to the free agent pool of wide receivers. They missed out on DeAndre Hopkins this summer and could reach out to guys like Kenny Golladay, Jarvis Landry, TY Hilton or Sammy Watkins.