One star wide receiver being traded in a day makes for big news. Two star wide receivers being traded in a day is madness. Just hours after Davante Adams was sent to the New York Jets for a third-round pick, the Browns followed suit and sent their own star wide receiver, Amari Cooper, to the Buffalo Bills for a third-round pick. Buffalo also got a sixth round pick while Cleveland got a seventh rounder in the deal.
The biggest winner of this deal is pretty clearly the Buffalo Bills. After losing Stefon Diggs to Houston, the Bills offense has been searching for a dynamic weapon on the outside, and now it found one in Cooper, who has 24 catches for 250 yards and two touchdowns this season. Cooper cleared 1000 receiving yards in each of his two full seasons with Cleveland and will be a welcome sight for Josh Allen. The biggest losers of this deal, though, is a team that wasn’t even involved in the trade.
Yes, it’s the Kansas City Chiefs. Patrick Mahomes & Co. are sitting at 5-0, so the sky is obviously not falling over KC, but with the news that Rashee Rice will miss the entire season after all, Kansas City should have been looking for replacements at wide receiver for its transcendent QB. The worst part is these deals show that trades were available to make, for draft picks the Chiefs should have been happy to part with.
Not only did Kansas City miss out on Amari Cooper, but it now has to deal with him on one of the AFC’s biggest contenders, the Bills. Cooper raises the ceiling of Bufallo’s offense even more. Josh Allen has been incredible and now he gets a reliable star receiver on top of that. Meanwhile, the Chiefs will have to work with the receiver group they have now, which has promise — Xavier Worthy is a thrilling rookie — but not a whole lot of depth, especially without Rice in the mix.
Again, the Chiefs are 5-0. Patrick Mahomes is the favorite to win the MVP. Chris Jones and the Chiefs defense has been stellar all year. There isn’t any reason to fret about the Chiefs themselves, but watching AFC foes get substantially better while the Chiefs stay put should be a tad worrying for anyone who was already planning a “Chiefs Super Bowl Champs” tattoo appointment.