Grading the Darron Lee trade for Kansas City Chiefs, New York Jets
The New York Jets agreed to trade linebacker Darron Lee to the Kansas City Chiefs on Wednesday. Grading the deal for both teams.
Whether with John Dorsey or Brett Veach at the helm, the Kansas City Chiefs have not been shy about making big moves. Just this offseason, they traded for Frank Clark with the Seattle Seahawks prior to the 2019 NFL Draft. In the wake of draft day, though, they weren’t done making moves as they’ve completed another trade, this time with the New York Jets for linebacker Darron Lee.
On Wednesday, as first reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Jets agreed to send Lee, a 2016 first-round pick, to the Chiefs in exchange for a sixth-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. The deal has yet to be officially finalized, but it appears essentially set in stone at this point.
Though it’s not a blockbuster trade, it’s an interesting move, especially coming right off the Jets firing general manager Mike Maccagnan and naming new head coach Adam Gase the interim GM. With that, let’s take a look at a visualization of the trade and then hand out a grade to both the Chiefs and Jets for the deal.
Kansas City Chiefs Grade
As the Chiefs have continued to overhaul their defense this offseason, it’s clear that they’ve made it a goal to target players who were high draft picks. Lee fits that bill, even if he’s been uninspiring in New York. However, his fit with the Chiefs defense in what is now becoming a deep linebacker corps could make him a valuable piece, even if he doesn’t live up to his first-round draft status.
With Anthony Hitchens, Damien Wilson, Reggie Ragland, Dorian O’Daniel and now Lee in the fold at linebacker, the Chiefs now have tremendous versatility and flexibility at linebacker. These guys not only all have talent and pedigree, but they are movable and switchable in rotation and could help this defense take the step forward that they really need entering the 2019 season.
Final Grade: B+
New York Jets Grade
You can certainly lambast the Jets for taking Lee in the first round of the 2016 draft, but as it has become clear that he’s not the player they’d hoped, they’ve made improvements to put ahead of him with the signings of Avery Williamson and C.J. Mosley in subsequent free agent classes. As such, they were just looking to get something back in return for Lee.
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Is a sixth-round pick in next year’s draft ultimately all that valuable? Not really. However, it was likely that they could cut Lee come September final roster moves to get down to 53 men. Thus, the move here to get something in return and to start building this team in a post-Maccagnan era is something that deserves a bit of credit.
Final Grade: B-