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Kansas City Chiefs GM Brett Veach has a reputation ahead of the start of the season.
In each of his seasons as GM for the Chiefs, Veach has made at least one preseason trade, if not more, either trading for or trading away a player. Last year you had the player-for-player swap of Martinas Rankin and Carlos Hyde. The year prior, Veach added safety Jordan Lucas and current starting CB Charvarius Ward. When Veach was handed the keys to the Chiefs roster from John Dorsey, one of the first things that he did was go out and acquire Reggie Ragland and Cam Erving.
So what exactly happened this year? Why didn’t Veach make one of his signature preseason trades? In a COVID-19 altered preseason, Veach didn’t see the typical amount of communication from teams regarding potential trades.
“It was extremely unique,” Veach said. “I was talking to (Chicago Bears Head Coach) Matt Nagy last night on my drive home. The first two offseasons, I would say by two or three days before the cut-down day, I think I heard from 10, 12, to 14 teams. As of yesterday at cut-down day, I heard from one team and I think it’s just the lack of tape. Even if you think you know a guy, not seeing him for a whole calendar year, it’s very tough. Where is he at injury-wise? How is he playing? Did he regress or did he improve? It’s hard when you haven’t had these guys and there’s still that aspect of getting to know your young guys because you haven’t had them for the OTAs or the rookie camps. Again, just getting to a point where you feel comfortable in your roster and where you are. It’s a big unknown to potentially make a deal or a trade for someone you haven’t seen in over a year or you’re just basing it off of college tape. I think the fact that I got only one call was surprising but then when you look at the lack of trades and deals, I think every team was going through that same type of scenario. The unknown is just what we’re going through, the testing, and having to put guys in a two- or three-day hold were all big obstacles to overcome.”
Veach felt the combination of the unknown due to canceled preseason games and the COVID-19 screening protocols was the reason why he only heard from a single team. NFL clubs reached a point of contentment with their rosters, mainly because they lack the information regarding players that is normally available.
Could this mean that we see more in-season trades occurring after the first few weeks to start the season once there is tape available? Perhaps more action will manifest around the NFL trade deadline? Anything is possible in the new NFL landscape altered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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