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When the Kansas City Chiefs traded veteran guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif for tight end Daniel Brown, the move reeked of financial trickery. Brown is a seventh-year player with limited offensive experience but showed a lot of upside as a special teamer with the New York Jets in recent seasons.
He never played a single snap for Kansas City and was effectively useless to the team beyond his utility in creating cap space after they traded for defensive lineman Melvin Ingram at the deadline. Fans were wary of the mid-season swap for Brown, as Duvernay-Tardif was a well-loved member of the Super Bowl championship team in 2019, and a league icon for his title as a medical doctor.
But Duvernay-Tardif was unlikely to fit into the Chiefs’ plans either and wanted to see playing time somewhere else if he couldn’t find the field in Kansas City. After opting out of the 2020 season to fight the COVID-19 pandemic in his native Canada, In April he re-structured the five-year $41.2 million contract he signed in 2017, which enabled the team to shop him when his spot on the roster became unnecessary.
Brett Veach and the front office went all-in on rebuilding the offensive line in the offseason, and Duvernay-Tardif was one of the players on the outside looking in when Kansas City signed Joe Thuney and drafted Trey Smith. There simply weren’t snaps for him to see any action when the line came together after the preseason, and Duvernay-Tardif ended up voiding the no-trade clause on his contract to enable the Chiefs to move him to the Jets.
Kansas City officially waived Brown on the 20th of November, effectively completing their mission to provide themselves cap relief after the flurry of trades they made at the deadline. With Brown’s new contract in New York on the books, the Jets have regained their lost asset and added a valuable lineman who is sure to be a fan-favorite for Gang Green to close out their season.
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