Grading Chiefs on Justin Fields Acquisition

Football sense

Faster than the Jets could say Geno Smith reunion, Brett Veach was on the phone with New York general manager Darren Mougey, who acquired Smith last week in a trade with Las Vegas.

Fields doesn’t inspire Nick Foles confidence that he can lead a team without its injured starter to a Super Bowl title, but that’s not what the Chiefs need. They need an experienced veteran to lead their offseason program with Mahomes able to simply watch on-field activities, and if necessary start and win games in September.

No offense to Jake Haener or Chris Oladokun, but Fields gives the Chiefs a much better shot should they need him in Week 1 or 2, should Mahomes require more time to rehabilitate his surgically repaired left knee. And those are critical games, as the Chiefs know, when late-season tiebreakers rear their heads.

The 11th-overall choice in the first round of the 2021 draft, Fields joins his fourth NFL team in four years. Traded Monday for the second time in his career, Fields begins another chapter in his unique professional story. Chicago fired Nagy in Fields rookie season, 2021, then watched him go 8-20 over the next two years (2022-23) before trading him to the Steelers.

After splitting starting time with Russell Wilson in Pittsburgh, Fields signed as a big-ticket free agent with the Jets – a two-year, $40 million deal with $30 million guaranteed – to become New York’s starter. But Fields finished just 2-7 during a dismal season under first-year head coach Aaron Glenn.

The 2027 draft

Especially if Fields leads Kansas City to one-or-more September wins, all of the above reasons far outweigh the small cost of a future Day 3 pick. That sixth-rounder in 2027 came to the Chiefs from the 49ers in the August Skyy Moore trade. Moore signed last week with the Green Bay Packers. The Chiefs still have seven picks remaining in the 2027 draft, including a third-rounder they acquired this month in the Trent McDuffie trade. And that doesn’t include a compensatory selection they’ll likely receive for a net loss of free agents in this month’s signing cycle.

What it means financially

The only criticism of the trade is that the Chiefs reportedly will be on the hook for $3 million of Fields’ 2026 guaranteed pay. Maybe Veach was able to negotiate that in exchange for that sixth-round selection – a small price to pay for Fields.

It’s only 1 percent of the $301.2 million salary cap, but every dollar counts for Kansas City, which will again need to create cap space in 2026 (although restructuring Chris Jones’ contract is a lever they can still pull). Consider that Kyler Murray will likely start for Minnesota but the Vikings will pay him just $1.3 million.

Trade grade

It’s a solid B-plus, and it’ll jump to a easy A if Fields gets on the field – whether Mahomes is healthy or not – and helps the Chiefs win games and return to the playoffs.