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Tyreek Hill trade continues to pay off as Chiefs build smarter, deeper roster

Originally posted on Arrowhead Addict | By Price Carter | Last updated Jul 23, 2025 1:50 PM ET

Where were you when the Kansas City Chiefs dynasty ended in 2022 after trading Tyreek Hill? Probably worried about Patrick Mahomes' legacy or how the team could ever recover from trading a future Hall of Fame talent like Hill.

Fast forward to 2025, and it's widely acknowledged that the best thing the Chiefs ever did (besides hiring Andy Reid and drafting Mahomes) was to trade Hill.

There are lots of very obvious reasons why the Hill trade has benefited the Chiefs so greatly.

First, the most obvious is the ability to draft Trent McDuffie with the picks the Dolphins sent the Chiefs in return for Hill. It's not just McDuffie, though.

Some of the picks used from the trade also helped the Chiefs move up for Rashee Rice. While nobody is throwing a parade for additionally drafting Skyy Moore and Darian Kinnard, there's still value in those picks and roster spots.

The Tyreek Hill trade is still paying serious dividends for the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Chiefs likely don’t win back-to-back Super Bowls with Tyreek Hill still on the roster, and they also likely don’t get extensions done with all of Creed Humphrey, Trey Smith, Nick Bolton, and George Karlaftis.

Tyreek Hill 2024 cap hit: $32M

George Karlaftis, Trent McDuffie, Trey Smith and Nick Bolton 2025 cap hit: $30.2M

That trade is still paying dividends 3 years later..
— Price Carter (@priceacarter) July 21, 2025

One of the biggest factors that led to Hill's trade was the rapid growth of the WR market in 2022. After the signings of Christian Kirk and Davante Adams, Hill saw that it was raining money in the wide receiver world and grabbed a bucket.

The Chiefs have been very savvy with the salary cap year over year, but one of the best things they've done is "zigging" when everyone else "zagged." Teams started to load up on expensive WRs, so the Chiefs went cheap. The projected Chiefs starting WR corps (Rice, Brown, Worthy, Smith-Schuster, Royals, and Remigio) count less than $15 million against the 2025 cap.

Even with the extension for Trent McDuffie up in the air, the Chiefs have provided themselves not only depth but also financial flexibility by trading Tyreek. When you look at the Chiefs roster, they're paying a top-shelf QB and several "non-premium" positions. Lots of teams would shy away from paying big money to a center, guard, linebacker, and a tight end. However, the Chiefs have made the smart move to not let blue-chip talent out the door. The flexibility of their cap is largely due to having cheap, controllable players on rookie deals.

The Tyreek trade should also illustrate why Chiefs fans should "trust the process" when it comes to the McDuffie extension. Last year, Creed Humphrey, Noah Gray, Trey Smith, and Nick Bolton all became extension-eligible. The Chiefs extended Humphrey and Gray before the start of the 2024 season, got Bolton done before free agency, and tagged Smith before ultimately reaching a deal.

This year, they are faced with a similar wave of extension-eligible players with McDuffie and George Karlaftis. The Chiefs might try the same staggered approach with these contracts as well. However, even if the Chiefs were to trade McDuffie and not extend him, the Tyreek Hill trade has taught us that no player is untouchable and that these moves don’t exist in a vacuum.

The Tyreek trade wasn’t about 2022—it was about the next several seasons as well.

This article first appeared on Arrowhead Addict and was syndicated with permission.

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