Remember when Kendall Fuller was the underrated X factor in the Alex Smith trade from the Chiefs to Washington? Don’t worry, nobody else remembers, either.
From the moment the young cornerback's name bubbled to the surface amid the chaos of the trade news breaking Tuesday night, the conclusion was drawn that the Chiefs pulled the fastest of fast ones on their trade partners. People are doing hard time in the state pen for thefts this brazen.
The Chiefs get more than an open lane for their heir-apparent at quarterback. They get more than cap relief. They get more than a stockpile of picks to take advantage of on draft day.
They get a potential starter in a secondary that already had good pieces, that now can be a great unit, can be the backstop to a great defense and can make the aforementioned heir apparent’s life that much easier.
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In short, what is known today as the Alex Smith trade may eventually be known as the Kendall Fuller trade. If people soon are thinking up catchy, Legion of Boom-type nicknames for Fuller, Marcus Peters and Eric Berry, don’t be surprised. And don’t be surprised if Smith’s legacy with the Chiefs comes less from his career there than in what he brought back.
Understand that the Chiefs flipped a veteran quarterback they had plans for a year to replace — a valuable one, but one that was telegraphed to be unloaded one way or another before the start of the 2018 season, for more than a draft pick or a package of them. That was the belief at the end of the Chiefs’ season, when the world knew they were ready to anoint Patrick Mahomes. And the market seemed to have been set by NFL precedent.
Jimmy Garoppolo brought the Patriots a second-round pick this past season. Sam Bradford brought a first- and fourth-rounder. Carson Palmer was worth a first- and third-round pick. Matt Cassel was worth a second-round pick the year he filled in for Tom Brady with the Patriots. Donovan McNabb (in a deal that sounds unpleasantly familiar to Washington fans) was sent away from the Eagles for second- and fourth-round picks.
Smith himself landed in Kansas City in 2013 via a deal with the 49ers for two draft picks.
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Notice the lack of viable position players changing hands under these circumstances, even as throw-ins. It’s not the way the NFL operates; the conventional wisdom is that draft picks are gold.
Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph is tackled by Kendall Fuller. (Getty Images)
The notion that promising, 22-year-old, third-year, already-productive players at a premiere, hard-to-fill position are easy to replace and get tossed around with impunity is usually viewed as blasphemy.
When a team offers one up, a second team is crazy not to grab him before the other team changes its mind.
The Chiefs, and Andy Reid and general manager Brett Veach, aren’t crazy.
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Yes, it may be premature to gush over Fuller like this. But Washington thought enough of him to take him in the third round in 2016, to ride out major knee surgery in his final college season and his rookie NFL season, and then work him into the secondary rotation last year.
He rewarded them for that patience; various evaluations rated him the best slot corner in the league last season. Pretending that those are growing on trees is foolish. Washington’s best corner, Josh Norman, came with a $50 million price tag. One of the reasons Bashaud Breeland was expected to be a free-agent casualty was Fuller’s presence.
If Fuller is a question mark, he’s a smaller one than a future draft pick would be. That’s the going rate in the veteran 30-something quarterback trade market.
If that was all they had gotten for Smith, the Chiefs were going to come out winners. Fuller makes them come out larcenous.
