The Kansas City Chiefs agreed to trade their All-Pro left guard, Joe Thuney, to the Chicago Bears for a 2026 fourth-round draft pick on Wednesday. The move left many in Chiefs Kingdom shocked and saddened, and that's understandable. Trading away one of the best players at his position for a fourth-round draft pick next year sounds like a terrible idea on the surface. But when you step back and analyze the situation, it actually was a great long-term business decision by Chiefs general manager Brett Veach.
The mistake that I believe some Chiefs fans are making when analyzing this trade is looking at it and the decision to keep Trey Smith as separate decisions. They are absolutely connected. Many Chiefs fans were convinced that K.C. would have to let Smith walk this offseason because it just wasn't reasonable to have all three of your starting interior offensive linemen among the highest paid at their positions in the NFL. That was sound logic then, and it's still sound logic now.
Joe Thuney may have been an amazing player for the Chiefs, but Brett Veach made a great business decision
The problem is that when news broke that Kansas City was tagging Trey Smith and was suddenly optimistic that they could get a long-term deal done, many fans incorrectly assumed it was because KC decided they would spend huge on all three interior offensive line spots. I think it's pretty safe to assume now that this simply was never the case. KC's decision to keep Smith was connected to their decision to trade away Thuney.
When you view the situation not as "Would you rather have Joe Thuney or a 2026 fourth-round pick?" but as "Would you rather keep Trey Smith and add a 2026 fourth-round pick or keep Joe Thuney?" it really becomes a no-brainer. The Chiefs decided to keep the 25-year-old Smith and add a 2026 fourth-round pick over keeping the 32-year-old Thuney. This is obviously all working under the assumption that the Chiefs get a major long-term deal done with Smith soon.
I know some may argue that they could have kept both, but that's just not a realistic way to build a roster. The Chiefs have other needs to fill at key positions, and you just can't sink that high a percentage of cap dollars into your interior offensive line. Even with Thuney gone and KC likely starting a cheap option at left guard in 2025, their total money invested in the interior offensive line will still likely be among the top in the league just with the contracts for Creed Humphrey and Smith.
The Chiefs also have a lot of money invested in Jawaan Taylor, who (like it or not) is locked into the right tackle spot for another season. Plus, they still need to figure out a solution at left tackle. What if they want to make a run at someone like Ronnie Stanley? You can't pay Taylor, Thuney, Creed, and Smith and then outbid everyone for a left tackle. I don't care how much the cap can be manipulated; there are still only so many cap dollars to go around, and you can't have that many massive offensive line contracts.
In fact, with the way most big contracts are structured, even if Smith's contract has a higher APY than what Thuney was making, the cap hit in the first year is usually much smaller because of the signing bonus that is prorated throughout the life of the contract. So the Chiefs are keeping the younger player, picking up a future fourth-rounder, and likely creating more cap space to fill other needs this year in the process.
Some legitimate criticisms can be made about how much cash Clark Hunt is willing to spend, but I don't see this as one of those situations. This is about long-term roster construction. The New England Patriots wrote the book on moving on from really good players before the drop-off came. That is a big part of why they won for so long. That is what Brett Veach is doing here. He's prioritizing the younger, ascending Smith over the veteran who is still great but getting closer to the end, and he's picking up a future fourth-round pick while likely creating some cap space in the process.
Am I going to miss Joe Thuney? Sure. But I don't think I will miss him more next season than I would have missed Trey Smith. For me, those two things are connected, and I think that's how most Chiefs fans should view this move. Now, if Veach doesn't get a deal done with Smith in time for free agency and it limits them from being players, then that will be worthy of some scrutiny. Until that happens, I still believe this was a great long-term move by Brett Veach.
So, what do you think, Chiefs fans? I think everyone is sad to see Thuney go, but do you agree that it was the right move to make for the long haul? Do you agree that there was no chance KC was going to pay both Thuney and Smith? I'd love to read your thoughts in the comments below.
