Rumor of a Failed Trade Between the Chiefs and Lions

When the Kansas City Chiefs drafted safety DaJuan Morgan with their second pick of the third round in 2008, many of us were puzzled, or at least unsure of where Morgan fit with the '08 Chiefs. ChiefDJ had a few thoughts on DaJuan Morgan on that day way back in the spring of 2008:

Morgan I dont know much about. He’s either going to be a 3rd Safety or a Nickel CB. He played CB alot in college.

What I'm reading about Morgan on NFL.com is that he is raw, but has a ton of potential with good coaching (and you know how Herm likes coaching his DBs). But that he is also a very good special teams player. As bad as Special Teams were for the Chiefs last year, if they can get a good ST player that will also develop into a good player in the future, it might end up being worth it.

And as we sit on the verge of the 2009 Kansas City Chiefs season, we're still not exactly sure what, if anything, to do with DaJuan Morgan.

And apparently, neither does the Kansas City Chiefs coaching staff. The rumor (and I stress rumor) is that they tried to trade him to the Lions.

More details, after the jump.

The word on the street (by that I mean those pathways outside of my apartment building) is that after the Detroit Lions first preseason game, Kansas City Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli offered Lions head coach Jim Schwartz a 4th round pick for DaJuan Morgan.

Schwartz didn't bite. Former Chiefs defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham now holds that position in Detroit. Presumably, the Chiefs went to the Lions with this trade because of Gunther's presence and the team still said no.

And our rumor stands as that - just a rumor. No more, no less. But let's use this as a jumping off point to discuss what DaJuan Morgan is worth on the trade market. If anything.

Morgan saw limited action last season as a rookie and nobody expected him to jump in and make a huge impact right away. But he left very little impact last season, from the secondary to special teams. The guy just wasn't worthy of a third round pick. At all.

Which is why, if this rumor is true, that I'm not surprised that Jim Schwartz didn't accept what would have been an outrageous trade for Morgan. A one round trade deduction for a player who hasn't started a game and missed the majority of 2009's training camp practices? I can't blame Detroit for saying no.

Let's say the Kansas City Chiefs were trying to trade DaJuan Morgan. What do you think his trade value is on the open NFL market?