As a Chief, Kendall Fuller always knew he’d return to Washington

As you might remember, when former Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Kendall Fuller was dealt to the Chiefs from Washington as part of the Alex Smith trade in early 2018, he didn’t believe it at first. He immediately took to Twitter — the official home of hot takes that last forever — to deny the trade reports.

Within hours, Fuller found out the news reports were true.

But now we have learned that even as he packed up his gear for the move to Kansas City, Fuller knew he’d eventually be coming back to the team that selected him in the third round of the 2016 NFL draft.

“The day I left, one of the guys in the front office said to me, ‘When you hit free agency, we’re bringing you back,’” Fuller recalled on Monday, per NBC Sports Washington.

And true to form, Fuller wasn’t sure he could believe it.

“At the time, I’m sitting there like, ‘Man, y’all just traded me. I ain’t tryna hear none of that,’” he said. ”It’s crazy to think about that now, because the day I left the facility, they said we’re bringing you back in free agency.”

What could this new information tell us? For one thing, it tells us that while many Chiefs fans saw Smith as nothing but an average stopgap quarterback, by 2018, other teams had a different view. To acquire Smith, Washington was willing to give up a third-round pick and a player they valued enough to tell him he’d likely be coming back at the first opportunity.