In hindsight, should the Chiefs have traded for Minkah Fitzpatrick?

On Monday’s mailbag edition of the Arrowhead Pride Laboratory podcast, Craig Stout and I were joined by one of our favorite people: Brandon Kiley of 101ESPN in St. Louis was nice enough to jump in with us.

One of the questions we had was about the interest the Kansas City Chiefs showed in Miami Dolphins’ defensive back Minkah Fitzpatrick last season — and asked us to revisit the idea of the Chiefs trading for him.

As it played out, the Pittsburgh Steelers traded a first-round pick (and exchanged some late Day 3 picks in 2020 and 2021) for Fitzpatrick. Given the presumed trajectory of the two teams at that moment, the Chiefs would have had a hard time matching that offer. Even though a Chiefs offer for Fizpatrick was never confirmed, we removed the Steelers from the equation, assuming the Chiefs could have made the deal.

So the question became, “Would you rather the Chiefs have Minkah Fitzpatrick — or the opportunity to draft Clyde Edwards-Helaire?”

The Chiefs have made it quite clear they weren’t happy with their running back room in 2019 — and the addition of the LSU star should definitely help. Edwards-Helaire is a fantastic fit for the Chiefs and should improve both the rushing and passing offense. The Chiefs are coming off a Super Bowl victory — and also found a way to improve the team’s talent level while still bringing back all but two starters. Add in the cost control of Edwards-Helaire’s inexpensive rookie contract, and it’s certainly an enticing option to just keep things the way they actually played out.

On the flip side, Fitzpatrick is already a certified star — one who could be a fantastic piece in the Chiefs secondary. It doesn’t matter whether the Chiefs would have kept him at safety or slid him to outside cornerback — where he played some at Alabama. Either way, he would have seen the field. At the time of the trade, the Chiefs secondary was struggling to put it all together, so adding a player like Fitzpatrick could have helped solve some of those issues.

The added bonus would be that Fitzpatrick would still be on his rookie deal for two more years — and be due just $4.7 million during that time. Whether the Chiefs would work to extend him or simply keep him through his fifth-year option is unknown — but the chance to add a player of his caliber with that kind of cost control is rare.

So while we remain very excited to see Edwards-Helaire — and what he will bring to the Chiefs offense — this is ultimately why all of us would have preferred trading for Fitzpatrick in 2019.

Speaking for myself... it would be hard to talk me out of that choice.

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