Let’s look back at Brett Veach’s complete history of activity at the NFL’s trade deadline to see what’s possible this year.
For the first few years of his tenure as the Kansas City Chiefs general manager, Brett Veach remained patient at the NFL’s annual trade deadline. It’s not that Veach was shy about making deals. Rather, he typically made his moves before a season and trusted the process to play out over the course of 16 games.
That trend has shifted in recent years, as the Chiefs ascended to the top of the NFL’s pecking order. To sustain such a lofty position, Veach has become a familiar voice working the phones throughout the fall in order to shore up needy positions and deal off spare parts.
As Chiefs Kingdom waits for the latest potential arrival at this year’s trade deadline, it’s important to get a sense of what kind of impact such additions can make. Here’s a refresher on Brett Veach’s history of moves at the NFL’s trade deadline.
The DeAndre Washington trade (2020)
Back in 2020, the Chiefs had just made the biggest backfield splash in quite some time with the first-round addition of Clyde Edwards-Helaire. With Darrel Williams and Darwin Thompson already in the fold, the addition of Le’Veon Bell left zero room for DeAndre Washington, who had signed a one-year deal with the Chiefs the previous spring.
With this deal, the Chiefs acquired a sixth-round pick from the Miami Dolphins in exchange for their seventh-round choice and Washington. The draft swap moved the Chiefs from No. 258 overall to 207. Veach then flipped that choice and another to the New York Jets to move up in the fifth round and grab tight end Noah Gray. Considering Gray is into his second deal in K.C., it’s a reminder that even anecdotal deals like this can be important.
The Laurent Duvernay-Tardif trade (2021)
It was a bit sad to see the Chiefs send Laurent Duvernay-Tardif away. After all, the former sixth-round pick was not only one of the better draft gems in recent Chiefs history, but he was also a medical doctor. However, all good things must come to an end.
The Chiefs grabbed Duvernay-Tardif as a tackle project out of McGill (in Montreal) in 2014 and gave him a year to learn the ropes. He became a full-time starter in his second season and played in 73 games for K.C. over the next five seasons. After he opted out of the COVID-affected 2020 campaign in order to serve with his medical background, he came back only to find himself a healthy scratch on Sundays after the Chiefs drafted Trey Smith.
Ultimately, the New York Jets came calling and K.C. took the chance to offload LDT for tight end Daniel Brown and, most importantly, a bit of salary cap relief.
The Melvin Ingram trade (2021)
The Chiefs flirted with and/or attempted to sign Melvin Ingram in both 2021 and 2022 but a deal never worked out. The first year, the Pittsburgh Steelers signed him instead, while the Miami Dolphins were Ingram’s choice in ’22. However, in between, the Chiefs found a way to land him anyway by sending a 2022 sixth-round choice to Pittsburgh for Ingram before the deadline.
The Chiefs were frustrated with their pass defense at this stage, with Jones playing more outside and little working apart from Frank Clark. Alex Okafor and a rookie Mike Danna were around, but the Chiefs brought Ingram in to provide a spark for the entire unit. The Chiefs were 4-4 at the time of the trade and they ended up 12-5. That’s not all on Ingram, but he definitely provided some help for the overall unit as the Chiefs found their mojo in the season’s second half.
The Kadarius Toney trade (2022)
Opinions are going to vary heavily on the Kadarius Toney trade, as to whether or not the Chiefs should have ever said yes to the deal. For the sake of review, K.C. sent third and sixth-round choices in the 2023 NFL Draft for Toney, who was a former first-round pick who’d lost any friends in the New York Giants front office.
There’s no denying that Toney was an incredibly dynamic weapon, whether as a receiver or returner. However, numerous injury concerns, costly penalties, and dropped passes all plagued him, even as he would electrify the crowd with the occasional big play. While he was ultimately released after one-and-a-half seasons in K.C., Corn Dog will always be a part of the lexicon.
The Rashad Fenton trade (2022)
Rashad Fenton is an easily overlooked name in recent Chiefs history, but he’s another good example of how the Chiefs have been unearthing late-round contributors in the secondary for several years now. Fenton was a sixth-round choice in 2019 who ended up playing in 47 regular-season games over the next four seasons.
The stellar 2022 draft class sealed his fate, however, as K.C. added Trent McDuffie, Joshua Williams, Jaylen Watson and more to the rotation at corner. By midseason, Veach found a way to spin Fenton for a conditional seventh-round choice in a deadline trade with the Atlanta Falcons.
The DeAndre Hopkins trade (2024)
The Chiefs have found a semi-regular trade partner in the Tennessee Titans in recent years (e.g. L’Jarius Sneed), and in 2024 they sent a 2025 fifth-round choice in exchange for DeAndre Hopkins. At the time, the Chiefs offense was limping week to week after losing both Marquise “Hollywood” Brown and Rashee Rice for the majority of the season. It didn’t help that Skyy Moore was ineffective, and JuJu Smith-Schuster was also dealing with hamstring concerns.
In Kansas City, Hopkins became an immediately trusted target for Patrick Mahomes and put up 41 catches for 437 receiving yards and 4 touchdowns in 10 games with K.C. Some fans might have expected more fireworks, but Hopkins’ elite days were behind him. For a receiving corps that needed someone reliable, who elevated the whole room with his presence, the Hopkins deal was a win for the Chiefs.
The Joshua Uche trade (2024)
The biggest head-scratcher of them all.
The Chiefs dealt a sixth-round choice in the 2026 NFL Draft to the New England Patriots for Uche, who’d posted 20.5 sacks in his four-plus seasons in Foxborough. Yet somehow, the second deadline acquisition for Veach in ’24 never went anywhere despite being lauded universally as an important and versatile addition for Steve Spagnuolo’s defense.
Uche brought an athletic skill set to the Chiefs that should have rounded out the pass rush with another complementary piece. Instead, Uche became a regular appearance on the sidelines, a healthy scratch who could never find playing time despite an obvious need. The following spring, head coach Andy Reid would admit it was a ‘”fit” issue, but none of it ever made sense.
