Peter King on Peters Trade

THIS IS ONE INTRIGUING TRADE, FOR MANY REASONS

[www.si.com]

News item: Kansas City agrees to make its second major trade in a month, dealing 25-year-old Pro Bowl cornerback Marcus Peters to the Rams.

We don’t know, yet, exactly the compensation. But Ian Rapoport reported he didn’t think the deal involved a first-round pick, which I have heard as well. If true, the best pick the Rams could lose this year would be 87th overall because Los Angeles does not have its own second-rounder. Next draft, if the Rams have a similar 2018 as they did in 2017, their second-round pick would fall in the fifties. But if it’s a low two and low three for a sort of problem child, it’s an intriguing trade for both teams.

Check down further in the column for my Stat of the Week, but you’ll see why Peters’ value was still high, though tarnished in Kansas City because of his anthem stance (he kneeled, much to owner Clark Hunt’s chagrin), his unpopularity in the arch-conservative area because of his anthem protest, and his one-game suspension after blowing up and throwing a penalty flag in the stands at the Jets. The man averaged 9.7 big plays (interceptions, forced fumbles, recovered fumbles) a year in his three Kansas City seasons. It seems like a perfect fit for the Rams, too, at an unbelievably good price: a low third-round pick, at most this year, and they get in return a player under contract for two years and $10.5 million. Peters should thrive in a Wade Phillips defense that asks its top corner to play head to head against great receivers. If the Rams can coax Peters into buying into their way of doing things, this will have been a smart purchase.


Maybe the Chiefs couldn’t have made this work, and maybe coach Andy Reid figured Peters was just too much of a handful. But if the Chiefs don’t get a first-rounder in return for a 25-year-old cornerback who, if he can control his temper and play within the scheme, could be a Hall of Fame player, I like the deal for Los Angeles, risk and all.

I’m told there was no agreement or even “we’ll see” about re-doing Peters’ contract, so the Rams will have to count Peters only $1.7 million against the cap this year. With the Rams’ biggest need being at cornerback, and with Peters surely understanding this season will be huge in figuring the value of his next contract, the Rams are likely to get the very good Peters—and in an area where the anthem protests do not roil the locals the way they do in the Midwest.

The Niners were also in play, and the Browns, too, to a lesser degree. But here’s what’s interesting: The Rams, 49ers and Browns are all on the Chiefs’ 2018 schedule. L.A. and Kansas City will play in Mexico City this fall. Peters might be a little fired up for that game.