Now is the time the Chiefs should trade away Tyreek Hill

The Kansas City Chiefs stuck by Tyreek Hill through some pretty ugly stuff this offseason. Now is the time they should probably part ways.

The Kansas City Chiefs have associated themselves with some players who don’t exactly exemplify excellence off the field in recent years.

The Chiefs drafted star running back Kareem Hunt, who quickly became one of the best runners in the NFL before he was caught on video hitting and kicking a woman. The Chiefs apparently knew of the incident but decided to keep Hunt around until the video was released to the public.

They also drafted Tyreek Hill the year prior, even after Hill had been dismissed from the Oklahoma State program following an incident with his pregnant girlfriend in which he allegedly punched and choked her.

The Chiefs’ decision to draft these players has come with plenty of on-field success but also a ton of off the field distraction.

Tyreek Hill recently found out he would not be suspended by the NFL after audio leaked of him making some pretty shocking statements to Crystal Espinal.

Hill denied breaking his three-year old son’s arm, something he was accused of in the audio, and he also tells Espinal that she should be ‘terrified’ of him.

Most people thought Hill would be suspended by the NFL but the league conducted what it says was a thorough investigation and came to the conclusion that Hill would not be suspended.

As a result, we are back to talking about Hill as it relates to what he can do on the field, and on the field, Hill is entering a contract year.

Pro Football Talk threw out the idea that the Chiefs may not want to commit a ton of money to Hill over the long term, even though they have been trying to re-sign him and haven’t gotten close yet. Hill could be seeking $20 million annually.

Would any team in the NFL want to pay that for a guy with as much baggage as Hill?

That remains to be seen, but if his name is cleared for the time being, some team certainly will pay him that.

Will it be the Chiefs? That’s debatable.

The Chiefs drafted Mecole Hardman this year in somewhat of a reactionary move to the Tyreek Hill situation.

Would they have made that move if they were planning on Hill being there long-term? Maybe, maybe not.

The fact is, the Chiefs have leverage with Hardman on the roster. Hill has pretty much no leverage despite his insane on-field production because of the risk he presents off the field.

The Chiefs could save face by trading Hill, recoup some assets for him, and move on from this whole thing. Perhaps the Chiefs realized they moved too quickly on the Kareem Hunt situation in terms of football, because the Cleveland Browns pretty much wasted no time picking him up as a free agent.

They didn’t do the same thing with Hill, letting the process play out and it played out in their favor. Now, the time is perfect for KC to trade Hill, and pitch it as a situation where they simply don’t want to pay a wide receiver $20 million per year.

Whatever team would acquire Hill would probably put some stipulations in his contract that they could get out of it at any point if he has a run-in with the law or the league.

One situation could be the Chiefs hanging on to Hill for this season, franchise tagging him at the end of the year, and then trading him to the highest bidder.

There’s no denying Hill is an exceptional talent. We’ll see if the Chiefs decide to throw a ton of money at him or if they decide the risk is too great over the next eight months.