Ian Rapoport reports that the Chiefs have agreed to trade a 2020 sixth-round pick for the Jets in return for LB Darron Lee.
It’s interesting that this trade was agreed to just hours after the Jets fired GM Mike Maccagnan and elevated Adam Gase to interim GM.
Albert Breer reports that the Chiefs and Jets have been discussing a possible trade of Lee for “a few weeks” but couldn’t agree on the compensation under Maccagnan.
Breer adds that Gase finalized the deal for New York after Maccagnan originally demanded a fifth-round pick for Lee. Kansas City reportedly reached out after Maccagnan’s dismissal.
Lee had been available for trade for months now, but the draft came and went without a deal. Even so, recent reports had said that Lee was still available for trade and it appears as though the Chiefs stepped up to get a deal done.
Lee, 24, is a former first-round pick of the Jets back in 2016. He’s currently in the final year of his four-year, $10.221 million and set to make a base salary of $1.83 million in 2019.
New York just declined Lee’s fifth-year option a few weeks ago, which means he’ll be an unrestricted free agent in 2020.
According to OverTheCap.com, trading Lee will free up $1,843,860 of available cap space while creating $1,325,630 in dead money.
In 2018, Lee appeared 12 games for the Jets and recorded 74 tackles, no sacks, three interceptions with one being returned for a touchdown and five pass defenses.
Looking for the latest NFL Insider News & Rumors?
Be sure to follow NFL Trade Rumors on TWITTER and FACEBOOK for breaking NFL News and Rumors for all 32 teams!
