Chiefs and Ravens Complete Pre-Draft Trade Betting

As the world saw in betting Super Bowl LV, when playing without their pair of injured offensive tackles, the Chiefs offense was stoppable.

First Kansas City made a run at 49ers free-agent tackle Trent Williams, forcing San Francisco to pay a record contract to keep him. But now Kansas City has its new left tackle in the person of Orlando Brown, Jr., a two-time Pro Bowler with the Ravens.

Brown was being shopped by Baltimore after he requested a trade. He wants to play left tackle, the position he played in 2020 as an injury fill-in for All-Pro Ronnie Stanley, but Stanley is locked up with the Ravens long-term, Brown was moving back to right tackle, and he didn’t want that.

Trade to Kansas City a Surprise

The Ravens honoring Brown’s trade request to a team that will play him on the left side is not surprising. In fact it’s laudable. But moving him to the two-time defending AFC Champions is a surprise.

Picking 31st in the first round, it is highly unlikely that the Chiefs would have found a tackle who could start on the left side. And as we saw in the Super Bowl, plugging that hole with a backup tackle or out-of-position guard could prove problematic, to the point where it could become a fatal flaw in the offense.

Instead, because of the trade, the Ravens will now be chasing a team that has a completely re-built offensive line and a 24-year-old two-time Pro Bowler taking care of Patrick Mahomes’ backside.

Trade Specifics

Kansas City gives up their first-round pick in this coming weekend’s draft (No. 31), plus its third (No. 94) and fourth rounder (No. 136) in 2021. The Chiefs also give Baltimore a fifth-round pick in 2022.

The Ravens send Brown to Kansas City plus their second-round pick (No. 58) this weekend. Kansas City also gets Baltimore’s sixth-round pick in 2022.

It’s that second-round pick going back to Kansas City that has many fans and media in Baltimore criticizing the trade. The issue is the value of draft capital exchanged – No. 58 overall in exchange for No. 94 and No. 136.

According to ESPN’s NFL Draft Pick Value Chart, the 58th overall pick has a draft value of 320. Whereas the 94th overall pick has a value of 124, and the 136th overall pick has a value of 38.

That actually means that in the exchange of draft capital, Kansas City improved its stock by nearly double (320 to 162), and only had to give up the 31st overall pick for Brown, a much better player than anyone they could have drafted.

Chiefs fans are naturally happy with the trade, with the one concern being that Brown isn’t under contract after this season. But if the Ravens can use their two first-round picks to get one of the best wide receivers available, giving Lamar Jackson another quality weapon on the outside, fans in Baltimore will also be happy with the overall result.

Betting markets are equally positive on the moves. BetUS sportsbook set the Chiefs’ upcoming season win total at 12½ games, while just behind, the Ravens boast a win total of 11½.

49ers Down to Two QBs at No. 3

The presumed No. 1 and No. 2 picks in the 2021 NFL Draft are Trevor Lawrence to Jacksonville and Zack Wilson to the New York Jets. The big question of the week is what will San Francisco do at No. 3.

It’s unlikely that the Niners traded up to get the third overall pick without knowing what they wanted to do, but according to reports that is indeed the case. Ohio State’s Justin Fields is out at the possible new quarterback in San Francisco, and the team is now deciding between Mac Jones of Alabama and Trey Lance of North Dakota State.

The two quarterbacks couldn’t have been more different in 2020. Jones was a national champion with Alabama and threw for 4,500 yards and 41 touchdowns. On the other hand COVID-19 held Lance and NDSU to just a single game in 2020.

Lance did lead NDSU to an FCS national championship in 2019, but at only 20-years-old and having not played much football in a year and a half, does he present too much risk at No. 3? Bettors will have until Thursday to wager on what moves 49ers G.M. John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan will make.

First Pick of The 2021 NFL Draft at BetUS

2nd Pick Overall