The Chiefs and Lions are staring at two very different problems, but the fix could come from the same place.
Kansas City is heading into Week 8 against the Denver Broncos with a wide receiver room held together by fringe options. Detroit, meanwhile, has been combing through every possible answer at cornerback since before the season started. That makes the two teams a logical pairing if either side is willing to swing a rare player-for-player deal.
For the Chiefs, the issue at receiver has only gotten worse. Rashee Rice has not practiced in weeks after a hamstring injury suffered in Week 4, and Tyquan Thornton’s ankle injury from that same week took away the one true vertical threat Patrick Mahomes had in the passing game. Against the Seattle Seahawks, the lack of reliable targets showed up in a big way.
There also does not seem to be a clean trade market for Kansas City if the goal is to add someone who can actually stretch the field. Brian Thomas Jr. is off the table for the Jaguars.
Beyond that, the options all come with questions. Calvin Ridley is one possibility, but would he move the meter?
Josh Downs would cost real draft capital. Dyami Brown is hardly a game-changer.
Laquon Treadwell is Laquon Treadwell.
That’s where Isaac TeSlaa enters the conversation.
TeSlaa stands out because of what he looked like before the draft. His Relative Athletic Score was 9.93, and at 6-foot-4, 214 pounds, he looks more like a tight end who can move than a typical wideout.
Isaac TeSlaa was drafted in round 3 pick 70 in the 2025 draft class. He scored a 9.93 #RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 29 out of 3816 WR from 1987 to 2025. https://t.co/6qWoPzgVd8 pic.twitter.com/YwK0ftOmwA
- RAS.football (@MathBomb) April 26, 2025
Detroit took him in the third round a year ago, which means he is under control through the 2028 season. He also brings real value as a blocker, and that would matter for a Chiefs offense that should lean on the run if it can also threaten defenses vertically again. TeSlaa would give Kansas City an end zone target and make bigger personnel groupings much more dangerous.
From Detroit’s side, the appeal is obvious too. TeSlaa is buried behind Jameson Williams, Amon-Ra St.
Brown, Jahmyr Gibbs and Sam LaPorta. The Lions have plenty of options in the passing game, and turning one of them into help for the secondary could be tempting.
That secondary has been a concern for most of the year. D.J.
Reed struggled early. Injuries to Ennis Rakestraw and Rock Ya-Sin thinned the cornerback group even further.
Roger McCreary has a limited ceiling in the slot, and the defense has also dealt with injuries at safety, including Brian Branch and Avonte Maddox.
The picture is a little better now, with Reed playing better and Rakestraw back, but Detroit still looks vulnerable if it does not add another corner. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler has already connected Fulton to the Lions ahead of the trade deadline, so this is not a random fit.
Kristian Fulton would give Detroit something it badly needs: a ready-made boundary corner who can step in right away. His role in Kansas City has been strange. Brett Veach gave him a two-year, $20 million deal in 2025, but Steve Spagnuolo has rarely used him, and even after the secondary was rebuilt, Fulton has stayed stuck as the team’s third corner.
Even so, he still has a solid track record, with 54 career starts, and he could slide directly into a starting spot for Detroit. That sort of immediate help is hard to find this time of year.
There is still the money to sort out, with more than $5 million needed to cover Fulton’s cap hit for Detroit. But if the sides can work through that, the deal makes a certain kind of sense.
The Lions would be giving up a player they traded up for just a year ago, and the Chiefs would be taking on real risk at receiver while weakening their secondary. Still, both teams have clear holes, both need to act at the midpoint of the season, and a swap like this would leave each of them with a better shot to survive the stretch run without emptying the draft cabinet.
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