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Few teams are willing to part ways with an elite cornerback entering the prime of his career. Yet the Kansas City Chiefs opted to send Marcus Peters packing, in large part because of concerns over the former first-round draft pick's conduct on the field.
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The Los Angeles Rams jumped at the chance to acquire Peters, a Pro Bowl cornerback who just completed his third season in Kansas City.
The Rams and Chiefs agreed to the trade on Friday, but the deal cannot become official until the start of the league year on March 14.
Los Angeles coach Sean McVay, who guided the team to the NFC West title in his first season, offered a simple explanation for pursuing Peters: talent.
"Right now, just because of where we're at in the league year, you can't make it official, so you have to be careful with some of the tampering," McVay told the Kansas Star on Saturday. "But in a quick nugget, he's a great player."
Peters, who turned 25 last month, has registered a league-best 19 interceptions over the past three seasons, but he made headlines in 2017 for his inability to curb his behavior on the field.
He was penalized three times for unsportsmanlike fouls -- two for unnecessary roughness -- last season, and drew a one-game suspension in December for picking up an official's flag and throwing it into the stands.
Because the trade for Peters will not be official for 2 1/2 weeks, McVay had to steer clear of directly addressing any of his transgressions. But he shared his philosophy and expectations for dealing with players with the newspaper.
"These are grown men, and it starts with the mutual respect that exists, where they know it's about developing and building relationships," said McVay. "If we're going to ask our players to be coachable, we've got to be coachable as coaches as well. That displays an ownership and an accountability that we try to all have and makes the players more receptive to the messages we try to implement."
McVay, who was in Kansas City to be honored as the top NFC coach of the year, said his players "know exactly what the expectations are, and they know what it is to do it the right way."
The youngest head coach in the league, McVay, 32, quickly earned the respect of his players in his inaugural season in Los Angeles.
"He's a coach -- he'll get after you when you do something wrong," star Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald told the Star. "Don't let that smile fool you. I've seen that man change."
