Report: LB Darron Lee Traded to Chiefs from Jets for 2020 6th-Round Draft Pick

The New York Jets traded linebacker Darron Lee to the Kansas City Chiefs on Wednesday in exchange for a 2020 sixth-round pick, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. 

The 2016 first-round pick has a cap hit of $1.8 million in 2019, per Spotrac, and can be a free agent after next season after the Jets declined the fifth-year option on his rookie contract earlier this month.

This comes on the same day New York general manager Mike Maccagnan was fired and coach Adam Gase assumed the role of acting GM.

Lee is coming off arguably his most productive season to date, though he was sidelined for the final four games of the 2018 campaign because of a substance-abuse suspension. He racked up 74 tackles, five tackles for loss, five pass breakups, three interceptions and one touchdown last year, earning him a Pro Football Focus rating of 72.4.

Prior to his suspension, he had been on pace to establish a new career high for tackles (94 in 2017).

Lee has totaled 238 tackles, 17 tackles for losses and four sacks in his three-year career.

As productive as Lee may have been last season, his days in the Big Apple appeared numbered after the team signed four-time Pro Bowl linebacker C.J. Mosley to a five-year, $85 million deal in March. 

Meanwhile, Lee becomes the latest park of a defensive overhaul in Kansas City. After finishing 31st in total defense last year, the Chiefs have said goodbye to safety Eric Berry and linebacker Justin Houston. Meanwhile, they have brought in the likes of safety Tyrann Mathieu, defensive end Alex Okafor, defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah and defensive end Frank Clark.