David Bell
Sitting here in my office, I entered into a heated debate with myself and could not discern from the results of the the fiddle fadling around to ensure I had a good answer. Originally, I had CB as the next position group that Veach should fill from Free Agency. Why? The Chiefs could not re-sign CB L’Jarius Sneed and that hurts. At the same time, since we have an important cog in the WR room with legal problems that will result in his suspension in the undetermined future, I wavered, and thought to myself: Sign a free Agent WR? Of course, the debate raged on and I still wanted to bring Jerick McKinnon back to the fold for one more season.
So what’s my resulting answer? Truly, I mystified myself. Weighing any one of the 3-position groups as being truly in need came up with the following thoughts.
My Logic Tells Me . . .
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- It’s not RB – Behind Isiah Pacheco, the Chiefs #2 RB is Clyde Edwards-Helaire. What else is possible among the existing Roster Players? Keaontay Ingram and Deneric Prince. I must also keep in mind that the Chiefs brought the Welsh Rugby star turned Footballer, Louis Rees-Zammit, who has been turning heads during the rookie camp and thus far in the early phases of the OTAs. Also on the roster is Hassan Hall who has one year of NFL experience and Rookie UDFA Carson Steele.
- It’s not CB – The Chiefs are blessed with players already with NFL experience ready to go. Trent McDuffie, Jaylen Watson, Joshua Williams, Nazeeh Johnson (back and performing well after a knee injury in 2023), Nic Jones, and the 5th-round draftee Kamal Hadden. More players are UDFAs, but that is a good list of likely starters and depth players who are likely to comprise the CB Group. Besides that, the Chiefs have an ace-in-the-hole with Dave Merritt coaching them up. I am satisfied that this will sort itself out. My only question is who becomes the Slot CB? Hopefully, a defender emerges who can do most of what L’Jarius Sneed did in 2023. The Chiefs ensured that Nazeeh Johnson returned by securing his services for 2024 with an exclusive rights deal. He is the player that I see as emerging in this season. He played in 11 games in 2023. I like what I’m hearing about Chamarri Connor plus 4th-round pick Jaden Hicks, and the Chiefs 6th-round draft selection, Kamal Hadden.
- It’s not a high-priced WR. – I would like to see one signed, but monies in this case are going to be too steep for Brett Veach to cut a deal and land a difference maker. At least that’s my view about it. We have a bevy of potential starters in the backing group (KT, Justyn Ross, Justin Watson, Skyy Moore, and Nikko Remigio to name players who could possibly emerge). Both Watson and Remigio are showing well thus far. I did not have TE as a position group of need. TE Jered Wiley is going to vie for the #2 role and I can see 4 TEs on the roster… easily.
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Cap Thoughts
Bed, Bath and the Great BEYOND
Oh the tapestries we weave… of course, I am not a Chiefs Insider. I don’t, and can’t, know what the thinking is at One Arrowhead Way. Brett Veach could surprise us all with a major signing… because… they do have more than $14.6M available in cap space at present according to Spotrac.com. Here’s how the Salary Cap looks for now. Figures below are from overthecap.com as well as NFLOperations.com:
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The Chiefs Have Signed 6 of their 7 draft picks:
• TE Jared Wiley (4th round)
• safety Jaden Hicks (fourth round)
• center Hunter Nourzad (fifth round)
• cornerback Kamal Hadden (sixth round)
• offensive guard C.J. Hanson (seventh round)
• offensive tackle Kingsley Suamataia signed earlier this week
• first-round pick Xavier Worthy has not yet signed his rookie contract
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The Chiefs have also signed the following UDFAs:
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I am curious about how well the 6-foot-4, 314 lbs. DT Fabien Lovett Sr. out of Florida State (same school Derrick Nnadi went to) fits into the picture! I also note that there are OL players and CBs that I don’t know about… yet! Once the pads go on in Training Camp, we will learn a lot more. I also like the 6-foot-1, 241 lbs. LB out of Penn State, Curtis Jacobs.
Laddie and I believe that two more will at least get a shot at the PS: DT Lovett, I have already been a believer in and I was surprised he was not drafted. Before the draft, I had taken a look at Utah CB Miles Battle. I have no idea if my intuition about these players is correct or not.
I did take a look at available Free Agents in all three position groups. None were someone that I thought the Chiefs would pull the trigger on. There is always speculation, that the Chiefs should trade for ______ ______ (you fill in the blank).
I think that what we will discover is… that GM Brett Veach has aced another draft! To ensure roster depth, the Chiefs signed ERFAs like Nazeeh Johnson and Malik Herring. For me? — > the debate rages on. I am hard-pressed to pick where I think a free-agent signing is a must.
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David Bell — ArrowheadOne
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