Chiefs 2019 Status Check
by David Bell | April 19, 2019
A Peek Down the Road: Short Term
(Status Check)
On Wednesday, April 18, Brett Veach had a presser and revealed a few things about his outlook on the upcoming moves by the Kansas City Chiefs in the draft, not excluding Free Agency. He stated he felt that the draft was strong on the down linemen on offense and defense but that those players would be taken off the board quickly. He felt that the linebacker and safety positions were “light” and that cornerback was deep. He ruled out no position except maybe QB and stated he was going to remain flexible in selecting players: he related this to the term aggressiveness. He talked about the secondary and DC Steve Spagnuolo being a secondary type of coach – and this goes along with statements Veach had made early on – that the Chiefs have and would focus on the secondary. This they have done with the additions of Tyrann Mathieu (Safety) and Bashaud Breeland (Cornerback). Not only this but the Chiefs signed Harold Quartey-Jones (Cornerback).
From these statements of the Chiefs GM today, speaks quite a lot to why things have been done in free agency, how Brett Veach views the acquisition of player personnel and how he is going to approach the draft.
For example: his comments about a weak linebacker draft speaks to the reasoning behind signing Damien Wilson and might explain what is going to unfold in the draft to obtain a 43 LB since the draft is soft in this regard. Another example, iterated several times, was that Mr. Veach was going to focus on the secondary. Again, on Wednesday, he emphasized this and observed that it was a pretty strong CB class, but weak at the very top.
Things That I Suspect Are True
Finally, in terms of immediacy which is spoken about in the presser by GM Brett Veach, the plan is to draft players who will have immediate impact. This is important to understand and helps us understand why Veach focused on acquiring Free Agent Defensive Linemen Okafor and Ogbah. Or why he signed LB Wilson. He noted in the presser that the offensive and defensive fronts would likely have the highest impact players selected before the Chiefs pick at 29. He further indicated that he was not as inclined to be aggressive in the draft as he was last year, or for that matter, under John Dorsey when they moved up from #27 to draft Patrick Mahomes at number ten. He thus indicated that his focus was to specifically find players who would be immediate starters or have high quality impact snaps with consideration that he would have four picks in the top 100 players. He did not intimate that he would trade out of round one but that would give him an additional 5th pick in about the top 100. [I have written about this several times of late.]
If he is going to approach the draft his way, the more picks he has in rounds 1-3 aid in the success of finding players who are going to be starters. See the article this week called, “Chiefs: Using the haler Factor” as a point of reference, especially finding players who can start or have immediate impact would be the focus of bringing players on board. This explains quite succinctly how the organization will approach players selected in the draft, at least among those selected in the top 100 – who they are, what position they play is going to point to what can be expected. I fully believe they will indeed obtain 4 players of immediate impact… hopefully all starter-quality players but certainly the acquired TE that I anticipate will need to be able to take on the #2 TE role immediately.
Note: The drafted TE will get starter-quality snaps and a Tight End who is immediately brought to the fore because Travis Kelce is in recovery and rehab from his ankle surgery which will allow Andy Reid’s crew to give a newcomer starter-quality snaps through S/T, camp and pre-season — IOW, a crash course!
It is my hope that the Chiefs add 4 players who will be crucially important to the success of the defense and a TE who is the #2 TE out of the gate for PM2. Adding 3 critical pieces to the defense from the draft would go a long way towards resolving the weaknesses on defense that still exist. Other players drafted would then add depth and then Veach can find UDFA’s or late F/A signings to fill out the 53 man roster.
Positions of Impact?
Here is my list of greatest need/desire positions for Veach to focus upon:
Safety, Cornerback, Linebacker, Tight End, Offensive Lineman is my list of import for the 2019 draft. For the offensive lineman, I believe this player must be a high pick and capable of being a starter on opening day. Mitch Morse and Jordan Devey have departed and Ransom notes that it would be crazy not to draft a player for center in this year’s draft. I agree with this but I also think that the staff feels that Austin Reiter will be the opening day starter. Also, keep in mind that my plan is to reduce players of high cost as much as possible and for 2020 I am looking to replacing the high cost of playing a tackle first round player money for a tackle who does not give me a cost effective performance for that same money — Eric Fisher. Our #2 WR is Sammy Watkins and I like having him aboard. He also though is a very high cost player. The coaching staff needs to run up a WR to replace Watkins talent.
In recent work, my articles verbalized the same reoccurring theme: quality players from among the top 100 picks and expanding the number of picks from 4 to 5 in the draft via trading back. Also pointed to as a means of continued improvement for the roster. Brett Veach will likely try to add another significant Free Agent to resolve a position of weakness or a player depth exposure – or both, and that his work will then be focusing on other position exposures having resolved at least one via that particular F/A signing. Moving forward into the draft then, would be the status of players on the free agent board as the draft board is swapped in and this is where they will arrive at a point in time next Thursday, when the first round player selection begins.
Intermediate Time (2019 Season, Playoffs):
A workup of a Roster without Draftees
Let’s look down the road to the day before the Chiefs play in the Super Bowl, but using the “Best So Far Roster” below. It has positions where I think a draftee is needed or could be placed, but of course, no names. List is not built to limit to 63 players but it’s close. Not knowing who the draftees are makes it impossible to limit to a 53 man roster. So, consider this as you peruse the players listed.
What improvements that can be made will be at least, as Veach noted in his presser Wednesday, providing PM2 with another impact player of skill. This can be then, a top RB, WR or TE. One of the two impact players will be a Tight End.
Then There’s the Defense
Everyone is concerned, worried or anticipating abject horror 2019’s season as being the type of season for the defense that is similar to 2018. My answer to that is “That is pure bunk.” It is true that we have many unproven players, a new DC and his staff and a new defense. What is not true is that all of these players are fodder and fill. It’s plainly not true unless you just are not going to accept that Veach knows what he is doing.
There are those among us who bemoan the loss of Houston or Ford (Why? Y’all wanted him fired for three seasons now), or Berry. It is true these players were significant departures. So was the loss of Allen Bailey, but in reality, what did these players offer for the team in terms of recent top level performance? Or a fit for the 4-3 defense? Get the point? We also lost Steven Nelson (the most targeted player in 2018 who had no over the top help from the safety essentially at all. He ended up ranked 31st among all safeties, not bad considering the defensive sets Bob Sutton ran all season. So, that is 4 departures right there that had to be replaced.
The additions of players all fit a different persona and are a matchup for the 43 defense. They all possess skill that is different and a mental attitude. What Is happening is that the defense re-opens under… “New Management”. Look forward to this.
Certainly things are less certain here but it cannot, in my judgment, be as bad as it has been for two seasons.
A Peek Further Down the Road
Put it this way: they should have resolved much of the salary problems that were confronting the team at the end of 2016. In 2020 they have a bunch of cap space: $58M as of this date. With Jones, Hill and Mahomes in the fold, Veach will be able to work on many other players and continue to build from within as 2020 opens. This means they will have released Sammy Watkins and Eric Fisher, gaining $30M in cap space to get to $82M in today’s money and existing players who are signed in 2020 and/or beyond. This a very nice position for Brett Veach to operate from. Certainly enough to cover Mahomes extension. That certainly puts the team in wonderful position to retain and extend players they view as must retain core players. I will say this: I still like Sammy Watkins and feel it most important to replace Eric Fisher with a more cost effective player.
So now… we wait and fill time again for another 6 days to get to next Thursday, 4/25. Unlike other years and other observers, I am very much looking forward to this draft!
David Bell – ArrowheadOne
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