Categories: Kansas City ChiefsPaul Pulley

Chiefs: A Look Ahead to the Offseason

Chiefs: A Look Ahead to the Offseason, by Paul Pulley – with just three games remaining in this season, it’s time to look a little ahead to see what the Chiefs need to focus on to prepare for the 2020 season. As I stated in my last article, “Chiefs Chris Jones: Tag and Trade,” I believe that using the franchise tag on Chris Jones, and then trading him for draft picks in order to shore up several areas of need, is a move that should be made.

Now that the regular season is complete, we know the draft order of all non-playoff teams.

The two teams I targeted for a possible trade were the New York Giants, who will be selecting 4th in next years draft, and the other team was the Arizona Cardinals, who have the 8th pick in 2020. Both of these teams have ample cap space to offer a lengthy, high dollar contract to a top defensive lineman. Plus, that keeps Chris Jones out of the AFC.

Fixing the Offensive Line

I believe the Chiefs need to use at least one, and if they can acquire more picks, use two high round picks on offensive linemen.

Prior to the draft will come the Free Agency period: when teams are able to sign players from other teams whose contracts have expired (allowing them to become free agents). I would love to see the Chiefs go get a player such as OG Brandon Scherff. However, I see two problems for trying to shore up the OL using the free agency path.

1) The Chiefs already have 3 starters on the offensive line getting paid pretty handsomely, with a high percentage of the salary cap already allocated to the OL. So, it isn’t financially feasible to add more high priced free agents to this position group.

2) If they spend a lot of money on free agents, they’ll likely end up with “lesser” starters on the OL, who end up getting their franchise QB injured.

I’ve been harping on this for the past 9 months, the Chiefs need to learn from the mistakes… mistakes which the Indianapolis Colts made in protecting their QB, Andrew Luck. That, of course, led to him calling it quits after just 6 years, most of which he spent while seriously injured. K.C. absolutely does not want that scenario to repeat itself with Patrick Mahomes.

The Chiefs have the possibility of bringing back IOL Stefen Wisniewski, who has shown to be a better guard than any other we currently have on the team. Martinas Rankin was playing well before he ended up on injured reserve, so he could be a starter in 2020. We also have Nick Allegretti, Greg Senat and Jackson Barton on the roster, who might be able to contribute to the O-line next year.

The Chiefs need to part ways with both Cameron Erving and Austin Reiter, two of the most underwhelming and underperforming offensive linemen in the league. Releasing these two would create over $5.6 million of cap space.

A Quality Tight End is a Must

Not so long ago, we used to talk about how head coach Andy Reid liked to use 2 and 3 tight end sets. I think Reid can do a lot with this offense if he had a second and even a third tight end. For the 2019 regular season, the Chiefs tight ends not named Travis Kelce, combined for a whopping 11 receptions for an amazing 117 yards… and although my facetiousness is full bloom there, those are downright pathetic stats. Chiefs GM Brett Veach has to do a much better job in securing talent at this position.

Sizing Up Defensive Needs

The defensive line is actually in really good shape… with or without Chris Jones. A huge body that can take on double teams and stuff the inside run would be the only addition I would look for. Hopefully the Chiefs see the need and will be able to re-sign both Mike Pennel and Emmanuel Ogbah for next season.

Taken as a whole, the secondary finished the regular season strong. We all hated to see Juan Thornhill go out with a torn ACL, but it seems advancements in medicine make this a somewhat less career altering injury than it was in years past… thank goodness.

The Chiefs are strong at safety, but additional cornerback depth is needed. Currently for 2020, Charvarius Ward, Rashad Fenton and the UDFA Alex Brown are the only corners on the roster. The Chiefs could attempt to re-sign one or more of: Mo Claiborne, Bashaud Breeland or Kendall Fuller, all of which have given us good plays, but none of these are top flight corners.

Last and Certainly Least: The LBs

Far and away the best linebacker this year has been Damien Wilson and fortunately he is under contract for 2020 at a modest cap hit.

The type of linebacker we were expecting to get with Darron Lee, fast with good coverage skills, is needed. That Lee hasn’t been used except on special teams tells us that he doesn’t fit Spag’s system. Dorian O’Daniel still has 2 years remaining on his rookie contract, so maybe another off-season will get him acclimated to the new defense.

Anthony Hitchens has proven to be a poor investment. I don’t know if there is a stat for missed tackles, but I’m sure he leads the team. If Hitchens happens to be in the right place to make a tackle, he his repeatedly driven backwards by running backs 30-40 pounds lighter than him. He struggles to disengage from blocks, and if a ball carrier gets past him, game over, Hitchens is too slow to chase down even the slowest of RB’s or TE’s. I don’t even want to talk about his lack of coverage skills in the passing game: but, not good.

Order of Team Needs

Yeah, I mean, 1) Offensive line, 2) Cornerback, 3) Tight End and 4) Linebacker, is how I see the needs of the Chiefs going forward. These are the absolute needs for the upcoming off-season that should be addressed in order to improve the team. If circumstances allow, a behemoth of a nose tackle wouldn’t hurt a thing.

However, at the end of the day, we have three playoff games to take care of first. So, with that, times yours.

Paul Pulley — ArrowheadOne

If you are viewing this in Apple News and would like to join the Discussion, [GO HERE.](http://arrowheadone.com/chiefs-a-look-ahead-to-the-offseason/#disqus_thread)

LadnerMorse