Chiefs: Moving Up, Surprises, and the Two Year Plan

Recent signings and developments have the Kansas City Chiefs available cap space sitting at $12,031,931 according to overthecap.com. That includes $72,041,814 spent on offense and $82,275,578 on defense. While the defense has the loin’s share of the cap tipping it’s way the reasons for that has to do with the big contracts that the Chiefs old GM, John Dorsey, gave to OLB Justin Houston and Safety Eric Berry. It’s also clear that the unholiest of holes still exist on the defensive side of the field at Nose Tackle and Safety.

Changing Horses in the Middle of a Stream

It’s been suggested — by Brett Veach himself — that moving up into the first round of the up coming draft might help fill one of those holes. The question is, just how high could he Chiefs hope to target in th first round? Here’s a sample of the picks from the chart the DrafTek provides called the Trade Value Chart:

The Chiefs currently sit at #54 with a value of 360 points, #78 at 200 points and #86 at 160. If you guess that Veach would sell one of his 2nd round picks in 2019 to gain another 360 points, you’d have to give up all those picks to jump up to 1,080 points… or roughly the slot where Arizona picks (or any team just below them). It would likely have to be Baltimore, Seattle, Dallas, Detroit or Cincinnati because Buffalo is attempting to move upwards to get their QBOTF.  It looks like way to much to give up when the Chiefs have so many holes to fill. However, if they could get a top tier player to fill a critical hole, more power to the man.

To Cut, or Not to Cut, That is the Question

Consequently, I can’t help but think that another cut is forthcoming but it would have to be a significant cut to help with the cap. Dee Ford is out because cutting him would mean zero dollars [$000.000] in cap savings this year. DL Allen Bailey would save $5,968,750 but then you’d have to replace him. Cutting Daniel Sorenson saves $2.3M and cutting Demetrius Harris saves $2.1M this year but Sorenson is a needed backup at Safety (and perhaps the starter next to Berry until someone else is signed) and while I can see Harris being released, just what are you going to accomplish by adding $2.1M to the $12.0M already in the coffers?

The Biggest Surprise is the Best Surprise

That leads me to believe that the Chiefs offseason plan is either: A) a two-year deal, or, B) waiting for a “surprise” player to fall into their laps. Now, before you go all Three Stooges on me, remember the Chiefs have had at least one of those “surprise” players fall into their laps each offseason like: Reggie Ragland, Mitchell Schwartz, Jeremy Maclin, Sean Smith or Ron Parker. 

For the past 5 years, you could also say the Chiefs have made their living off of those surprise players. Let’s take a look at the players on this list, players who came to the Chiefs as “acquired” players:

• Husain Abdullah– who would have thought a player coming back from a religious trek could reclaim his old glory.
• Jaye Howard– if you thought he was a camp body addition I wouldn’t blame you but he gave the Chiefs three solid years and in one of those years he was better than Poe.
• Tyvon Branch– now here’s one player who I wish that the Chiefs had re-signed and kept over the years.
• Marcus Cooper– he came in and blew things up at the CB position… then fell off a cliff.
• Anthony Fasano– it was incredible foresight for the Chiefs to have signed Fasano the same year they drafted Travis Kelce because when Kelce went down for the year, Fasano filled in nicely.
• Quenton Demps– was excellent in coverage and he had 4 INTs the one year he was here, in 2013.
• Frank Zombo– he hasn’t been a starter by any means but has been a necessary and consistent stop-gap player every year he’s been here.
• Josh Mauga– he had an excellent year when DJ was out in 2014 when he and Ron Parker led the Chiefs in tackles.
• Bennie Logan– yes, it’s necessary to add him to this list because he had 35 tackles, 1.5 sacks, 1 pass defensed and 9 stuffs.

The Chiefs have also had some surprising success drafting players outside the first or second rounds:

• Kareem Hunt– was the Chiefs most recent 3rd round blessing.
• Travis Kelce– was a 3rd round pick in 2013 and while it’s no surprise now, no one knew back then just how good he could be… and I’d say, he’s pretty good.
• Steven Nelson– figures heavily into the Chiefs 2018 plans.
• Tyreek Hill– was a 5th round choice and may be the organizations biggest surprise ever.
• Laurent Duvernay-Tardif and Rakeem Nunez-Roches– have both been 6th round surprises for sure.

You can make a case that the Kansas City Chiefs would not have accomplished what they’ve accomplished in the past five years without the contributions of these “surprise players.” On the other hand, I’m sure it’s been no surprise to Veach when these players excelled because it was Veach and his crew who had scouted them. 

Only the Young Survive

While waiting for those “surprise” players to appear before our very eyes may be a work in frustration for fans, Andy Reid has also said he’s depending on some of his younger players stepping up because he thinks they deserve a shot. Those players could include:

• Eric Murray
• Leon McQuay
• Ukeme Eligwe
• Tanoh Kpassagnon
• Dadi Nicolas (they kept him around on IR for some reason)
• Parker Ehinger
• Cameron Erving
• Jace Amaro
• Chris Conley
• Jehu Chesson

Unknown Treasures in the Chest

When I look over the list of defensive linemen the Chiefs have on their current list it looks like this:

Josh Augusta– is about the size of Dontari Poe. However, he was not a starter for most of his MU career so if you’re looking for a diamond in the rough, you’ll probably need to look elsewhere.

Justin Hamilton– was on then off then on the Eagles roster in 2017. He played in three games for the Eagles and was on the rosters of the Bills, Packers and Seahawks before that so while he’s only had one year of experience he’s been around the NFL since 2015.

T.Y. McGill– was signed as a free agent by the Seattle Seahawks in 2015 and HC Pete Carrol said of McGill, “All the way through all of our workouts, he’s been impressive” and keep in mind that the Seahawks had won the Super Bowl the previous year and still had their SB roster in tact. While I don’t think he has the height that Reid and Sutton usually look for, he may be a candidate to stick on the Chiefs roster and make a contribution in 2018. Here are his numbers from the N.C. State Pro Day that year:

Mike Purcell– I have to admit up front that I am fond of Wyoming linemen, on both sides of the ball. I think they coach up their linemen as good as any college in the country. Rotoworld says that Purcell’s  “familiarity in 3-4 schemes make him a potential fit in a backup role.” He was signed as an undrafted free agent in 2013 and stayed on the 49ers roster until last year when he was on and off the rosters of the Rams, Bears, Panthers, and Pats before he was signed to the Chiefs practice squad last November and then signed to a reserve/future contract in January by Veach.

If I had to choose one of these inexperienced players to fit the “diamond in the rough” mold, it would be Purcell. Look at the Rams. Bears, Panthers and Pats defensive lines and you can understand why they would not have had room to keep him… even if they saw promise in him.

That’s all speculative of course. All of these players could be camp bodies who are gone by the time the season roles around. However, it does appear that the Chiefs have some ace up their sleeve and it could be one of these young gentlemen.

GM Brett Veach could be planning to fill only one of the holes in his defense this year by trading up, which I mentioned earlier. In that case, the Two-Year Plan to fix this roster will likely be in place… that is unless a “surprise” player hits his doorstep. In that case, we’ll all be like: “WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP WHOPP WHOOP, NYUK NYUK NYUK NYUK NYUK.”  Editors Note: You have to appreciate the sophisticated humor of the Three Stooges to get that one.

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