Football: AFC Playoffs: Houston Texans (75) in action vs Kansas City Chiefs Zach Fulton (73) and Jah Reid (75) at NRG Stadium. Houston, TX 1/9/2016 CREDIT: Robert Beck (Photo by Robert Beck /Sports Illustrated/Getty Images) (Set Number: SI-166 TK1)
A long overdue shift in the guard and tackle market happened this year. With the increasingly poor quality of college Offensive Linemen, teams are getting more and more desperate to find viable starters. Guys like Russell Okung, who PFF rated as the 38th best Tackle in the league, are getting more than 10 million a year. The Chiefs line hasn’t exactly been tops in the league, but they managed to be at least average the past couple years. With such a good market for OL, and Chiefs needing some salary cap space, it might make sense for Dorsey to consider trading one of their depth guys. Specifically, I’m looking at Jah Reid and Zach Fulton.
Jah Reid on the Trading Block: Trading Blockers
Jah Reid was the Chiefs swing tackle last season, though you might not have noticed, because Fisher and Schwartz both played all year, in spite of Schwartz’s injury. While Reid wasn’t exactly competent at T, he was a pretty solid option at RG in the 2015 playoffs, and, at least, better than Donald Stephenson at RT. The Chiefs can save about $2.0M against the cap by trading Reid, and they have his clear successor at Swing Tackle in Bryan Witzmann.
Reid is under contract for this year and the next. A prospective trade partner would be shelling out, in the neighborhood, of $3M a year for Reid’s services. Compared to the market value, that’s a huge bargain and Reid could be a good addition for a cap-strapped team that needs depth on the O-line. The Seattle Seahawks would be a great fit for his skill-set, demeanor and low cap hit. They’re also in major need of depth and Jah Reid could potentially compete for a starting RG job there.
While Chiefs could use the cap space, Reid also has value to them as a depth piece, and they shouldn’t give him up for nothing. I would peg Reid’s value as a high 5th round pick. If Chiefs are trading with a team lower in the draft, like Seattle, they should offer to trade one of their compensatory 6th round picks and their 7th round pick, plus Jah Reid, for Seattle’s 4th round pick. This could enable the Chiefs to snag some real value in this deep draft.
Zach Fulton on the Trading Block: Trading Blockers
Zach Fulton offers a fair bit more value to the Chiefs. He provides depth at C and both OG spots. They don’t have another player on the roster with much experience at C and, if Parker Ehinger starts, they don’t have another LG in their depth chart. Fulton has close to two full years worth of starting reps and knows Chiefs blocking scheme well. Even so, he is in the last year of his contract. If a team is willing to offer decent value for Fulton, the Chiefs should at least consider it. They could save about $1.8M against the cap by trading him.
As far as value is concerned, Fulton is in the last year of his contract which decreases his value some. However, it also means that, if he signs a decent contract in free agency, the Chiefs will get a compensatory pick out of him. Since K.C. would likely keep him this year and get a 5th rounder when he walks in FA, the starting point, to me, has to be a 4th round pick. A prospective team would get a young, quality player on a one year deal and be in the driver’s seat to re-sign him if he works out. I’d consider throwing the Chiefs 7th round pick into the deal if the right team was interested, but anything less than that, and the Chiefs should just hang on to Zach Fulton, who has been there when they needed him for several years now.
Depth is certainly important, but the Chiefs are also in need of cap space, and Dorsey has proven to be pretty good at drafting solid replacements. If the Chiefs could trade Fulton and Reid, along with their cap hits, for Jessamen Dunker and Eric Magnuson, or a good player at a different position (like CB Howard Wilson), it could benefit the team in the long run.
Trading Block: Trading Blockers Bonus Thought
Value for trades changes dramatically after the draft. Any guy that a team is willing to move, after the draft, is a possible cut. Teams don’t want to waste picks on guys they can sign, on the open market, in a month or two. The Chiefs can wait till after the draft to trade an OG, but the compensation will be more like a 7th round pick or player-for-player trade. If you want to get the max value, you have to take the risk of trading players before you have their replacements. Whether that risk is worth taking, or not, will be up to Dorsey.
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