Ex-Chiefs: Raising Them From the Dead

Ex-Chiefs: Raising Them From the Dead – the Kansas City Chiefs have holes in their bucket, dear Liza. They may be Super Bowl champions but when you consider who is under contract, and what kinds of holes that leaves in the Chiefs roster, it’s worth asking, ”Who will fills the voids left by Super Bowl caliber players?”

Chiefs General Manager, Brett Veach, has made it a habit of bringing back players who were already on the roster. Spencer Ware was re-signed in early December of 2019 when the team was thin at RB. OL Jeff Allen was re-signed in October of 2018 then re-signed again in late August of 2019. De’Anthony Thomas (DAT) was re-signed in March of 2018 and resigned again in August of 2019.

Teams always re-sign players they’ve had on the roster previously but now it becomes a more important issue since we’re talking about sustaining a level of excellence that produced a Super Bowl Championship squad.

So, who are these players that the Chiefs could, or might, re-sign? The list is long, so we’ll take a look at a few of the possible players who could be back, and what it might take to bring them back.

UFA: DL, Terrell Suggs

Let’s begin with whether or not Suggs could return to the Chiefs for another run at a ring. Jason La Canfora said last week:

“Hearing it is far from a foregone conclusion that Terrell Suggs retires. Weighing his options. Still loves the game. Could pursue a one-year deal in the right spot.”

First of all, the Chiefs have to decide if they want Suggs back? I would think the answer to that must be yes, he’s one of the most potent defensive players in this generation and even though he’ll be 38 in October, he has to be planned for when he hits the field. By week 17, Suggs defensive snaps were up to 45% and went up from there: 48% in the divisional round, 52% in the AFC Championship game and 57% in the Super Bowl.

In March of 2019, Suggs signed a one-year, $7 million deal with the Arizona Cardinals and then was cut in December. Although he said he would not report if any team claimed him, the Chiefs did and the rest is history. K.C. had to pay him $352,941 for his services and that is likely the best deal Brett Veach has ever made (technically not a Veach deal, but, just sayin’).

If the Chiefs want Suggs back for the 2020 campaign they’ll have to pony up closer to $7M… which… may not be possible with all their other cap and re-signing issues. With Breeland Speaks, Alex Okafor, Tanoh Kpassagnon, Khalen Saunders, Derrick Nnadi, Demone Harris all set to return plus Emmanuel Ogbah, Mike Pennel and Xavier Williams all available on much lesser deals, Steve Spagnuolo has plenty of positive choices to choose from. 

UFA: WR, Demarcus Robinson

With Veach having to deal with the Sammy Watkins/cap situation — which may mean he does or doesn’t return the Chiefs in 2020 — Robinson appears headed out the door. It makes sense that the Eagles would be interested in signing him since they are coached by Doub Pederson who is familiar with him and their system is a fit for him:

With so many other wideouts on the Chiefs roster, it looks like Robinson is headed for a payday the Chiefs will not, can not, and should not, match.

UFA: CB, Bashaud Breeland

Considering what Breeland has done before he became a Chiefs corner: pursuing a bigtime contract in the Spring of 2018 he agreed terms with the Carolina Panthers on a 3-year, $24M deal… then having a two-day pajama party at the Chiefs training camp in August of 2018 then signed with the Packers. It now appears he’s going to maximize his earning potential:

When you see a player shopping his own skills on GMFB, you have to think he’s also going to be pricing himself out of the Chiefs ballpark. Breeland notably said, “I just want to get what I deserve from this league” and when someone uses the words, “what I deserve”… it means they’ll be looking for a payday beyond what the Chiefs will be able to offer. It would be great to have Breeland back but it doesn’t look like it’s in the cards.

UFA: CB Kendall Fuller

While Breeland was probably the Chiefs best corner last year, Fuller found a new groove at Safety after Juan Thornhill went down. That flexibility may either mean the Chiefs go after him or realize they will have to go another direction, depending on how much cap they have left after addressing other issues.

Fuller’s INT to close out the Super Bowl was reminiscent of Malcolm Butler’s INT as he went through a player to get to the ball. That play along with 3 tackles and 2 passes defensed, help to make a more well known commodity of Fuller than he was prior to the Super Bowl. This is a phenomena that happens every year and in this case, as in may others, I think it means he moves on to another team as it’s hard to see Veach being aggressive in re-signing him.

UFA: CB, Morris Claiborne

By going through the most desirable corners on the Chiefs roster first, it leaves what many would consider the least likely to re-sign. However, that may be flipped on its head because if both Fuller and Breeland are able to find other places to play for larger contracts, that might end up leaving Claiborne who played well early in the year but spent most of the time sitting out. Morris played on 17.7% of the defensive snaps but… he is familiar with Spags system and can probably be had for very little… again: Veach signed him for a one year, $2M deal with $3.5M in incentives which he did not achieve. Since Claiborne didn;t stand out at all, he’s likely not going to get much more from another team and since he has had a taste of SB success, he could be re-signed… IF… Veach, Reid, adn Spags, want him back

UFA: LG, Stefen Wisniewski

Wisniewski was an improvement at LG whenever he was inserted. He started the year with the Eagles but was cut on their final roster cut downs then signed with K.C. in early October. Wisniewski only played about 20% of the Chiefs offensive snaps last year, but by week 17 he played 100% of the O-snaps.

While many have identified one of the Chiefs primary weaknesses along the interior of the offensive line, Wisniewski offers some stability, at least until Reid has developed other players who can step up and step in competently. That means, if th4e Chiefs can bring Wis back, they should.

Stefen will be 31 years old next month so he needs to decide if he’s up to another year of grueling work in the trenches instead of retiring on top. He’s won two Super Bowl rings in the past three years (LII with Philly and LIV with K.C.) but if Veach can get him to re-sign, it would be a big boost to the OL. Then, Reid will only need to upgrade at Center and Right Tackle.

Conclusion

Those are the most notable names I’d like to see Brett Veach re-sign. Then there’s also Reggie Ragland, Mike Pennel, and Andrew Wylie, and Deon Yelder who I’d hope can all return to play in red and gold.

This doesn’t address how to fit Chris Jones under the cap of deal with Sammy Watkins either but once those two are taken care of, all the other pieces should begin to fall into place.

So, who are you hoping the Chiefs can bring back from the grave?

Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne

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