David Bell
.
.
Titans have traded for L’Jarius Sneed
.
.
I was taking a look at the cap space at the time Veach signed Hollywood Brown and that move cut the available cap space just about in half. Also, subtract nearly $3M that it will take to sign the 2024 rookies from the draft and the cupboard is nearly bare. Laddie and I discussed this last night over the phone. Let me identify what needs to be done with the observation about what’s in the cupboard
Stats come to us from Overthecap.com.
.
Chiefs Base Salary Cap:
$255,400,000
.
- Top 51 players: $237,776,211
- Dead Money: $5,901,251
- Team Cap Space: $7,608,425 (Subtract the $2.8M to get the rookies signed)
.
To get started:
- $2.8M to sign rookies
- Find a Veteran LOT
- Plus, add a LOT in the draft
- If possible, add a WR pre-draft -after much thought -Panthers WR DJ Chark or Bengals WR Tyler Boyd
- Draft an OG, & can we find an OG F/A to bring aboard?
- It looks like Sneed will be in K.C. in 2024 (whew, meant to intone the cost or the lack of draft picks, both)
- Veach must create cap space ASAP!
- With Sneed moving on, the amount of Cap Space K.C. has increases by $19.8M
.
Maybe it’s all a piece of cake, but I doubt it. This is Brett Veach’s struggle! Meanwhile, the rest of the NFL has become a case of –> “As the QB World Churns.” Twenty-one quarterbacks have changed teams. You heard that right – 21. As a Chiefs fan, I can thank my lucky stars that due to moving up to pick #10 in 2017, former Chiefs GM John Dorsey drafted the GOAT of all-time to be: Patrick Mahomes.
Relive a bit of memorabilia from 2017, here with Peter Schrager on Twitter @PSchrags of Good Morning Football:
.
.
Watch for any Chiefs signings over the next month. It will tell us a lot before we get to the draft! The Free Agent Market Remains Robust With Possibilities.
.
.
My List of Position Needs:
LOT, WR (2 WRs: one early and one later in the draft), Edge, OG, DT, CB, RB, S, add 2nd OT
.
My Fantasy World Approach Does Not
Include OT Joe Alt (Sorry About That)
I think the most glaring exposure is LOT, but the draft will have several WRs worthy of selection. I think the WRs are so deep in the Draft that the Chiefs could reap a bounty even in Round 3 or later. I expect Brett Veach to select two WRs for this draft. A top WR will still be available in later rounds and this probably means an OT will be the first player selected… if the right OT candidate is available.
It may also end up being the case in which Brett Veach trades out of the first round. Both positions are of equal importance in my mind. As Round one winds down, whichever position offers the best of the best is how the Chiefs will select a BPA – Best-player-Available (at a position of need).
DT dropped in import because Veach signed both Wharton and Nnadi back to the roster. Note as well that we don’t know when or if Charles Omenihu can return to the roster. He could end up being released. I did have TE as a top consideration, but signing Irv Smith negates the importance of drafting a Tight End. Still, there are a couple of worthy draft targets for the TE role. With each draft pick, the goal is to develop competition in all player groups and infuse young and less expensive players into the roster.
Last Evening, I proposed to Laddie Morse that the Chiefs trade out of Round one and select Houston’s Patrick Paul. Paul is already a LOT, and his footwork is already geared to the left side. My proposal about this selection is dependent on KC re-signing Donovan Smith, or a veteran equivalent, with experience on the left side of the OL.
OL Coach Andy Heck and HC Andy Reid must decide whether Wanya Morris will be the future LOT or not. Hence, my proposed re-signing of Smith. Taking Paul with the late-round two selection seems highly possible. Paul is ranked as the 50th best player overall by DrafTek and the 81st best player overall by CBS Sports and the 90th best player overall by PFF. Average all of them out and you come up 74. So, LT Patrick Paul should be there when K.C. selects at #64, their second Round pick.
With the early part of round two, Veach could take the BPA, which could well be a WR. Then, with their own pick in round two, Veach could select the top WR who fits with speed and football IQ. In making this trade, KC also garnered another draft pick. My outlook could shift to using pick 32 to select Patrick Paul. Of course, the predicate would be: can GM Brett Veach find a trade partner with an early-round two picks?
.
About Former Houston Cougar Patrick Paul
UofH Game photo
.
Here is a link to Pro Football Reference’s Draft Profile for the 6-foot-7, 315 lbs. Patrick Paul:
.
The Relative Athletic Score for Patrick Paul
.
.
Of course, this is just one approach to resolving depth at LOT, and it requires the machinations of our Maverick GM, Brett Veach! Veach will likely re-sign Donovan Smith back to the roster, Draft Patrick Paul (or someone like him), and set up a competition among three players for the 2024 season between: Smith, Paul, and Wanya Morris. Re-signing Smith would require another Chiefs player, or more than one, to re-structure their contracts to provide more Cap monies. You have to figure that the Chiefs would need about $5M in funds for operation of personnel during the regular season, too.
.
Other Factors
Refer back to the Cap Space Reference above. Note that the market for L’Jarius Sneed has dwindled away. It might well be that Sneed could work out a 4-year long-term contract with Brett Veach that would reduce the cap hit that applies to the Franchise Tag ($19.8M) for 2024.
Or… a week before the draft, a team in dire need of a CB — who may also realize they won’t be able to get a great corner in the draft — renews its pursuit of a trade with the Chiefs to obtain the services of L’Jarius Sneed. I’d love to see another veteran WR be added to the WR group, and it would be great to draft two WRs in the upcoming draft, which is now just about a month away. The movement of Sneed allows for this kind of addition.
.
Titans have traded for L’Jarius Sneed
.
.
With this, I have provided my most recent proposal for the remainder of the 2024 Offseason.
.
David Bell — ArrowheadOne
.