David Bell
I am going to anticipate certain actions by GM Brett Veach will not please many of the ArrowheadOne and Chiefs fans who will in response, howl to the moon! I will state that I have come full circle in my views of the offseason.
I believe that the Front Office Staff, GM, HC Coach & coaching staff, the Scouting crew, — it’s already mapped as “The Chiefs 2024 Offseason & Draft Strategy.” It’s on paper, in front of all members involved. The view was drastically improved with the announcement by the NFL that the new Cap would be $255.4M.
Do I need to recall the various players, whom we here at ArrowheadOne and all over the Chiefs Kingdom, the various players who have not been retained? Let me give you a short list: Alex Smith, Orlando Brown, Jr, Mitch Schwartz, Tyreek Hill, Eric Berry & so on. All pretty tops in their field. The public was notified on Friday that the new NFL Cap would be $255.4M so, if you are figuring, then take the $15M+ and add $12M+. Add in the amount of Cap Space gain from the Mahomes reworked contract — see Item 1 below — and that might change a couple of items. For today, I will stick with my premise for now.
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The Chiefs need to solidify the Front Five – Action will be needed (Image from Clutchpoints)
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Here is my prediction list
For the Chiefs 2024 Blue Print
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Theresa McCracken image credit
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- Patrick Mahomes agrees to rework his contract which provides big cap space relief –> guessing $20M+ for PM. The rest would be paid to him immediately in the form of a Roster Bonus
- Chris Jones Departs in Free Agency –> Decision Point? Age 30 in 2024
- L’Jarius Sneed is released to Free Agency –> Decision Point? Sneed is in the “give me the moolah mode”
- Donovan Smith gets a new contract, for 1 year –> Decision Point? The deal is made as long as his money demands are not too, steep; the Chiefs have 4 of 5 OLs locked up & both Taylor & Smith will improve in their 2nd season as Chiefs
- Drue Tranquill gets a new 3-year contract –> Probably his last with the Chiefs
- Willie Gay returns on a 1-year deal
- The Chiefs will indeed extend the contract of Nick Bolton –> the new cap value makes this almost assured
- Does the new NFL Cap of $255M mean that either Jones or Sneed or both will be retained? That’s a big maybe. There are many contributing factors and benefactors on both sides of the ball that may find their way to remaining a “Chief.” “NFL salary cap set at $255.4M per team for 2024 regular season.”
- A F/A WR will be signed for 2024.
- Numerous veteran free agents will be signed in 2024.
- The Import of the Chiefs Draft – Figure on at least a trade out of one of the known draft positions to get another pick.
- KC keeps getting younger, stronger, and faster each offseason
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The Draft – a Retro-cognition Projection
- Chiefs Draft Pick #1 DT – youth vs age & the Spags/Cullen factor –> needed, whether Jones is back or not
- Chiefs Draft Pick #2 OT – needed to maintain OT Depth, regardless of Donovan Smith –> the Andy Heck Factor
- Chiefs Draft Pick, #3 Edge – keep the input to the DL –> Joe Cullen factor
- Chiefs Draft Pick, #4 TE – here, I am hoping for KSU’s Ben Sinnott
- Chiefs Draft Pick, #5 WR – keep Building the WR Corps –> this could move up to the 1st pick, but lose WR coach
- Chiefs Draft Pick#6, awarded for Andrew Wiley – CB –> Dave Merritt Factor
- Chiefs Draft Pick #7 Acquired by trading back earlier in the draft –> thinking of WR or CB here, too
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Retro-cognition
Of course, I have no clue as to what the Chiefs official offseason blueprint looks like. I am making this view available due to prior years of the Chiefs offseason activity. I don’t think it’s an uncanny or foolproof outlook, but it closely mirrors what Brett Veach has done during the Reid/Veach era.
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David Bell — ArrowheadOne
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