Next Level Thinking

A lot has happened in the Kingdom over the past week since I encouraged everyone to relax. Should you be concerned? Actually, you should have hope. We have a leadership team inside Arrowhead that wants only the best for this team and this city. Chiefs’ Twitter World was full of panic the first day when the news came out that Tyreek Hill may be traded. It was a shock to most of us and within 90 minutes the deal was complete. Let’s look at the reasons that I believe this trade not only makes the Chiefs better long term but also may make them better this next season.

The Tyreek Hill Years

Grading the Dolphins offseason after blockbuster trade for ...
Tyreek, the Cheerleader (He was fined for this) – Miami Herald Photo

The Chiefs drafted Tyreek in the 5th round and ended up paying him about 40 million over a 6 year period of time. Over that time span, he was an All-Pro 3 times and went to the Pro Bowl all 6 years. He was arguably the most dangerous player in the league during that time and forced teams to completely alter their defense in order to account for him. The Chiefs hosted 4 AFC title games, won 1 Super Bowl, and went to one more during Tyreek’s time in Kansas City. What great memories we have of Hill, the playmaker.

The Cost of Transition Is Paid by the Dolphins

tyreek.jpg
Ty Hill as a Dolphin – Getty Images Photo

The Dolphins will be paying 120 million and gave up 5 draft picks to get his services. He will be making right at 30 million per year if he plays out all the years of his contract. So the Chiefs ended up gaining nearly 20 million in cap space for this coming season and 70 million in cap space over the life of his contract.

Tyreek no longer wanted to play for the Chiefs and wanted to be the top paid receiver in the game. I’m thrilled Brett Veach didn’t try and outbid the Dolphins. We have already seen how that extra cap space can be used to better several areas of our team and we are not finished in free agency yet. We also have 3 picks this year and 2 picks next year, giving us more picks in this year’s draft than any other team. We are scheduled to have more cap space than any other franchise over the next year plus.

The Dolphins, I believe, will come to regret going all in right now. They don’t have a quarterback of proven stature. I can’t see Tyreek being considered a top 5 receiver any longer, and maybe not even a top 10 receiver with a Lesser quarterback talent throwing him the ball. He walked away from being able to play with one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time for a pile of money that I’m sure he will enjoy rolling around in. Now that we have covered what the Chiefs will gain in both cap space and additional players in the draft let’s discuss the possible on-field product.

NFL Teams learned how to slow down the Chief’s offense by playing a cover 2 shell. Two safeties were almost always back deep, really neutralizing Tyreek’s greatest ability. Once that was covered you simply had to double team Travis Kelce because our other receivers were average at best.

The Pivot

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Now we see the Chief’s Team transitioning into having some very good receivers instead of one amazing one. This pivot by Brett Veach once it was clear Tyreek did not want to be in KC was next-level thinking and becoming the highest paid WR was his personal goal. We’ve had to say, Goodbye to Mr. Hill. Sure, it hurts. But I’ve accepted Hill’s departure and welcome the next phase.

Patrick will be fine without Tyreek. Mahomes has been at the helm for five games without Hill and Chief’s record for those games was 4-1 without him. That bears out the premise that Mahomes will continue in his winning ways. Having the ability to go all over the field with confidence instead of forcing the ball to your two main receivers should provide instant benefits.

What Comes Our Way Next?

We now had the cap space money with which to now to strengthen our running game with the addition of Ronald Jones. In addition to my belief that the offense will be just as good by the time we get to training camp, we will see a lot of talented players ready to contribute on the defensive side of the ball as well, partly because of the extra cap space as mentioned earlier but also because of the 3 extra draft picks we get in next months draft. Players will be acquired to close exposures that exist at this point in the off-season.

Imagine you get a large lump sum of money. You can either blow that money on an amazing vacation and put all your eggs in one basket or you can diversify your investment portfolio by investing in stocks, bonds, real estate, and have some money left over to donate to a worthy cause and still take a trip to Branson.

Anticipation Raised and Excitement has Been Created in the Off-season

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The NFL Off-Season – Image by tvtechgeeks

When I first heard about this trade I was excited. The more I think of it the more excited I become. Anticipation of dread does exist for some Chief’s fans. Not for me. Not only do I believe we will be a contender this coming year, but this one move has done a ton to ensure that we will be competitive over the Patrick Mahomes era.

Shawn Sorter – ArrowheadOne