Top 5 LBs K.C. Should Take a Look At – The NFL 2020 Trade Deadline is coming up next Tuesday at 4:00 ET. With that in mind, and the idea that the Kansas City Chiefs will be players prior to that time — an assumption on my part — let’s take a look at 5 Linebackers who may, or may not, be available as trade bait, or free agents.
Before we get to the possible players the Chiefs could sign or trade for who might help them at the LB position, let’s consider those who have already been traded. Just yesterday, the Cincinnati Bengals traded DE Carlos Dunlap to the Seattle Seahawks to help with their pass rush. In return, the Bengals acquired G/C B.J. Finney and a 7th-round pick in the 2021 NFL draft from the Seattle Seahawks, for Dunlap. Since the Bengals current record is 1-and-5 and they’re clearly going nowhere this season (meaning that the playoffs are not in their sights this year), they may also be in the market to move some other, older players, or players with burdensome contracts.
Also, a somewhat confounding trade to me involves the 2-and-5 Dallas Cowboys, who sent DE Everson Griffen to the Detroit Lions for a conditional 2021 6th-round draft pick, and the Cowboys will have to pay half of his $6M salary this year. The Cowboys are only one-half game out of the lead for the NFC East so that’s the reason I’m miffed about this trade.
Jarrad Davis
Speaking of the Detroit Lions, they have a little used Linebacker who seems to have fallen out of favor with head coach Matt Patricia. Davis was suggest by one of our faithful bloggers here at ArrowheadOne and while I’m not terrifically excited about him, he could end up being a boon for the Chiefs, and for Matt House, the Chiefs LB coach. The Lions list Jarrad Davis as a starter, but he doesn’t get starter’s snaps.
Now, compare that to the number of snaps each is getting, as provided by Football Outsiders:
These represent all of the snaps for the whole season thus far. As a 4th year LB, Davis should be playing more in the 65% to 90% range. By comparison, Willie Gay is up to 24.1% of the Chiefs LB snaps and Ben Neimann is at 42.5%.
Jarrad Davis was the 21st pick in the 2017, yes, 11 picks after Patrick Mahomes was taken by the Chiefs. If you recall, GM Brett Veach traded for Reggie Ragland and he was a 2nd round pick in the 2016 NFL draft. While Ragland had a knee issue, Veach sent a 4th round pick to the Buffalo Bills for him, so even if J.Davis has fallen out of favor, his value to them may be more in line with the Ragland trade, especially since he’s still young at 25 years old. Maybe it’s like comparing apples to oranges but, the above mentioned, Carlos Dunlap, is 31 years old and likely doesn’t have that many years as a viable threat at DE so comparing that trade to this doesn’t seem kosher to me.
While I don’t see Davis as a great cover-LB, he should give the Chiefs some extra pop for their run defense. Davis is 6-foot-1, 245 lbs. and had 96 tackles his first year, 2017, then had 100 tackles in 2018, his best year, a year when he had 976 snaps while leading all Detroit LBs in that department. This year? 15 tackles in 6 games averaging 24 defensive snaps per game… and heading nowhere fast. Consequently, he could be a prime suspect at the trade deadline.
Alec Ogletree
Alec Ogletree is a free agent. Although Ogletree is only 29 years old, what may be troublesome is that he played for the N.Y. Jets earlier this year. Yes, I think the Jets are that bad. On September 10, Ogletree was signed by Jets to their practice squad and was promoted to their active roster on September 19… the… was released on October 10. Now, the fact that he was released is seen by me as a good thing because the Jets may have already been in sellout mode by then. Enough of the conspiracy theories… let’s take a look at Ogletree.
Alec Ogletree was the 30th pick in the 2013 NFL draft by the then St. Louis Rams. He’s also played for the Giants and the Jets. Ogletree was a second team All-Pro in 2016 and was once thought to be among the best LBs in the league. Here’s Ogletree setting a Sports Science Hit record from 2013, which includes comparisons to other players like Lamarr Woodley and Von Miller:
Ogletree may not be the type of personality the Chiefs are looking to stock the locker room with, but even if his skills have diminished, he would likely be an upgrade over what the Chiefs have now. Plus, there’s no telling how much a veteran LB with his experience could feel inspired playing for a title contender like the Kansas City Chiefs.
Denzel Perryman
Kristopher Knox of Bleacher Report had an article yesterday called, “NFL Trade Block Big Board Entering Week 8 – Latest NFL Trade Deadline Buzz” in which he listed the L.A. Chargers LB Denzel Perryman as a potential trading piece for them. While creating any trade between division rivals is problematic, it’s hard to ignore a player like Perryman.
The then San Diego Chargers took Perryman in the 2nd round with the 48th overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft. At 5-foot-11, 240 lbs., Perryman may only be a run stopper but hasn’t been particularly productive in his career. In his first 5 years in the league he’s averaged 60 tackles per season and never had more than 73 tackles which he produced in his rookie year. In college, Perryman was thought highly of and since he went to Miami, where Ray Lewis once played, he, like everyone else, was gunning to be the next RL.
While Perryman may not be the brightest star to insert at the LB position, the Chiefs need to look at all possibilities… considering what they’ve got.
Joel Iyiegbuniwe
A developmental Linebacker? Yep. Why, because I’d like to see the Chiefs do anything to improve their current state of affairs at the LB position. Joel Iyiegbuniwe — aka, “Iggy” — is currently a backup on the Chicago Bears roster. With all the talent in front of Iyiegbuniwe on the Bears roster, it may just be that he has that special something that just can’t get on the field yet. After all, Chicago took LB Roquan Smith with the 8th overall pick the same year (2018). He hails from Western Kentucky (same as Deon Yelder) and was drafted in the 4th round — 115th overall — by… Da’Bearz!
Joel Iyiegbuniwe ran a 4.6 – 40 yard dash at the combine and Luis Medina at Bleacher Nation says his strengths include:
Forcing three fumbles in 2017 shows an ability to create turnovers, which has been something Bears defenders have had trouble doing in recent years. Appears to play faster than his timed 4.6 40-yard dash time. Perhaps it’s because he has smooth movements that show up when he is asked to drop into coverage. Experienced special teams contributor who picked up 11 tackles in return coverage in his career. Bears special teams could use an up-tick in production, as it’s been a while since that group has been viewed as a strength.
Anytime a player shines in Special teams coming out of college, he is likely to get the attention of more than one of the Chiefs coaches. It’s what sets many players apart from, thems dat ain’t wurth a dang.
Iyiegbuniwe may be an undersized LB like Dorian O’Daniel (and don’t ask me why he isn’t getting more snaps) but with the passing game taking off like a bottle rocket in the NFL this year, I expect these kinds of LBs to be valued more and more. While some of the other prospects I’ve shared here may not be good in coverage, Joel Iyiegbuniwe could be that guy.
Avery Williamson
In an article on Wednesday of this week, Adam Hermann of Yahoo wrote a piece called, “NFL trade rumors: Eagles eyeing Jets, Texans linebackers ahead of trade deadline,” in which he says,
“[Avery] Williamson is more palatable [than Zach Cunningham], money-wise – his cap hit this season is just $4.75 million in the final year of his deal – but if you don’t bring him back, trading anything of value for what could be a rental player in a year where the Eagles clearly aren’t real contenders would be a worrisome move.”
Hermann goes on to say that the Eagles are attempting to move Alshon Jeffery’s contract and pick up a LB at the same time and that not only is Avery Williamson a target but that Zach Cunningham could be a target as well, albeit a much more expensive proposition. Having said that, and having chosen Avery Williamson as someone the Chief could also target with the idea that Williamson could come in and play for half a season then possibly be gone… if there was any way the Chiefs could swing a deal for Zach Cunningham, I’d be over the moon.
It may be wishful thinking but… there seems to be a lot of that going around lately, so why not dip my foot in that pool as well.
Hermann says this about a Cunningham deal, which is also his reasoning as to why it’s not a good deal for the Eagles:
“I don’t see a Cunningham trade as a wise investment. He carries a cap hit of at least $11 million over each of the next four seasons, and while he can be cut after 2021 with just $7.2 million in dead cap, that’s a lot of money to spend on a linebacker – on top of surrendering capital in the trade.”
Executing a trade within the same conference with a rival, is nearly as hard as making one happen in the same division. It’s a long shot…. but a guy can dream. Right?
Do you have any other Linebackers floating around in your head that you’d like to see GM Brett Veach take a look at?
Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne
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