CB: Sneed, McDuffie, Watson, Williams, Johnson
S: Reid, Cook, Bush (easy re-sign)
K: Butker
P: Townsend (RFA)
LS: Winchester
2023 Cap space: $45m with a Frank Clark cut, and even more with a Mahomes re-structure 2023 Draft picks: 12: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 3rd (Poles), 4th, 4th (Hill), 5th, 6th, 6th (Hill), 6th (Ingram), 7th, 7th (Reed)
Key FA decisions to make:
LT Orlando Brown, Jr.: will he bring his price down?, will they franchise him again? might they actually tag-and-trade?
FS Juan Thornhill: a talented, sub-Pro Bowl player; obvious re-sign
WR JuJu Smith-Schuster: seems like an obvious re-sign, price shouldn't be too bad
WR Mecole Hardman: he either signs a one-year prove-it or he walks
DT Khalen Saunders: he either signs a one-year prove-it or he walks
RB Jerick McKinnon: a must re-sign and should be cheap
They make a splash somewhere at DL in free agency. I think the Chiefs make the deals with Thornhill and JuJu. The Chiefs likely burn a 1st round pick (and goodies for a trade-up) to help fix the tackle situation if they need a LT, or they spend that 1st on the best DL they can get their mitts on if Brown comes to his senses and burns a 2nd day pick on RT.
They will draft a WR high, they may sniff out a top-end talent at RB somewhere for a steal, and then they just add depth in the trenches.
This team may win a Super Bowl this year. They shed Tyreek Hill, the best WR in the NFL, and still got better on offense. And they're going to have ungodly cap space, a dozen picks to stock this roster.
It's going to be absolutely disgusting how good this team is going to be next year, and for the foreseeable future. The Chiefs are in transition this year and still may win it all. If the Chiefs win the Super Bowl this year, we may legit be talking threepeat.
I don’t see any external FA’s I’m willing to really spend on like we did with Tyrann Matheiu and Sammy Watkins.
I see some I’d give an MVS/Justin Reid 2nd wave contract to like DJ Chark, Von Bell, Nelson Agholor and others.
Some other guys I’d add that are not quite that much like Arden Key as well as your older vet like DE Carlos Dunlap or Melving Ingram.
But ultimately Brett Veach has made it clear he wants the majority of the team to be young. I think you just keep taking highly grade players. Then take your OL, corners and athletic freaks on day 3. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Direckshun:
It's not Dunlap's game either, but Dunlap is a technician.
Give him another year or so of Joe Cullen and he's going to have all kinds of nuances that allow him to create space and finish the play.
Dunlap is so long and so powerful, though.
You see some of those technician sorts use the OT to help them corner, but that often requires using length to create levers off the OT, and incredible functional strength.
I think George has the latter but I'm not sure he has the former. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Dante84:
Yeah I’m sadly accepting that Juan is a JAG as well. Just hasn’t turned into the ball-hawking dude we had hoped for.
He’s not a major liability, but he’s not a pro-bowler. He’s just a guy.
He was talking about having a Pro Bowl year at the start of the season. He's not been close to that. Such a frustrating player. He'll probably leave and excel but for whatever reason I don't think it's happening here. Horrible tackler, lazy coverage, massive inconsistency. Really wanted them to prioritise keeping him but now I think we let him go.
That means RT, DE, DT and safety are the areas we need imo. Not sure I want to dump more money into the latter given Reid hasn't looked great either. I wouldn't hate seeing more of Bush and drafting late. Think we can get middling DEs and DTs at reasonable cost in FA and draft as well. [Reply]
Originally Posted by JPH83:
He was talking about having a Pro Bowl year at the start of the season. He's not been close to that. Such a frustrating player. He'll probably leave and excel but for whatever reason I don't think it's happening here. Horrible tackler, lazy coverage, massive inconsistency. Really wanted them to prioritise keeping him but now I think we let him go.
That means RT, DE, DT and safety are the areas we need imo. Not sure I want to dump more money into the latter given Reid hasn't looked great either. I wouldn't hate seeing more of Bush and drafting late. Think we can get middling DEs and DTs at reasonable cost in FA and draft as well.
I think we should be trying to get an IDL or a Safety in the second round next year which usually gets you a starting quality player in those positions.
Whichever we don't end up with we can target in free agency. Jessie Bates and Jordan Poyer are free agents currently at saftey and there are quite a few interesting options on the Interior of the line.
I think the main thing we need to start thinking about is how to replace Kelce in 2-3 years time. We want to be in a position to already have another top recieving option embedded by the time he leaves. So that probably means drafting a WR in the first round in 2024. [Reply]
Originally Posted by duncan_idaho:
... nothing at DE
There are some intriguing names at DT, potentially.
I disagree. All the best names at DT are 3-techs, and we're two-deep at 3-tech once we tender Wharton. Obviously, the Chiefs should bring in another 3-tech, but they're going to be rotational, not a stud.
The Chiefs have zero -- zero -- 1-techs under contract for 2023, and there's a couple names I love there but I wouldn't call them intriguing. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Direckshun:
I disagree. All the best names at DT are 3-techs, and we're two-deep at 3-tech once we tender Wharton. Obviously, the Chiefs should bring in another 3-tech, but they're going to be rotational, not a stud.
The Chiefs have zero -- zero -- 1-techs under contract for 2023, and there's a couple names I love there but I wouldn't call them intriguing.
Looking for a true 1-tech is never super interesting (it's a pretty boring position), true.
But I see some names at DT that would be pretty interesting/exciting. Da'Ron Payne, if he gets to free agency, among them (Commanders may franchise tag him, but it is not an easy decision). He's capable of playing the 1-tech and has made big strides as a pass rusher. Fletcher Cox and Javon Hargrave both have plenty left in the tank and each offers big upgrades as a pass rusher. Onyemata, too.
I guess my thought is that if you're looking to upgrade the pass rush, adding another kick-ass pass rushing DT shouldn't be completely discounted. [Reply]
I kind of can't believe I'm writing this, but I think we have to try and keep JuJu over MVS.
MVS hasn't done much to change my basic opinion of his capabilities, which is to say they are limited.
JuJu is more of the Swiss Army knife kind of player Andy values. mostly I think it's his size and physicality. He's really an undersized TE.
If you keep JJSS, then it's KT, Moore, and maybe Hardman, if you can get him on the cheap.
Regardless, I bet Andy and Veach go WR shopping next year. Hope there are a couple nice ones in the third/fourth rounds. [Reply]