I think Clark and Hitchens are gone while Ward and Mathieu are coming back.

Clark would have to take a pay cut to stay and I don’t think he does it.
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I like the idea on paper but there’s no way Clark and Ingram make it to January 2023 after 17 games. One of them is going to be on the IR.

We need to replace at least one of them, probably Clark, and get deeper at the position, probably via the draft.
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2022 Kansas City Chiefs defense with free agents and current contracts with years and cap cost.

Defensive linemen
• 55 Frank Clark DE, Age 28, 6-3, 261, (2022 $26.3M, 2023 $27.8M)
• 51 Mike Danna DE, Age 24, 6-2, 255, (2022 $961K, 2023 $1M)
• 95 Chris Jones DT, Age 27, 6-6, 298, (2022 $29.4M, 2023 $27M)
• 91 Derrick Nnadi DT, Age 25, 6-1, 317, (2022 Free Agent)
• 97 Alex Okafor DE, Age 30, 6-4, 261, (2022 Free Agent)
• 90 Jarran Reed DT, Age 29, 6-3, 313, (2022 Free Agent)
• 98 Tershawn Wharton DT, Age 23, 6-4, 278, (2022, $896,668, 2023 RFA)
• 24 Melvin Ingram DE, Age 32, 6-2, 247, (2022 Free Agent)
• 79 Cortez Broughton DT PS, Age 25, 6-2, 293
• 60 Austin Edwards DE PS, Age 24, 6-5, 273
• -- Malik Herring DE (NF-Inj.) Age 24, 6-3, 280 (2022 $833K, 2023 $949K, 2024 RFA)
• 59 Joshua Kaindoh DE (IR-DFR), Age 23, 6-7, 262, (2022 $949K. 2023 $1.064M, 2024 $1.179M)
• 99 Khalen Saunders DT (IR), Age 25, 6-0, 324, (2022 $1.218M)

Linebackers
• 54 Nick Bolton MLB, Age 21, 6-0, 237), (2022 $1.3M. 2023 $1.591M, 2024 $1.856M)
• 50 Willie Gay OLB, Age 23, 6-1, 235, (2022 $1.4M, 2023 $1.677M)
• 53 Anthony Hitchens OLB, Age 29, 6-0, 231, (2022 $12.7M)
• 56 Ben Niemann MLB, Age 26, 6-2, 233, (2022 Free Agent)
• 44 Dorian O'Daniel OLB, Age 27, 6-1, 217, (2022 Free Agent)
• 92 Shilique Calhoun LB PS, Age 29, 6-5, 260
• 47 Darius Harris OLB PS, Age 25, 6-2, 240
• 43 Elijah Sullivan OLB PS, Age 24, 6-0, 215

Defensive backs
• 39 Zayne Anderson FS, Age 24, 6-2, 205, (2022 $825K 2023 ERFA)
• 30 Deandre Baker CB, Age 24, 5-11, 186, (2022 ERFA)
• 27 Rashad Fenton CB, Age 24, 5-11, 193, (2022 $1.013M)
• 21 Mike Hughes CB, Age 24, 5-10, 186, (2022 Free Agent)
• 32 Tyrann Mathieu SS, Age 29, 5-9, 190, (2022 Free Agent)
• 38 L'Jarius Sneed CB, Age 24, 6-1, 189, (2022 $1.053M. 2023 $1.168M)
• 49 Daniel Sorensen FS, Age 31, 6-2, 200, (2022 Free Agent)
• 22 Juan Thornhill FS, Age 26, 6-0, 203, (2022 $1.468M)
• 35 Charvarius Ward CB, Age 25, 6-1, 195, (2022 Free Agent)
• 23 Armani Watts SS, Age 25, 5-11, 190, (2022 Free Agent)
• 2 Dicaprio Bootle CB PS, Age 24, 5-10, 182
• 20 Josh Jackson CB PS, Age 26, 6-0, 196
• 24 Devon Key SS PS, Age 24, 6-0, 204
• 26 Chris Lammons CB (IR), Age 25, 5-10, 182, (2022 RFA)

The priority would be to can keep Tyrann Mathieu and Charvarius Ward. Mathieu is the heart of the defense. His versatility allows him to play defense anywhere on the field. Ward is a 25 year old, starting NFL cornerback. You have to make every effort to try and keep him.

If Mike Hughes is OK with his role with the Chiefs and does not cost too much, they should try to re-sign.

Same with Melvin Ingram. He certainly helped this defense.

Deandre Baker is an ERFA, so a very low cost re-sign.

It will be interesting how the Frank Clark legal situation plays out. It's not just one incident but two. The Chiefs could use that to renegotiate his contract or maybe release him.
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If you extend him and convert some of that to signing bonus, it would drop the cap hit, no?

Can you do that far enough to make it palatable?
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Yep.

They could add void years as well and spread the hit out that way. Just not preferable to pay millions for a guy not on the team 2 years later.
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By the way, I'm not advocating for this, just curious.

I'm still for re-shuffling the deck some regardless of how well the defense is playing and moving on from at minimum Clark and Hitchens as well as the Sorensen/Niemann situation.
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They are going to cut Clark loose IMO. Between his up and down play and the legal situation he's just not a guy they can plan around.
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I think so too.
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Sounds like DL /DE will be top priority in the draft. Spags likes that dominant line .
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I think they should let Clark go, but not sure they will. I think theres a chance they re work him for a lot less with the pending suspensions and unimpressive numbers.
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What's worse, paying Clark $26M to play for us or paying him almost $13M not to play for us?
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They can designate him as a June 1st cut and save $19.5 million while paying him $6.8 million in dead money the next 2 years
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Exactly. He's almost certainly a candidate for a June 1st designation.
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Get rid of Clark and influx some youth on the DL, specifically at DE.
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