Kansas City Chiefs: Don’t Expect Big Splash Early in Free Agency
By Andrew Jones
The Kansas City Chiefs have made their share of headlines this offseason, but don’t expect many coming early in 2017 NFL free agency.
Free agency officially begins on March 9, but teams are already busy during this legal tampering period. Rumors fly around this time of year and for fans, it gives them just the fix they need to tide them over until the draft in April. Nearly every team is linked to big names. That is, except for Kansas City. The Chiefs signed their big names several days ago.
Eric Berry and Laurent Duvernay-Tardif signed with the team in February for big money—big money in terms of the overall contract. In truth, the first-year cap hit on both contracts should not exceed $8 million. That doesn’t mean the Chiefs have a lot of wiggle room when it comes to the salary cap.
Despite the release of Jamaal Charles, the Chiefs currently sit at just under $2.2 million in space. Keep in mind that Nick Foles still carries a hefty $6.75 million cap hit as the Chiefs have yet to release him. Matt Conner over at Arrowhead Addict thinks that it may be a play by the Chiefs to use Foles as trade bait. It is conceivable that general manager John Dorsey can get a team to take the quarterback as a cheap starter to be a mentor to a rookie.
More cap space will be taken by the tendered offers of safety Daniel Sorensen and kicker Cairo Santos. While low in money, the contracts could take up the remainder of the cap space forcing an eventual release of Foles. If the players are offered more by other teams, then the Chiefs have an opportunity to match the offer. However, given the situation, that seems unlikely.
Any way you look at it, the Chiefs are heavy laden when it comes to the salary cap. There is no room to make a big play, so they will sit back and let the big names go. When the dust settles, there will still be value to sign. That is the key.
Next: NFL Free Agency Rumors Tracker: March 8
Getting value out of free agency is far better than going flashy. The Chiefs have been flashy before, it hasn’t gone anywhere. Chiefs fans need to trust that Dorsey and head coach Andy Reid know what needs to get done. After all, they need to keep their own players that make them arguably the most complete team in the NFL.