Cincinnati Bengals Playoff Team Free Agency Targets: Kansas City Chiefs

To continue our quick free agency primers for a player on each of this year’s playoff teams for the Cincinnati Bengals to target, we look at the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Cincinnati Bengals’ 2017 season may be over, but preparation for 2018 began as soon as the calendar flipped. Part of that preparation will inevitably include free agency, and this team’s usage of it will play a major role in whether they can return to the playoffs next season.

While the free agency period still won’t arrive for a few months, the time for evaluation is wide open — and what better way to determine who a team should go after than seeing them play? The players on these playoff teams are adding more film that can be used for or against their cases for a quality contract with teams around the league; franchises everywhere are surely watching intently.

We began this series with a player on the Buffalo Bills. We continue it by taking a look at an upcoming free agent from the Kansas City Chiefs.

Terrance Mitchell, CB

The performance of the Cincinnati Bengals’ secondary was perhaps the most disappointing aspect of entire team in 2018. Sure, the offensive line was markedly worse as a group, and the offense in general was a major disappointment as well, but entering the season it seemed like the secondary could be a strength.

Instead, the group as a whole struggled. Dre Kirkpatrick fell well below expectations in the first year of a big, new contract. Veteran Adam Jones dealt with injuries and a suspension, but was a target for opposing offenses — often with negative results for the Bengals. Safeties George Iloka and Shawn Williams had up-and-down campaigns. Josh Shaw took a few steps back in a bigger role.

It wasn’t all bad however. William Jackson III was a pleasant surprise and may be a #1 corner with shutdown ability going forward. Darqueze Dennard finally made strides and turned into a good cornerback. If the team could get at least one more consistently productive piece, the Bengals would have the makings of a really good coverage unit.

Enter Mitchell. The young cornerback is not a household name, nor one you would think of for making a unit into a power. He’s only been in the league for three seasons now, but experienced some success. Per Pro Football Focus Edge, he rated as an 83.3 and 82.7 respectively in his first two years in the league.

How would a young player like this be available, you ask? Well, he hasn’t exactly had a great 2017 season. In easily the largest role of his career (371 combined in first two seasons; 705 this year alone), Mitchell struggled to keep up the level he showed in his previous appearances. The question to answer there for anyone in pursuit is whether this was just an over-matched young player on a bad defense being asked to do too much, or if it points to him having deficiencies which are now known and difficult to hide in a large role.

There is also the issue of his free agency status; as a restricted free agent, he can’t simply sign with other teams right away. Kansas City must decide if they are going to put any level of tender on him (first or second round in particular) or plan to match; whatever they decide will definitely affect whether Cincinnati (or any team, really) would consider him.

All of this, good and bad, make Mitchell a worthy target for Cincinnati. He likely wouldn’t be added with the intentions of being anything more than a No. 3 or No. 4 cornerback — perfect for a team which already seems to have a couple quality starters in Jackson III and Dennard, as well as major money invested in Kirkpatrick. His subpar 2017 should leave his price-tag at a reasonable level. Kansas City is also a team that is set to be over the 2018 cap as it stands; they need to cut costs, so if Mitchell is given a decent offer he could probably be pried away without much thought.

Next: 2018 NFL Mock Draft: Conference Championship edition

It’ll be tougher to acquire him than other free agents, and his 2017 may well prove to be the rule rather than the exception as he continues his professional career. Regardless, Mitchell would be a cheap, young player worth pursuing who, if Cincinnati gets lucky, could help their secondary improve in a notable way.