Six steps the Chiefs need to accomplish this offeseason

[KC Warpaint 3,251]

By Sam Mellinger

January 25, 2019 01:35 PM,

1. Sign receiver Tyreek Hill to a contract extension.

This is No. 1 for a reason. There’s an old saying about the value of keeping your strengths your strengths, and this should be a relatively non-contentious negotiation.

The Chiefs value Hill’s unique skills and see him as the perfect match for Patrick Mahomes’ arm strength. Hill is happy in Kansas City and knows he can both win and be a focal point of the league’s highest-scoring offense here. No other team can offer him so much.

It will be a big number. Odell Beckham signed for five years and $95 million with $65 million in guarantees, a deal Hill will likely want to match or exceed. But the marriage makes too much sense on both sides to end with anything other than a contract.

2. Sign defensive lineman Chris Jones to a contract extension.

Like Hill, Jones will be entering the last season of his rookie contract. The Chiefs don’t have to make a deal with either. They could try to negotiate after the 2019 season and could use the franchise tag on one of them.

But signing both makes too much sense. Jones is still just 24 and is already established as one of the league’s best defensive linemen. He is consistently disruptive, with the instincts to make game-wrecking plays fairly regularly. He’s not a perfect player and often comes out on rushing downs, but he is a homegrown difference-maker and, assuming he likes the new coordinator, should be motivated to stay.

The rest of the offseason begins when the Chiefs know whether they can sign Hill and Jones long-term, and for how much. Because the numbers will dictate how much money the Chiefs can move around, and how much flexibility they have with the rest of their roster.

3. Create cap space, if necessary.

The Chiefs are essentially stuck with safety Eric Berry. They could cut him in March and save less than $2 million of his $12 million salary, or cut him in June and spread the cap hit over two seasons. Neither is an attractive option.

The Chiefs basically have to pay him and hope that a probable offseason surgery and the ultimately disappointing drama of 2018 prove enough to get whatever Berry’s best is in 2019.

To improve the defense and create cap space, the Chiefs will have to look elsewhere.

They will almost certainly approach Houston about renegotiating his contract. He’s due for a $21.1 million cap hit. He is still an effective player, but he’s no longer the force of nature who earned a $101 million contract with $32.5 in full guarantees after the 2014 season.

Even if his contract was “only” renegotiated down to his open market value, Houston might prefer to enter free agency, where a new contract would include more money up front. It’s worth looking into, but probably a long shot.

Other renegotiation candidates might include offensive linemen Eric Fisher and Mitchell Schwartz and tight end Travis Kelce. The last two, particularly, aren’t underperforming their contracts. But both have deals with some wiggle room now, and should be in the team’s long-term plans.

4. Retain Dee Ford.

This is not a certainty, and will require creativity. The Chiefs could use their franchise tag on Ford, which was about $15 million last season for linebackers. But the downside for teams using the tag is the money is not flexible — in the Chiefs’ case, it would eat up well more than half their available cap space.

So this is more financial jigsaw puzzle than football decision. The Chiefs likely have a plan that includes keeping both Houston and Ford, but the process of getting there is not entirely under their control.

They’ll have to be smart and creative in potential extensions for Hill and/or Jones, exhaust any possibility of renegotiating Houston, and see what’s possible with Ford.

No matter what, this is a critical point of the offseason. The single most important thing a defender can do is disrupt the quarterback, and Ford does this exceptionally well. His 13 sacks tied for seventh overall in the NFL, and he was Pro Football Focus’ highest-rated pass rusher among edge rushers while leading that group with 78 total pressures.

5. Fix the secondary.

Kendall Fuller is a productive, reliable cornerback, and one of the players who should benefit from the arrival of a new coordinator. Charvarius Ward looks the part of a solid corner with upside. Safety Jordan Lucas is interesting. Safety Armani Watts will miss the development from an injury that wiped out virtually his entire rookie season but retains ability and potential.

Depending on what happens with Steven Nelson, who is now a free agent, that leaves the Chiefs in need of at least two cornerbacks, and at least two safeties. They will target the secondary in the draft, especially with their first three picks, though the class is said to be loaded at another position of need: defensive line.

6. Continue to tilt everything toward Mahomes.

This is really the most important big-picture piece, and as much as anything else it is what will determine the franchise’s future. That’s making sure that if offensive lineman Mitch Morse isn’t re-signed in free agency a suitable replacement is found. That’s making sure this offseason is spent refining and expanding on what Mahomes did as a first-year starter. That’s searching for another tight end, ensuring the defense is OK taking risks, and that the offense is prepared to push the pedal on fourth down.

The Chiefs have not been this well-positioned in a generation. They just finished their most exciting season in recent memory, with every opportunity to make next season even more successful.

The most important offseason in years is underway.

[liquidfriend 1,151]

I think the formatting got jacked up near the bottom.

But I do agree with 3, 5 and 6. 

The Chiefs will need to work in some cap to get some key guys to work through the transitioning and the secondary was garbage in 2018 and needs to get better.  The Chiefs would absolutely be wise to continue to build around Mahomes because he's their ticket to anything meaningful so make sure he has enough to work with.  The lack of options he had down the stretch was becoming very noticeable and had a direct relation to the coming back down to earth moment.

1 and 2 I don't think are totally necessary.  Tyreek knows the big money is coming and if you promise him it's coming, you can enjoy the final year of his cheap rookie deal comfortably.  I do not think Tyreek Hill has any desire at all to leave if the Chiefs take care of him.

Chris Jones is a guy I'd take the Houston, Berry approach with.

On that, I don't think keeping Dee Ford is critical at all.  If they can wheel and deal him for a good return, well cya.  If they handle 1 & 2 properly, it'll help with 3.

[KC Warpaint 3,251]

1 hour ago, liquidfriend said:

I think the formatting got jacked up near the bottom.

But I do agree with 3, 5 and 6. 

The Chiefs will need to work in some cap to get some key guys to work through the transitioning and the secondary was garbage in 2018 and needs to get better.  The Chiefs would absolutely be wise to continue to build around Mahomes because he's their ticket to anything meaningful so make sure he has enough to work with.  The lack of options he had down the stretch was becoming very noticeable and had a direct relation to the coming back down to earth moment.

1 and 2 I don't think are totally necessary.  Tyreek knows the big money is coming and if you promise him it's coming, you can enjoy the final year of his cheap rookie deal comfortably.  I do not think Tyreek Hill has any desire at all to leave if the Chiefs take care of him.

Chris Jones is a guy I'd take the Houston, Berry approach with.

On that, I don't think keeping Dee Ford is critical at all.  If they can wheel and deal him for a good return, well cya.  If they handle 1 & 2 properly, it'll help with 3.

fixed the post...

everyone thinks it is a foregone conclusion that we keep ford, would hate to see us make another binding decision ala berry & Houston that we cannot get out of

someone suggested a Ford for Landon Collins trade...that would be interesting

 

 

[liquidfriend 1,151]

12 minutes ago, KC Warpaint said:

fixed the post...

everyone thinks it is a foregone conclusion that we keep ford, would hate to see us make another binding decision ala berry & Houston that we cannot get out of

someone suggested a Ford for Landon Collins trade...that would be interesting

 

 

Yes, that would be an interesting trade. I'm just unsure if Veach would want to commit that much money to the Safety position.

[xen 1,010,220]

1 hour ago, liquidfriend said:

Yes, that would be an interesting trade. I'm just unsure if Veach would want to commit that much money to the Safety position.

I would think it would only be for one year though.  Can't see them hanging on to berry after this year.

[sith13 1,746]

It's funny how he says Hill is the priority only to add later that it's not that important this year. Should have gone with bullets instead of numbers. 

5 is definitely critical and 6 is basically a given but the rest can either be ignored or postponed. 

[Mloe68 1,521]

We had the lead in all 18 games this year. 17 of those we had the lead late in the fourth quarter. Given those parameters I don’t think any defensive player should be completely beyond reproach for questioning value going forward even Jones.  Basically any direction Spags wants to go is fine with me whether I agree or not.  That said you would think he’d want to start by building D around C Jones and get him locked up soon.  

Offensively locking up Tyreek is a no brainer as a young improving playmaker who’s proven he can play through pain and keep himself available.  

Commit financially to guys before we get forced into a corner and have to start tagging them. And then use tag to maneuver our way into more future picks for players we don’t want to commit too.  Seems like a better way than we’ve been doing it. 

[sith13 1,746]

On 1/29/2019 at 12:03 PM, Mloe68 said:

We had the lead in all 18 games this year. 17 of those we had the lead late in the fourth quarter.

That has been the key for our statistical "success" on defense. Bailey might be the worst guy up front and had 6 sacks together with a couple forced fumbles. At this point I wouldn't consider even Jones a beast but he seems to be on the right track. If he can pressure the QB playing from inside and keep improving against the run we could have a very valuable asset in our hands. 

If I'm not mistaken we don't have anyone we have to tag in the next couple years so there's a major flexibility in that area. I would try to get some discount from both Jones and Hill and if not would probably consider the tag with whomever costs the more. 

 

[Iluvhouse24 1,808]

2 hours ago, sith13 said:

 At this point I wouldn't consider even Jones a beast but he seems to be on the right track. If he can pressure the QB playing from inside and keep improving against the run we could have a very valuable asset in our hands.

Sometimes you say things that are so bizarre I wonder if you are even serious.

[Mloe68 1,521]

3 hours ago, sith13 said:

That has been the key for our statistical "success" on defense. Bailey might be the worst guy up front and had 6 sacks together with a couple forced fumbles. At this point I wouldn't consider even Jones a beast but he seems to be on the right track. If he can pressure the QB playing from inside and keep improving against the run we could have a very valuable asset in our hands. 

If I'm not mistaken we don't have anyone we have to tag in the next couple years so there's a major flexibility in that area. I would try to get some discount from both Jones and Hill and if not would probably consider the tag with whomever costs the more. 

 

If you know you want to keep guys long term as we certainly should with great young players like Jones and Hill; we need to get them extended before it reaches that point.  This was another huge issue Dorsey had was waiting too long to extend, pissing off players and forcing us to pay absolute top dollar.  

Chris Jones graded out as 5th best dlineman in the NFL at 24 years old by the way. He’s a beast.  Only knock on him is he free lanced to much in Suttons scheme that simply tried to take aggressiveness away. Spags brings an entirely different approach. 

[sith13 1,746]

33 minutes ago, Mloe68 said:

If you know you want to keep guys long term as we certainly should with great young players like Jones and Hill; we need to get them extended before it reaches that point.  This was another huge issue Dorsey had was waiting too long to extend, pissing off players and forcing us to pay absolute top dollar.  

Chris Jones graded out as 5th best dlineman in the NFL at 24 years old by the way. He’s a beast.  Only knock on him is he free lanced to much in Suttons scheme that simply tried to take aggressiveness away. Spags brings an entirely different approach. 

If we can extend both that's a win scenario for us. However we don't have the urgency to do so which is also a plus when bargaining. Extensions are supposed to benefit both the player and the team, unless we are able to achieve that then we should consider some risks as well. I agree Sutton's approach probably had a role in Jones not being so aggressive against the run, we rarely met the RBs behind the LOS which rendered pretty much everyone on the line bad against the run. A different approach will turn Jones into a beast IMO.

I never understood Dorsey's approach. He extended Fisher way too early, LDT relatively early since he didn't get any discounts, Smith with 2 years in his deal, Berry too late, Bowe for basically no reason, Houston also too late, etc. An important step for continued success is keeping the right players for the right amount, hopefully Veach will do much better than Dorsey in that area. Even though I hated Pioli this was the only area he was good at, probably due to his Pats background as they seem to be really good at identifying those guys.

[Calichief 3,024]

Jones is a beast.

[kkuenn 3,613]

If Jones is going to do even better with Spags, he is the guy you want to extend now then before he does so and cost us even more.

[tges58 33]

8 hours ago, Iluvhouse24 said:

Sometimes you say things that are so bizarre I wonder if you are even serious.

Yeah, that was a bit of a headscratcher.

[sith13 1,746]

14 hours ago, kkuenn said:

If Jones is going to do even better with Spags, he is the guy you want to extend now then before he does so and cost us even more.

That's why he would be my priority this offseason. However if Hill asks for the world I would probably wait for another year unless they believe it'll provide some cap flexibility going forward.

[West 6,714]

You have to have a pass rush in today's NFL.  I keep Jones and Dee Ford.

Everyone else on the defense is pretty average IMO. 

I love Justin Houston, but he has not lived up to the big contract due to injuries.

Same thing for Eric B.  Love the guy, he is a stud....but he needs to lead from the field.

w

[xen 1,010,220]

Hill has got to be the top priority.  Great interior rushers are hard to find but can be done.  Tyreek is the best playmaker in the NFL.  Good luck finding another guy like that.  He brings Mahomes talent to another level.  Speed guys do not play like he does.  The guy might not be human.

[Calichief 3,024]

3 minutes ago, xen said:

Hill has got to be the top priority.  Great interior rushers are hard to find but can be done.  Tyreek is the best playmaker in the NFL.  Good luck finding another guy like that.  He brings Mahomes talent to another level.  Speed guys do not play like he does.  The guy might not be human.

According to marquise Goodwin, he’s as good as Tyreek and faster.

[xen 1,010,220]

Goodwin clearly doesn't watch football.

[Calichief 3,024]

3 minutes ago, xen said:

Goodwin clearly doesn't watch football.

It’s hard from the tub.