The off-season always brings excitement because of the acquisition of new players either through the draft or free agency. The other side of that though is the reality that some players will not be re-signed, released, or traded.
The Chiefs have been fortunate thus far and have not lost many players from their Super Bowl roster. LB Reggie Ragland moved on to the Detroit Lions and OG Stefen Wisniewski went back home to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Brett Veach was able to work some magic too and found a way to restructure Sammy Watkins and Laurent Duvernay-Tardif. Both of which seemed likely to be released this off-season.
While they were able to keep most of the roster intact thus far, the off-season is far from over. Brett Veach is going to continue to shape this roster in the best possible way to make another run at the Super Bowl.
These are three players the Chiefs should be looking to release or trade moving forward.
1. Chris Jones
Chris Jones still has not been signed to a long term deal yet, which makes you wonder if they are still entertaining trading him. All reports are that both sides want to get a deal done, but a trade could still happen. The only way they they should trade him is if they can get a massive haul in return. Jones is a legit star and should get a huge return. Stars also get paid though and with Patrick Mahomes still needing a long term deal, it may be difficult to sign both.
2. Damien Williams
The Chiefs drafted Clyde Edwards-Helaire with the 32nd pick in the draft. Edwards-Helaire has perfect skillset to pair with the Chiefs offense. He seems to likely take over the job sooner than later. Williams stock may never be higher, if it is there at all- being a RB is tough in today’s NFL. The Chiefs would be fine to keep Williams, but if they could get a draft pick or young player in a trade it could be worth it. The Chiefs have a lot of pieces in the backfield that could fill in behind Edwards-Helaire in Darrel Williams, Darwin Thompson, and DeAndre Washington.
3. Andrew Wylie, Austin Reiter, Laurent Duvernay-Tardif
The Chiefs need to upgrade the interior offensive line. They drafted OT Lucas Niang out of TCU and said he may compete at LG right away. The one player along the inside that may be the safest is LDT and that is only because they restructured his contract. I think if there is a way to upgrade any of these positions it should happen and that leaves one of these guys potentially on the chopping block.
The Chiefs and Brett Veach have worked hard to keep the roster together this offseason. They have had as little turnover as any team in the NFL, which is scary for the rest of the league. However, this roster is far from finished. If we learned anything from last year, Veach will be looking to make improvements late into the season.
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Ignoramous.
Thanks for reading!
It’s rough accepting that these moves would improve the team in the long run. But you’re right. If the contract can’t get done with Jones we can’t just let him play out his contract and get nothing for him. Williams is tough. But if all the other backs play well during the off-season and a team comes calling you gotta make a deal. And we all know our interior Oline could use a boost. Some people don’t want to look at the 5-10 year plan.
jones keep this year. if u can move those o- lineman go for it . dam williams no , maybe next year big game player that shows up