Looking towards Chiefs’ draft and offseason

As the Kansas City Chiefs postseason run was covered in great detail and at naseum, we’ll take the time to turn some attention and focus towards the offseason, and namely, what are some positions we expect the Chiefs to focus their attention on.

This will be an interesting and telling offseason for the future of this franchise, as many well known names and fan favorites have contracts expiring. Over the next few weeks, we’ll explore various position groups the Chiefs may have or do have depth/talent issues at that could be the focus off free agency and/or the draft. We’ll review the position groups based on what the greatest need is. We will not explore specific players at this point, just to focus on position groups, and we’ll put some names out there fans can keep an eye on through the draft process.

Today, we’re going to start with the defensive backs, namely cornerback. Currently, there are three corners on the roster with a contract for next season, star rookie Marcus Peters, third round and seldom used Steven Nelson, and Philip Gaines, currently recovering from an ACL injury suffered in the Green Bay disaster. That’s it.

Sean Smith is set to be a free agent, and is likely to receive a massive contract as the top cover corner on the market. He’s certainly better then Byron Maxwell, who went from Seattle to Philadelphia last off season on a six-year/$63 million contract. For those bad at math, that’s a contract that pays Maxwell $10.5 million PER season. Yes, that’s a lot, and yes, Smith is likely to surpass that number. With the Chiefs salary cap crunch they are facing this of season combined with the fact the Chiefs used two top 100 draft picks in last years draft, highly unlikely the Chiefs make make a big effort to keep Smith.

Jamell Flemming and Marcus Cooper are also both set to be free agents, and both players have taken time being healthy scratches this season, and both played very little actual corner back, playing  mostly on special teams. While it’s certainly possible that one or two of these players could return for next season on non guaranteed minimum level deal, it’s obvious the staff and regime doesn’t think much of either players ability to contribute on a regular basis on defense.

Drafting a cornerback would allow the Chiefs to move Ron Parker to safety, where he thrives and is far better and valuable. The Chiefs have issues at safety and we are likely to discuss that position group next week, but for right now, we’ll discuss corner. Also, there appears, at least at this point in the evaluation process, multiple guys who’s play and style fit what the Chiefs do. Here are a few names to keep an eye on.

Should be noted a few names that were expected to provide upper level depth at the position in the draft,namely Iowa CB Desmond King and Tennessee CB Cam Sutton have announced their intention to return to school for their senior years. Vernon Hargraves of Florida, Mackensie Alexander of Clemson and Jalen Ramsey of Florida State are all currently projected to be long off the board before the Chiefs would be selecting in the first round, so they are not listed below.

Kendall Fuller, Virginia Tech (6 feet, 170). Did miss some time on a torn miniscus, so health check-ups  will play a huge part in his value. Early draft entrant as true junior. Three year starter at Virginia Tech

Eli Apple, Ohio State (6-foot-1, 198) RS sophomore. Two year starter at Ohio State. Could go much earlier.

William Jackson, Houston (6-foot-2, 190) Senior, two year starter at Houston. Opportunity at senior bowl to really climb draft boards. Currently projects more of a day two pick. I could see a scenario, if the Chiefs focus on corner early on the draft, Jackson could be in play at the end of round 1.

As was said, next week we’ll explore the safety position, as the Chiefs will have a really difficult decision to make with a fan favorite.