The Kansas City Chiefs head into the offseason coming off an 11-5 year and having ending their 22-year playoff winless streak. Head coach Andy Reid and general manager John Dorsey have done for Kansas City what everyone hoped for when Scott Pioli was canned. Kansas City is headed in the right direction and hasn’t had a losing season since Reid and Dorsey came to town.
Yet, Dorsey is headed for a very difficult offseason. Taking over in 2013, Dorsey had decisions to make that included Branden Albert getting the franchise tag, the large signings of Dwayne Bowe and Dustin Colquitt to contract extensions, and free-agent acquisitions in Sean Smith, Mike DeVito and Chase Daniel.
Dorsey’s biggest acquisition was Alex Smith from the San Francisco 49ers for two second-round picks in 2013 and 2014. He would later draft Eric Fisher as the first-overall pick and added seven more players as the last of the cuts happened when all the rosters were trimmed to 53 players. Several players were notable additions such as Jaye Howard, Ron Parker, Dezman Moses and Marcus Cooper among others.
Heading into this offseason, the Chiefs have a lot of players that are hitting free agency. Eric Berry, Sean Smith, Jaye Howard, Derrick Johnson, Tamba Hali, Jeff Allen and Donald Stephenson among others. Kansas City must make hard choices in this offseason including probably letting Smith walk. K.C. should be in position to keep most of its key players but they will need to make difficult decisions.
Berry has to be the team’s first priority. He will cost close to $10 million per year if not more. Johnson should be second on the list closely followed by Hali and Allen. If Howard is looking for the monster payday that he has been reportedly seeking, it will come elsewhere. Smith will more than likely exceed $10 million a year from another team in 2016 and it could even be from the division-rival Oakland Raiders, who need to spend a lot of money to even approach to the cap floor. Stephenson filled in nicely once Jah Reid went down to injury late in the season but it is easy to see him being moved on from.
Next: What should Dorsey do?