With the first wave of free agency and the 2016 NFL Draft firmly in the books, the offseason strategy for the Kansas City Chiefs is largely played out.
With the exception of some potential late additions via trade or through a surprise cut from another team, we pretty much know who will be coming into Training Camp later this summer. We also pretty much know which players from last year’s team will be fighting for their jobs this season.
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Quarterback is going to be one of the more interesting camp battles in 2016. It shouldn’t be, since it’s really just the backup job that’s up for grabs, but that’s football in Kansas City for you…fans in this town love their backup quarterbacks. Both Aaron Murray and Tyler Bray have their respective fan clubs, and both are sitting firmly with targets on their back for cut day.
Over the course of the Chiefs draft process, there are two things that really stand out when looking at the quarterback position. The first is the now-obvious move of drafting Kevin Hogan from Stanford.
This puts KC in the obvious position of having too many quarterbacks, so someone has gotta go. But then there is also the big rumor, backed up by their public workout, that the Chiefs had targeted Paxton Lynch from Memphis. That would indicate that the team felt Lynch was a better option for the future than either of the current backups on the roster. Neither of these things bode well for Bray and Murray.
With Kevin Hogan now on the roster, the Chiefs are again loaded with backup quarterback options. That’s nothing new for this regime, but it is unexpected.
With Chase Daniel having moved on to Philadelphia, the assumption was that Aaron Murray would be the primary backup as long as he could beat out Tyler Bray (not a given). Bray would then become the emergency third quarterback. The addition of Hogan puts a wrench in this plan. Murray and Bray now have to beat out more competition…something neither was able to do with career backup Chase Daniel.
To further complicate that, Kevin Hogan’s skill set is very comparable to that of Daniel. If I were drafting a guy to replace Chase, Hogan would easily be in the top five of my list.
But the Chiefs drafting Kevin Hogan doesn’t guarantee him a spot on the roster. The Chiefs have had no problem moving on from failed draft picks early on.
Last season, wide receiver Da’Ron Brown didn’t make the roster, though he did get onto the practice squad. And in 2013, fullback Braden Wilson didn’t even make it to training camp. So we can be pretty certain that Aaron Murray and Tyler Bray will get a fair shake in going up against the rookie from Stanford. But this is where that second thing comes into play…
Next: Paxton Lynch Interest Is Telling