Deshawn Shead could be bargain free agent for Kansas City Chiefs

If the Kansas City Chiefs are looking to add another bargain free agent to the mix, Deshawn Shead would make a nice addition.

The complete renovation of the secondary is already well underway. Safety Ron Parker is reportedly being released with the new league year. Star cornerback Marcus Peters has been traded to the L.A. Rams. Kendall Fuller is the bright new acquisition, and David Amerson has joined him as the newest signing. Meanwhile, Terrance Mitchell, Kenneth Acker, Steven Terrell and Phillip Gaines are all free agents in a matter of hours.

Taken together, the Chiefs have clearly decided to go in a new direction en masse in the secondary and the reinvention is likely still in process. Amerson, Fuller and Steven Nelson give the Chiefs a nice young core at cornerback, but more bodies are needed and the team could use a higher ceiling overall at the position. It’s also important to note that Amerson and Nelson can be free agents after this next season.

So if the Chiefs want to continue shopping at the position, they’re likely to add even two or more players to the mix in the next several weeks, perhaps both through the draft and free agency.

Enter Deshawn Shead, an under-the-radar free agent who was just cut loose by the Seattle Seahawks because the team promised him they would let him hit the open market. Shead is not the headliner that a Trumaine Johnson, for example, would be, but the Chiefs are also limited in cap space.  Shead isn’t even a second-tier player, a recognizable name who fans will at least have some idea of what they are getting.

Instead, Shead is likely an unknown to most of Chiefs Kingdom, but that doesn’t mean he has less to bring than some other names that might be more familiar. Shead spent last season rehabbing from a torn ACL for Seattle, but before that, he had worked his way from being an undrafted free agent in 2012 to a starting role opposite Richard Sherman. In a secondary filled with charismatic stars (and even a killer overall nickname called Legion of Boom), Shead was the complete unknown. After all, how much of a spotlight is there to go around when your teammates are Sherman, Kam Chancellor and Earl Thomas.

Shead worked his way of the depth chart on special teams for years with the Seahawks, finally showing what he can do in 15 starts during the 2016 season. He had 81 tackles and 14 passes defended along with 1 interception and a forced fumble. Shead has started on the outside, but he’s also played at safety and has experience all over the secondary, especially in sub packages.

Now that he’s back and healthy, he’s taking his first official free agent visit with the Detroit Lions this week, but the Chiefs would do well to put in a call. With his special teams experience, versatility in the secondary and his solid experience flying under the radar, it could be a nice grab on the open market for a team with limited cap space to consider.