Dontari Poe among free agent DL who could help the Chiefs

Dontari Poe – Least Expensive (Probably)

Well, well, well. A familiar face has now found himself as a potential option for a return to the interior of the Chiefs defensive line. Dontari Poe is one of the most easily remembered defensive lineman of the last decade. A man with freakish size, playing close to 350 pounds, who also happened to be freakishly explosive, running a 4.89 second forty at the combine, is not easily forgotten.

If that was all there was to say about him, you could understand the reverence. It’s not even close. In the five years that Dontari Poe anchored the Kansas City Chiefs interior line he was one of the most dominant defenders in the league. He possessed great ability to shed multiple blockers and stop ball-carriers at the line or in the backfield, and possessed an even more unique burst on passing downs to get to the opposing quarterback.

In fact, I believe there is a very easy argument to be made that the eventual decline of Dontari Poe was the reason the Kansas City Chiefs defense went from one of the most dominant in the league to one of the worst. Since injuries began to diminish his natural ability, with the team eventually moving on, the team struggled mightily against the run and only recently has been able to generate an interior pass rush with the aforementioned Chris Jones.

Dontari Poe is nowhere near the force he was his first few years with the Kansas City Chiefs. That said, he’s likely to be cheap given his age. He’d be a veteran and friendly face the team could potentially look to if they can’t work out a deal with Chris Jones.