What does Will Parks bring to the KC Chiefs?

The K.C. Chiefs added a few players earlier this week, one of them the free agent signing of veteran safety Will Parks. With the move, the Chiefs bolstered their secondary with another experienced defensive back with special teams expertise, a familiar face who has been a longtime member of the AFC West himself after over four seasons with the Denver Broncos.

But what should fans expect from Parks coming in. After all, every free agent is someone else’s castoff, which should lower expectations in some ways, especially for a free agent signed this late in the spring. That said, the Chiefs clearly were eyeing Parks for specific reasons and he’s put together a nice career so far in the NFL with 72 games played over the last five seasons—since being taken in the sixth round of the 2016 NFL Draft by Denver.

We recently reached out to a couple analysts who cover the Broncos to tell us more about his exit and it’s clear that Parks is both a limited defender in what a team should ask him to do, yet within that set of parameters, the Chiefs are going to find plenty to like. So will the fans.

We spoke with Broncos analysts to hear more about new Chiefs safety Will Parks.

“Pretty much every Denver Broncos fan absolutely loved Will Parks,” said Sayre Bedinger of Predominantly Orange. “He’s got a big personality and he played a pretty big role in the defense over the last five years, including last year when he came back after initially signing with the Eagles. He’s a fantastic special teams player and he’s pretty much an ideal dime linebacker/nickel DB type.”

Joe Rowles, a writer for Mile High Report, broke it down a bit further in terms of what he can and cannot do within the secondary, detailing why Parks fell out of favor with the Broncos in the first place.

“The Broncos let Parks leave because he wasn’t a clean fit for the Fangio defense. He was successful as a strong safety who played some snaps around the box and covering the slot in 2018, but floundered in two-high at the beginning of 2019 with some blatant miscues handing off assignments. After the Jacksonville game, he lost his job to starter Kareem Jackson and became a slot corner for Denver.”

That corner slot role is exactly the role the Chiefs were seeking to fill when they brought in K’Waun Williams earlier this spring for a visit to Arrowhead. Both Williams and pass rusher Melvin Ingram came and left without a contract agreement. The former re-signed with the San Francisco 49ers, while the latter remains available.

Suffice it to say that the Chiefs also failed to grab a cornerback in this year’s draft, which left the position open for someone to potentially grab. If Parks can win the job inside for the Chiefs, it would allow the secondary to feature L’Jarius Sneed outside on the boundary along with Charvarius Ward and/or Deandre Baker if he’s healthy and ready for the competition.

In case there are concerns elsewhere, Parks’ versatility would also allow him to shift into a safety role, if necessary, and gives the Chiefs more options overall on the back end of the defense. That said, Rowles did note that the Chiefs shouldn’t raise their ask for anything beyond that and said, “The Chiefs will have issues if they leave Parks responsible for coverage checks or if he’s tasked with a bunch of ‘if/then’ assignments.”

Parks had 31 tackles in 10 games last year while playing for both the Broncos and Philadelphia Eagles.