The Defense Will Be Fine
Juan Thornhill, Carlos Dunlap, Khalen Saunders, and Derrick Nnadi were all key parts of the Chiefs’ Super Bowl-winning defense, but none of them were so essential that you couldn’t replace them with a solid veteran signing or top 150 draft pick.
The Chiefs have a promising young secondary and linebacker group. They have one of the most disruptive defenders in the entire NFL in Chris Jones. George Karlaftis looks like an up-and-coming edge rusher. If Frank Clark stays, they have their starters at defensive end set and just need a rotational piece like Dunlap added via the draft or free agency. If Clark is cut then they will have to invest more in the position, but we’ll have to see what happens there.
The Chiefs obviously are going to have to add a couple of solid defensive tackles. I’d love for Saunders to be one of those, but (at the risk of sounding like a broken record) if someone wants to offer him a sizable payday, you can find another solid tackle to put next to Jones. You don’t pay another defensive tackle much money if you want to keep Jones around for a while longer. It’s a position where you can get by without spending huge.
At this point, you could finish this piece for me. Juan Thornhill has been a solid starter for the Chiefs. I wouldn’t mind having him back, but they gave a safety a sizable contract last offseason and drafted another in the second round last year. You can’t pay another safety a large deal. Period. Safety isn’t a position where you commit a ton of money when building a roster where you have to pay multiple big-time players.
So if free agency starts this offseason and the Chiefs are losing far more players than they are signing, don’t panic. Remember last season when the same thing happened? The Chiefs “lost” the offseason in the AFC West (and AFC in general) and then won the Super Bowl. Winning the offseason is just something we make up so we have something to talk about in the offseason. The Chiefs don’t need their pending free agents. Maybe they need to keep Orlando Brown, but they still shouldn’t back up the bank truck for him.
Trust Brett Veach. He’s earned it. He has 12 draft picks and there probably aren’t even 12 spots available for draft picks. He’ll figure this out. Trust that the group of players the Chiefs already have under contract is good enough to compete for another Super Bowl. They’ve proved it. Do the Chiefs need to sure up the roster around them? Sure, but don’t fall in love with the guys that helped them win the last Super Bowl because that could end up being the thing that keeps them from winning the next one.