Kansas City Chiefs earn “B-” grade from ESPN in free agency
By Matt Conner
The grades are continuing to roll in concerning free agency hauls and the Kansas City Chiefs have been given a “B-” grade by ESPN.
Whether or not you think a list of grades given to teams for their respective hauls or decisions in free agency is worth posting, they’re going to come anyway. With several valuable free agents left on the open market and several weeks to go before even the NFL Draft gets underway, outlets like ESPN are already handing out letter grades for how teams are performing so far.
As for the Kansas City Chiefs, the results are mixed given that they have paid quite a bit for the players they’ve landed while they still have a few holes to address. ESPN recently gave them a “B-” grade for landing wide receiver Sammy Watkins and linebacker Anthony Hitchens on the first day of free agency. They were major signings to address positions of need, but Adam Teicher of ESPN says there’s plenty more that needs to happen.
"The Chiefs might have bolstered their offense by signing wide receiver Sammy Watkins, but defense is where they really needed help."
Hitchens will help the heart of the defense, to be sure, but acquisitions in the secondary of Kendall Fuller and David Amerson are seen as offset by the trade of Marcus Peters to the Los Angeles Rams. In fact, while Fuller in particular is seen as a great up-and-coming cornerback, neither one has the current playmaking ability of Peters, so it’s possible the entire unit has been downgraded despite the fact that it was already in need of improvement.
Along the defensive line, the Chiefs have added Xavier Williams in place of Bennie Logan, who is still a free agent, but it’s hard to say whether or not the line is improved in the process. It’s another area identified by Teicher as a need for the Chiefs to address. They could do both of these in the upcoming draft, but adding one more free agent on defense, whether along the line, at pass rush or in the secondary, would be a huge help.
For now the B- grade feels fine given how much Watkins and Hitchens were given. That’s not a knock to say they are bad deals but they also weren’t financial steals either. It makes sense that if Teicher has to assign a grade at this point, he’d go with something mildly positive.