Every year there are one or two complete surprises in the NFL free agent market that confound everyone. Either a player gets a lucrative deal at a time when his perceived haul would be much lower or the opposite happens when a long-awaited payday somehow doesn't come around for a deserving young player.
Mike Danna is one of this year's surprises, and unfortunately for him, it's not the former.
The Chiefs might find themselves rewarded for their patience with Mike Danna in free agency.
This was supposed to be the year of Danna's great reward. For the last four years, he's climbed from rookie day three pick to rotational edge to starting defensive end on a team that's won three of the last five Super Bowls. He's done so as a coaching sponge with a non-stop motor who's a favorite of anyone who's played with or coached him.
As a run defender, Danna is quite capable of setting the edge and making plays but he's also grown considerably as a pass rusher and set a career high last year with 6.5 sacks in 16 games. For a player who won't turn 27 until next winter, Danna was supposed to provide some lucky team with a high-floor player whose ceiling was yet undiscovered and championship experience.
So where is his market?
The maxim says that an NFL team can never have enough pass rushers and that the game is won or lost in the trenches. Tell that to Danna who is waiting for someone to ask him to dance—at least at a value commensurate with what he brings to the field.
Consider that Yetur Gross-Matos, a rotational pass rusher whose career high is 4.5 sacks, got a $9 million average over two years from the San Francisco 49ers. A year ago, the Indianapolis Colts gave Samson Ebukam a 3-year deal worth $24M despite being a year older than Danna with a career high of only 5.5 sacks.
The going rate for a player like Danna should easily clear the $7-8M per season mark and his youth and reliability should ensure a three-year deal on an open market. So why hasn't a team stepped up with a deal? Is Danna's rep playing hardball? Are teams reticent to sign on for an unknown reason? All we can see are the surface elements, but with those in place, the whole thing is confusing.
The market for Mike Danna should have been very player-friendly but as the calendar turns to April, the former Chiefs defensive end is still sitting there. Rumors are swirling that he could return to the team with the newfound capital from L'Jarius Sneed's deal, and selfishly Chiefs Kingdom will benefit, but it's sad all the same for the player who deserved greater attention and potentially money.