The five best moves from the Kansas City Chiefs offseason
By Matt Conner
Every offseason is filled with hits and misses. Free agents are signed and prospects are drafted but several others leave in the ebb and flow of the NFL's transaction cycles and teams hope to put together the best rosters they can over the course of a few months.
While teams can still tinker with their rosters in mid-June, the truth is that we can largely see how a team will look for the upcoming year at this juncture, which means it's a solid time to reflect on the best or worst moves we've seen so far this offseason.
For the Kansas City Chiefs, it's been a spring and summer featuring tough calls and interesting decisions when it comes to remaking the roster for a run at a third consecutive Super Bowl victory. Here are our favorite moves in no particular order.
Trusting the process
It feels weird to say that trading L'Jarius Sneed was one of the Chiefs' "best moves" because it's inaccurate to frame things that way. However, Sneed's deal was at least part of trusting the process, which was absolutely the best move the Chiefs made this spring.
The healthiest thing a team can have is a strong strong trust—marked by chemistry and communication—at the heart of the organization. That means everyone supports the tough decisions and believes the best about each other.
Let's get specific. For a team with veteran stars like the Chiefs, the salary cap is going to be an ongoing issue. They can't afford all players, and so with Sneed, for instance, the Chiefs can't afford to pay top dollar to a cornerback when the unit is already so loaded. This offseason, the trust between the front office and coaching staff is clearly in place to allow such a strong playmaker in the secondary to leave because young players are waiting in the wings.
For the Chiefs, the communication is so strong that scouts and personnel directors know exactly what will make this team's schemes work most efficiently. This is the secret sauce that's kept the team so well-positioned for the rigors of a long season again and again.