Four winners and three losers from the first wave of free agency

The primary week of NFL free company is within the books. The Kansas City Chiefs have made one “splash” signing — and some designed at constructing depth — however have additionally missed out on among the greatest names accessible. It’s nonetheless very early within the offseason to make any clear judgments, however listed here are among the Chiefs’ winners and losers from the previous week:

Winners

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• Patrick Mahomes: The best participant on Earth can’t win a Tremendous Bowl on his personal — and his crew has acknowledged this by being aggressive in free company. With the intention to present an anchor and a few stability to the entrance 5, the Chiefs signed the highest inside offensive lineman accessible. Even after including Joe Thuney, Brett Veach was (reportedly) prepared to pay the very best left sort out available on the market over $23 million per 12 months. Additionally they narrowly missed out on one of many prime large receivers available on the market when JuJu Smith-Schuster determined to return to Pittsburgh. Though they didn’t land Williams or Smith-Schuster, it’s a secure guess that the Chiefs will proceed to do every thing of their energy to rebuild the offensive line and add weapons for Mahomes.
• Darrel Williams: Soiled Darrel earned a brand new contract along with his hard-nosed, do-everything play during the last couple of seasons. The next launch of operating again Damien Williams solidified his position because the complement to starter Clyde Edwards-Helaire.
• The offensive line depth chart: Sure… Kansas Metropolis continues to be on the lookout for a left sort out and a middle — however the depth throughout the remainder of the road is wanting higher than it was every week in the past. With the addition of Thuney, the newly re-signed Andrew Wylie is as soon as once more a backup. Together with his capacity to play guard or sort out, that makes him worthwhile depth. Including Kyle Lengthy and bringing again Laurent Duvernay-Tardif provides the crew good competitors and depth at proper guard. Re-signing Mike Remmers and bringing again Lucas Niang provides competitors and depth at proper sort out. There’s nonetheless work to be carried out — however no less than three positions, this might be a deeper offensive line than it was in 2020.
• Chris Jones: Many have speculated that Jones could be a possible candidate to be traded — or that his contract was structured in a strategy to enable the Chiefs an out. However when the crew wanted salary-cap room, they restructured Jones — together with Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. Groups simply don’t restructure the contracts of gamers who aren’t of their long run plans; Jones could be very possible right here for the long term.

Losers

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• Brett Veach: It might look like a contradiction to present Veach credit score for going after prime free brokers to assist Mahomes — after which checklist him as a loser. However within the first week of free company, we noticed Veach swing and miss at among the prime expertise accessible. This offseason would have been an absolute dwelling run if the Chiefs had been in a position to land Trent Williams and JuJu Smith-Schuster. As it’s, the Chiefs are left with few good veteran choices to fill the large gap at left sort out — and so they’re nonetheless looking for an X large receiver. Different potential contributors like Kyle Fuller and Rodney Hudson discovered new properties earlier than the Chiefs even had an opportunity. However there are many causes to be affected person; there’s nonetheless much more offseason to go — and loads of lesser-known choices to fill out the crew’s depth chart previous to the draft.
• The Chiefs’ free brokers: Of the 29 Chiefs who hit free company, 6 have re-signed with Kansas Metropolis. The remaining are nonetheless on the lookout for a contract — together with Mitchell Schwartz, Eric Fisher and Damien Williams, whom the Chiefs launched. The wage cap decline has actually damage the contract values for a lot of free brokers — and the market can be shifting very slowly for down-roster contributors who’ve been with the crew during the last couple of seasons; Demarcus Robinson, Damien Wilson, Sammy Watkins, Austin Reiter, Alex Okafor, and Tanoh Kpassagnon are all guys who most likely anticipated to get extra curiosity on the open market than they’ve up to now.
• The Chiefs left sort out place: It’s arguably the second or third most essential place within the NFL — and if the season had been to begin in the present day, the Chiefs have mainly no one on the roster to play it. It began with Fisher’s damage, which all however assured the Chiefs would not have stability on the blind facet for 2021. Then because the Chiefs ready to assault free company and rebuild their line, Fisher and Schwartz had been launched. The perfect choices available on the market had been Trent Williams and Riley Reiff. Each have now been signed. Others who might have been accessible — like Laremy Tunsil, Daryl Williams, Germain Ifedi and Kelvin Beachum — have agreed to phrases to stay with their present groups. The Chiefs want a veteran sort out to guard the franchise — and for Brett Veach, the choices are narrowing. When the season begins, it’s doable the Chiefs might be relying on a rookie — or a subpar in-house possibility — which might be lower than excellent.