If I were Brett Veach, Part 1; Salary cap fun and in-house free agents
The offseason is already here! Let's pause Super Bowl film reviews to talk about the first step for Veach and company.
When the team you cheer for and/or write about wins the Super Bowl, the offseason sneaks up on you FAST.
I woke up yesterday planning on writing about Patrick Mahomes’ film in Super Bowl LVIII, only to realize that it was the day teams can start utilizing the franchise and/or transition tag on players (here’s a full offseason calendar, if you’re interested). That means that the time for decision making is fast approaching, and by the time I finish writing about Mahomes, the defensive trio of Pennel/Chenal/Wharton, and maybe some stuff on Reid and Spags… well, a lot of decisions may already be made.
So with that in mind, we’re going to hit “pause” briefly on our Super Bowl film reviews (don’t worry, I’ll get back to them, we’re not done celebrating yet… and maybe some of them could make for fun offseason stuff for the doldrums of May/June). And instead, we’re going to start one of my favorite offseason series. That’s right, “If I were Brett Veach” is back!
(Holds for the undoubtedly raucous cheering to subside)
For those new to the site, the basic idea is that following the end of a full season, I place myself in the shoes of the Chiefs’ general manager and make a plan for the offseason. It’s something I do every year, and I have a great deal of fun with it. We’ll start today with Part 1, looking at some salary cap moves and in-house free agents (who I’d keep and at what kind of general cost). Then, as free agency approaches we’ll look at some positions I’d consider addressing and players I’d look at to do it.
And as you’ll see, Veach and company have their work cut out for them, with a number of guys hitting free agency.
There’s a LOT to talk about here, so we’ll dive in momentarily. First, here’s a little bit of a roadmap for the offseason for this site. As I said, I still have a pair of Super Bowl film reviews (Mahomes and some underappreciated contributors) that need to be written. I also would like to delve into a few of my favorite play calls by Reid and Spags during the Super Bowl. And finally, a piece needs to be written on the job Brett Veach did in assembling another Super Bowl-winning roster (that may come sooner rather than later).
All of those things will be interspersed around the “if I were Brett Veach” pieces, as well as film reviews of any free agent signings (one of my favorite things to do… here’s an example of Charles Omenihu’s review from when the Chiefs signed him last offseason. I hate to say I totally called how impactful he’d be, but…). The goal will be to look back and celebrate while keeping up with the fast pace of the early offseason. Then there will be draft coverage, where I’ll dust off the “know your draft crush” series (likely looking at receivers, but it depends on what they do in free agency).
Once the draft is over and we reach the “dead” time of the offseason, we’ll crank up some larger film reviews of players who interest me (McDuffie, Taylor, Karlaftis, and Cook are guys I’m considering) and start to talk about what the team may look like in 2023/24.
But today we’re just getting started. It’s time to play “If I were Brett Veach” and talk about moves the Chiefs can make against the salary cap, as well as their many in-house free agents.