If I were Brett Veach, Part 3: Free agents and big swings (and WR)
In part three of our series, I lay out who I'd target in FA if I were the Chiefs' GM, plus a few big swings he could attempt for a specific position of need.
Every offseason, I put myself in the shoes of the Chiefs general manager and walk through what I would do if I were… well, wearing his shoes. We look at each phase of the offseason, and then make some changes as the Chiefs’ ACTUAL plan becomes more apparent. In part 1, I wrote about salary cap vs cash spending, how the Chiefs have more flexibility than one might think, and how I’d free up some cap space if I were Veach. In part 2, I discussed in-house free agents. Today, we’ll talk about Chiefs players hitting free agency and who I’d make the most effort to keep if I were Veach.
(NOTE— I as I was working on this piece, the news of Xavier Worthy’s arrest for alleged domestic assault by “impeding breath/circulation” [in MN we call it assault by strangulation]. My short take is that I would like to see the reports, but that the Chiefs should immediately send someone to the location personally [not by phone], find out who the alleged victim is, and speak to them as well as any other witnesses, as well as the prosecuting agency. If there’s even probable cause he did this, I would suspend him pending a full investigation. Enough is enough. I reserve the right to change my mind on this as facts come out, but holy crap… and obviously this will color my suggestions for Chiefs free agency.
UPDATE: Worthy’s attorneys are claiming this is essentially an extortion attempt
ANOTHER UPDATE: The Chiefs are keeping Hollywood Brown for 2025. I’m sure by the time you’re reading this, something else has changed. The offseason is clearly here
ANOTHER ANOTHER UPDATE: the DA’s office has already declined charges against Worthy at this time. I may write more on this later, but it’s a relatively rare, though not unheard of, thing for charges to be declined that quickly, and is indicative that the prosecutor did not believe the report as filed. Again, that’s a generalized statement based off my years as a prosecutor)
Free agency is nearly upon us, and it feels like every time I turn around something weird is happening in the NFL.
The Seahawks are hitting a hard reset, trading away Geno Smith (to the… Raiders?) and exploring offers for DK Metcalf. The Jaguars released everyone on their roster not named Trevor Lawrence (more or less). The Bengals are refusing to pay anyone and might trade a top-8 pass rusher (OK, that’s not THAT weird). Joey Bosa is suddenly not a Charger. The Chiefs traded away All Pro Joe Thuney and are now seeing another WR in legal trouble AND have retained Hollywood Brown.
Basically, there’s a lot going on. And so let’s talk free agency before things radically shift yet again. Every year, I talk about some free agents I believe the Chiefs should consider signing. I’m something of a “specific target” OR “specific position group” person when it comes to free agency There’s a reason for this… Free agency is, in my opinion where teams should look to shore up weak spots on the roster rather than “team build.”
Recently on 810 with Soren Petro, we compared free agency to online shopping for a specific item as opposed to “browsing” at a mall. Basically, when you’ve got a hole in the roster (say, at left tackle), trying to rely on a rookie to come in and fill that void at a competent level is… an iffy proposition at best. Veterans, while obviously coming with their own baggage (price, injury concerns, age, or whatever else) are much more of a known quantity in terms of their ability against NFL-caliber competition. And so if you’ve got a spot that you KNOW you need to upgrade right away, your best bet is free agency.
Another way to try and target specific weak points is with big swings (normally trades) to try and bring in an immediate upgrade. Of course, this costs you something (draft capital, as well as cap space if an extension is required for a player), but is at times worth it if the need is dire enough.
With all that in mind, let’s talk about what I would do in free agency if I were Veach. But this year I’ll be doing it a little differently. First, after each guy I would sign I’ll have a couple of alternatives listed (it’s always good to have a Plan B and a Plan C). Second, I’m going to have a couple of “If you can’t retain Player X” selections that address how I’d try to build the roster if they can’t retain a few select FAs that I’m hoping they keep (Omenihu/Wharton). Finally, I’m going to also list a couple of “big swing” alternatives Veach could take to address positions of need that I would get behind, and why.
It’s worth noting that I’ve got a specific vision for how I’d attack this offseason and how I write about free agency will reflect that.
What is that vision? Well, to sum it up in advance, it’s to utilize free agency for a targeted approach to the offense while saving the draft for defense. That’s an oversimplification, of course, but the short story is I view the Chiefs as having a few specific needs on offense while needing to continue to collect young talent on defense IF they’re able to retain their guys.
All right, let’s talk about what I would do in free agency if I were Brett Veach with the team as it is currently constructed. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover here. And again, keep in mind that in order to pull off basically ANY moves the Chiefs will need to make some cost-saving measures that I talked about in Part 1 of this series.