If I were Brett Veach, Part 3: In-house free agents the Chiefs should try to keep... for the right price

Which guys are Gotta Have Em, which are If The Money Is Right, and who is Bargain Bin Only?

You know what time it is.

Every offseason, we get to play amateur GM with our favorite football team. It is (and I say this with no exaggeration) one of the most fun parts of being a fan. How can teams double down on strengths while addressing weaknesses? What players are hitting the market they need to keep, and who would be addition by subtraction? What can free agency add to the team? Who are the best prospects in the draft?

The possibilities are endless, as are the directions a team can go in terms of how to best try and take the next step and not fall behind a rapidly developing league. As ever, the goal is to try and discern the best way to compete for a Super Bowl the following season and in the years to come.

With that goal in mind, every year I write a series called “If I were Brett Veach” (previously “If I were John Dorsey”) in which I break down the moves I would make if I were the Chiefs’ general manager. It’s one of the most fun things I get to do, and we’re in full swing already.

In Part 1, I discussed the ways the salary cap can be manipulated and made 3 major moves I’d make to grab significant cap space (cutting Frank Clark and Anthony Hitchens while restructuring Mahomes’ contract). After that, I discussed what the largest issues are that Veach should be looking at as GM when examining the roster from 10,000 feet in the air.

In Part 2, I wrote the first of a two-parter (that’s right, a mini-series within a series. I’m truly become a #content guy) about in-house free agents. I focused on players that I would let walk in free agency regardless of price, as I think the team could use a fresh start in multiple places. We accounted for over 4,000 snaps from 2021 that would need to be replaced.

Today, we’re going to finish this phase by talking about in-house free agents I would look into hanging on to if I were Veach. I’ll be dividing them into three categories: Gotta Have Em, If The Money Is Right, and Bargain Bin Only. I’m not going to get into exact contract numbers I’d offer with every player (as that matters more for the higher-end deals), but will give some numbers on the Gotta Have Em players and a gist of the If The Money Is Right players (I’ll go on the high end for purposes of avoiding too much optimism) so we can keep track of the salary cap as we go.

All right, let’s GM.