A Brief Look at the State of the Kansas City Chiefs Roster

by Chris Thorman on Apr 14, 2008 9:37 AM CDT in 2008 Kansas City Chiefs Off Season

Player	Action	Comments	Player	Action	Comments
Chris Bober	Cut	Unsigned	Demorrio Williams	Signing	From Atlanta
Eddie Kennison	Cut	Unsigned	Devard Darling	Signing	From Baltimore
Gilbert Harris	Cut	Unsigned	Oliver Hoyte	Signing	From Dallas
James Reed	Cut	Unsigned	Anthony Alabi	Signing	From Miami
Jason Dunn	Cut	Unsigned	Billy Cundiff	Signing	From New Orleans
John Welbourn	Cut	Unsigned	Nick Novak	Signing	From Washington
Kendrell Bell	Cut	Unsigned	Dustin Colquitt	FA	Resigned
Khreem Smith	Cut	Unsigned	Jared Allen	FA	Franchised
Ty Law	Cut	Unsigned
Eddie Drummond	FA	Unsigned
John Carney	FA	Unsigned
Kyle Turley	FA	Unsigned
Samie Parker	FA	Unsigned
Casey Wiegman	FA	Signed with Denver
Boomer Grigsby	FA	Signed with Miami
Benny Sapp	FA	Signed with Minnesota
Kris Wilson	FA	Signed with Philadelphia
Keyaron Fox	FA	Signed with Pittsburgh
Jimmy Wilkerson	FA	Signed with Tampa Bay

This is as much of an exercise for me to get things straight in my head as it is an informative post. Ride along with me.

Players lost: 19
Players signed/re-signed: 8
Current number of players on the roster: 58
Maximum number of players on the roster when the season starts: 53 (Only 45 dress for each game)
Most players on the roster in the off season: 80+

The Chiefs have ten picks in the draft this year so expect a dozen or so more players to be added after the draft in the form of undrafted free agents. The Chiefs added sixteen UDFAs last year so expect about the same this year. Tyron Brackenridge was the only UDFA to make it to the regular season.

Starters lost by position: Offensive line (2), Wide receiver (2), Kick returner (1), Fullback (1), Corner back (1) and Rotational defensive tackles (2).

I know we've been offensive line happy when it comes to the draft this year but let's not underestimate the importance of the Chiefs picking up a wide receiver and a corner back at the end of April. With the loss of Kennison and Parker, the Chiefs quite desperately need another player to compete for the #2 WR slot. Devard Darling will help with that a bit but there are no guarantees on a guy who has played sparingly in his career and who Baltimore let go without a fight.

Current players by position: Center (1), Corner back (5), Defensive end (3), Defensive tackle (4), Fullback (1), Off. guard (2), Kicker (3), Linebacker (8), Long snapper (1), Punter (1), QB (4), Running back (3), Safety (5), Off. tackle (7), Tight end (3), Wide receiver (7)

Don't let some of those numbers fool you into thinking the Chiefs are content. We may have seven offensive tackles but only one, Damion McIntosh, is currently slated as an NFL starter.

The average experience for the Chiefs current roster is 4.5 years and will get lower as the fresh blood comes in and guys like 19-year veteran John Carney are more than likely let go.

Any random thoughts to go along with mine?

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Comments

I'm excited for the draft, but I am really excited

to see who Herm and co. pick up as undrafted free agents. I wish Herm would invite me to a meeting where they target the UDFA's and how they go through that process.

by Tom Bahali on Apr 14, 2008 10:37 AM CDT reply actions

What has happened with

Max Starks? Wasn't that a possibility since they only used the "transition" tag?

by Lanier63 on Apr 14, 2008 11:16 AM CDT reply actions

Steelers can match any offer

Link:

As for offensive tackle Max Starks, it remains a waiting game between him and the Steelers, who made him their transition player a month ago. Starks admittedly has no offers or interest from other teams.

One NFL coach said that teams don't want to do a reasonable deal with Starks because they know the Steelers can and will match it and keep him.

"We have an opportunity to match any deal that's offered to him," Tomlin said. "In the meanwhile, we keep a viable starter-capable guy in our mix, and that's what we need to do to get better."

Tomlin said Starks will get a chance to compete for his old job as the starting right tackle.

Basically, the Steelers are waiting to see what they can do with him too.

by Chris Thorman on Apr 14, 2008 11:24 AM CDT up reply actions

Dumb question

Am I right in thinking unsigned free agents like Drummond are essentially unemployed at this point and are likely to stay that way unless another team (for some unknown reason) signs them, i.e. they will never (or are unlikely to) play for the chiefs again? Also, is there any difference between cut/unsigned and FA/unsigned?

Blame my wife!

by sir eccles on Apr 14, 2008 11:53 AM CDT reply actions

Correct on players like Drummond

There really isn't a practical difference between cut/unsigned and FA/unsigned. The cuts are guys who still had a contract in place at the time they were let go. FA/unsigned means that a player's contract was up and the Chiefs didn't do anything about it.

by Chris Thorman on Apr 14, 2008 12:00 PM CDT up reply actions

Drummond will more than likely never play in the

NFL again, he is that bad. I believe that if you are cut then the team still owes you a little money, but if you are a FA then they are owed nothing. I could be wrong though.

by Tom Bahali on Apr 14, 2008 11:59 AM CDT reply actions

Nelson: Haha!

The money thing would make sense I suppose as a cut player would still be within the time frame of their contract whereas a FA's contract is done.

Blame my wife!

by sir eccles on Apr 14, 2008 12:34 PM CDT up reply actions

NFL Contracts

sir eccles,

It's my understanding that the only money a player is owed when he is cut is the guaranteed money from his contract (the bonus). The rest of the contract is not guaranteed, regardless of the years. For salary cap purposes, non-bonus money (the basic salary) immediately comes off the team's cap and the team isn't penalized for it. Guaranteed money is generally spread across the length of the contract for cap purposes when the contract is signed (e.g. a $16 million bonus on a four-year deal would mean a $4 million per year hit for cap purposes). Once the player is cut, traded or retires all the guaranteed money remaining on the deal will be applied to the next year's salary cap. Using the previous example, if a player on a four year deal with $16 million in guaranteed money gets cut after one season, then $12 million will be assessed against the next year's salary cap because he would have had three years at $4 million per remaining.

That's part of why Kendrell Bell was with the team for so long...it was apparent after the first year that he wasn't good, but the length of the contract CP signed him to and the salary cap hit we would have taken made it financially unfeasible to trade or release him.

Supporting the lesser of two evils is still supporting something evil.

by UCrawford on Apr 14, 2008 6:22 PM CDT reply actions

However...

...when a player is released when or because he's injured then I believe the team is obligated to come to an injury settlement with him and pay him some money. Not sure exactly how it works, though.

Supporting the lesser of two evils is still supporting something evil.

by UCrawford on Apr 14, 2008 6:25 PM CDT reply actions