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Get Ready for Onslaught of Chiefs UDFAs

By Joel Thorman

Back in early March, the Kansas City Chiefs signed free agent wide receiver C.J. Jones.  Free agency was only a week old at this point and Jones' signing set off a rash of complaints around the Chiefs' blogosphere about why the team was focusing on lesser known free agents.

Chris wrote a response to those questioning the Chiefs' interest in no-name free agents that was summed up with this:

So, the next time the Chiefs sign a couple of free agents you've never heard of, don't sweat it. Remember that they cost little money to keep on the roster; very likely won't even be on the team when the season starts; and that the cylcing in and out of these players is all part of the NFL off season.

That is true.  The vast, vast majority of the players that are signed by the Chiefs won't sniff the field, let alone make an impact on the team.

But, last season's undrafted free agents signed by the Chiefs in the days following the draft produced an unusual amount of players that actually saw action for the Chiefs.  Most of that can be chalked up to the Herm Edwards youth movement but a couple of signings like Maurice Leggett (Chiefs ROTY) and Connor Barth (starter) ended up benefiting the Chiefs during the season.

On this boring day in Chiefs land I decided to go back and look at all the UDFAs the Herm Edwards regime signed in the five days following the 2008 Draft.  Within five days pretty much all of the prime UDFAs are off the table.  Let's take a look at which positions the previous regime focused on when looking at UDFAs last season and how many of those players are still on the team and how many actually made an impact in 2008 to get an idea of what we can expect the new regime to do in the days following the 2009 Draft.

QB RB TE WR OL DL LB DB K
3 2 1 3 2 4 2 4 1

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