Kansas City Chiefs visited with another free agent linebacker last week

Last week was apparently linebacker week for the Kansas City Chiefs. We now know of at least three workouts the Chiefs had with players who could potentially see time at inside linebacker.

Zac Diles and Akeem Jordan were the first two known free agent visits last week. The Chiefs ended up signing both of them to deals. They were both role players at previous stops so it's not completely clear whether those two will be competing for the job or if others will be involved. Here's what we wrote about Diles signing and here's the one on Jordan.

Those two weren't the only linebackers visiting KC last week. Larry Grant is a free agent linebacker, most recently with the 49ers, who visited the Chiefs last week, according to a report. David Fucillo from Niners Nation sends along this quick scouting report on Grant:

Linebacker Larry Grant has flown under the radar over the last two seasons, which might be why he is still looking for work in free agency. In 2011, Grant spent most of the season on special teams, before filling in for an injured Patrick Willis in Weeks 14-16. Grant filled in ably, although he obviously does not have quite the athleticism of Willis. After the season ended, Grant was a restricted free agent. The 49ers placed an original round tender on Grant, which meant a team only needed to hand over a seventh round pick to sign him. There were no takers.

In 2012, Grant spent virtually the entire season on special teams, while getting some basic mop-up duty as an inside linebacker. The lack of regular playing time makes it not so surprising that he once again is not getting much interest in free agency.

Grant is a very capable player, but he seems to be the kind of guy getting squeezed by the addition of the rookie wage scale. With a flat salary cap, teams seem more inclined to roll the dice on a cheap rookie, rather than pay a little bit more for a capable veteran.

That reads similar to Diles and Jordan in that they've been role players and special teamers. The thing to remember about the Chiefs is that there's still plenty of depth that's needed. That was really exposed in the ACL season of 2011 but it's something that has to be handled right because there's no way the Chiefs end next season with the same starters they started it with.

(H/T chiefs_2429)

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