Antoine Bethea said Chiefs showed interest before he signed with 49ers

Before the KC Chiefs free agency period started we highlighted a few potential free agents who we thought might make good additions. One of them was Colts safety Antoine Bethea, a 29-year old safety.

Turns out we were right about him possibly being a good addition because he told Sirius XM NFL Radio that the Chiefs were among the teams that showed interest in him before he agreed to a deal in San Francisco.

Antoine Bethea "The interest wasn't mutual between myself and the Colts. There was some contact from the Packers, Chiefs and Lions"

— SiriusXM NFL Radio (@SiriusXMNFL) March 13, 2014

Bethea signed a 4-year, $21 million deal with the 49ers on the first day of free agency. The Chiefs lost Geoff Schwartz, Jon Asamoah and Dexter McCluster on deals that averaged about $4 million per season so perhaps $5+ million per season was too much for them. The Chiefs re-signed Husain Abdullah on a two-year deal.

Bethea is a safety. MNChiefsfan argued that the Chiefs should find their next starting safety in free agency, not the draft. The Chiefs haven't plucked any of the top-end free agent safeties yet but it's interesting that they did contact Bethea.

It's also possible we're overblowing what the Chiefs contact was ... maybe they just wanted to know his number?

The Chiefs were once said to be after DT Red Bryant, who later signed with the Jaguars. That's two fairly high profile free agents the Chiefs have been connected to.