Geoff Schwartz on free agency, the Chiefs offer and the gap between KC and Denver

Am I allowed to say I'm going to miss Geoff Schwartz because so many of his quotes are blog-able?

Schwartz is in New York now but went on with Danny Parkins and Carrington Harrison on 610 Sports Tuesday afternoon. Among the many things he touched on was whether the Chiefs made a legit offer to bring him back, how the Chiefs viewed him and the gap between the Chiefs and Broncos.

I'd recommend listening to the interview here. The stuff about how he was viewed in free agency is very interesting. The idea of whether he was viewed as a starter or not was one of the biggest things they had to fight in free agency.

I pulled out a few highlights below.

The start of free agency

"The Giants were the most serious about wanting me. They were the first team to call when that tampering period opened up. It was nice for once to be wanted. Teams calling and wanting me to come in and start and be the guy. That's kind of what I always wanted was that opportunity."

Did the Chiefs try to bring him back?

"Not at a competitive rate that the other teams were offering. I'm sure they would have loved to have me back. I really enjoyed my time there. Both coach [Andy] Reid and John Dorsey sent me text messages. They were great. It just didn't work out financially. I think we were on different pages about what my worth is and what they thought my worth was. And obviously their cap situation was different from other teams. It just didn't work out. I don't hold any ill will to the Chiefs. I had a great season, a great run for one year."

For the Chiefs, was it money or value?

"I think it was a value issue. I really can't speak to their cap situation. I'm not in those meetings. There were other teams that did not value me the same as the Giants did. It wasn't 31 other teams valued me at this and the Chiefs valued me at this. I just think in general there were a varying opinion of what my value was across the league. The way the league works is that if you're a starter, it doesn't matter sometimes essentially how good you are, but if you're viewed as a starter, you get starter money. Some teams viewed me as the sixth man that I was last year. Some teams viewed me as a starter to come in and get better. It just varied from team to team what they thought my value was."

Starters vs. non-starters

"You see guys and wonder how he got a deal like that and it's because they're viewed as starters. That's the way it is in the league. That was the No. 1 thing we had to fight in free agency and also in general is that people, even though I've played well the last two years, I didn't start terribly too many games. Now I'm healthy, I have the opportunity and I don't see why I don't start for the next four years."

Broncos window vs. Chiefs window

"If you look at Denver, they have a certain window with Peyton Manning. If you look at the Chiefs, a lot of their core guys are relatively young. New staff, new front office, they have time. Obviously in the NFL people want to win right now but it doesn't always work that way Denver, their window is where it is now so they're trying to bring guys to win now."