More likely to be a Chief in 2015: Dwayne Bowe or Tamba Hali?

The guys on The Drive over at 610 Sports had a segment with the KC Star's Terez Paylor called "Chief or not a Chief" where they went gave their opinions on whether certain Chiefs players will be back next year or not. This is all just Terez's opinion and not anything he's reporting but I thought he made some good points in his analysis of a couple of the situations including two of the biggest ones in Dwayne Bowe and Tamba Hali.

Terez mentioned that he thought the chances were higher than Tamba is a Chief next year compared Bowe. But he still predicted both would be "Not a Chief" next year, mostly due to the cap situation.

On Bowe, Terez said, "Cap number is too high. One way or another they're going to have to create enough room for Justin Houston's contract. So even if he agrees to a deal, like his first year cap hit might be like $7 or $8 million, they still have to create room to do that. They certainly got closer to that by releasing [Donnie] Avery and [AJ] Jenkins. Even if they get a deal done, you still have to create a little more. And, hey, you need to create $5 or $6 million to sign your draft class, too. These free agents you like, you got to create room to sign them. Those guys are pretty cautious when it comes to free agency but you need to have some wiggle room in the offseason and the production hasn't lived up to the salary. Unless he's willing to do a restructure, which he might be, but my guess is the $9 million they can save by doing a post-June 1 cut will be worth more than letting him go."

He didn't rule out a pay cut either. "I just think the odds are greater he'll be gone," Terez said.

As for Tamba, Terez talked about the same struggle I have. While Tamba still has value to the Chiefs and wants to be in Kansas City, at some point Dee Ford just has to play.

"I'm gonna say no," Terez said when asked if Tamba would be a Chief in 2015. "But obviously the chances of him returning I think are higher than Bowe right now. I think Hali is a guy who wants to be here and man he would be really good protection if Dee Ford isn't ready to go. The problem is, if you drafted Dee Ford in the first round, the only way he's going to get better because they don't hit like that in practice anymore, he needs to play and he needs to get those reps. I'm not sure he'd be able to beat out Tamba Hali next year. Hali's a veteran and he still has some juice left. The only way that you can create a situation where he can immediately play and start to create that value you hope a first round pick will have because the contracts are pretty reasonable and all that, is if you let Tamba Hali go. And if you let him go, that creates a lot of cap room too. By doing that, you create a little room and you also have an opportunity for a guy that you've taken a chance on and at some point he's just going to have to start living up to it."

They did this exercise with a few more players. Check out the full segment here.

So, more likely to be a Chief: Bowe or Tamba?