The Kansas City Chiefs need another offensive tackle. Eric Fisher and Jah Reid are the team's top two tackles at the moment as we await Jeff Allen and Donald Stephenson to hit free agency. Reid actually finished the season playing guard and he's probably better suited there or at swing tackle so the Chiefs need to find a solution for their questions at tackle. Not to mention that the Chiefs are going to have to decide on Fisher's fifth-year option for 2017 in just a few months.
The Chiefs can draft a tackle but I suspect they'll be poking around free agency too because they'll want to keep all their options open and not be pigeon-holed into having to pick one position in the draft. The Chiefs have a decent amount of cap space - over $30 million - but they also have a decent list of free agents, including Eric Berry, Sean Smith, Derrick Johnson and Jaye Howard. That money will go quickly. They likely can't be spending big; they need to go bargain hunting.
Pro Football Focus looked at some of the bargain free agents available out there and lists Raiders 2011 third round pick Joe Barksdale as one of their bargains.
"Barksdale also has the unfortunate habit of joining teams with terrible supporting casts," PFF writes. "The Chargers' offensive line was dreadful in 2015, but Barksdale was not to blame. He finished the year with a 79.3 overall grade, ranking 17th in pass protection amongst NFL tackles. Barksdale allowed only 12 combined QB knockdowns (six sacks and six hits), but will aim to reduce the further 34 pressures he allowed. Still, 46 combined pressures allowed on 685 dropbacks is solid production."
He's been on three teams in five years so obviously this isn't Joe Thomas we're talking about here. However, consider that more than a third of Barksdale's games last season came against Justin Houston, Von Miller and Khalil Mack. Um, that's a pretty daunting list of pass rushers.
Are you in favor of the Chiefs looking at a bargain type of offensive tackle?