You're waking up this morning to more Kansas City Chiefs offensive line changes. After signing OT Mitch Schwartz and losing G Jeff Allen in free agency, the Chiefs have reportedly cut G Ben Grubbs. A couple of reports came in around 1 a.m. that Grubbs' release had hit the personnel wire.
Some under-the-radar NFL moves: Chiefs cut G Ben Grubbs (failed physical). Saints released CB Brandon Browner w/ post-June 1 designation.
— Howard Balzer (@HBalzer721) March 10, 2016
Chiefs cut offensive guard Ben Grubbs with a failed physical designation
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) March 10, 2016
Looks like I was right last week when I said that there are no sure things at guard for the Chiefs in 2016. So the Chiefs lost two guards on the first day of free agency -- Allen and Grubbs. Clearly, this affects how things will go down at the position moving forward. It's possible that Jah Reid, who was the Week 1 right tackle, affected the decision making here as he lined up at guard late in the 2015 season and played pretty well. Is he a guard now? The Chiefs also have 2015 13-game starter Laurent Duvernay-Tardif and 2014 16-game starter Zach Fulton on the roster. (Update: Also Herbie Teope reminded us that Paul Fanaika is still a Chief too).
Additionally, the Chiefs have the second and third waves of free agency as well as the draft to come up with more help (sure would be nice to have that third round pick, NFL).
Grubbs' 2015 season ended early when a neck injury forced him on IR. That neck injury left us in the dark regarding his future plans but this move clears it up for us. Grubbs is done just one year into his four-year, $24 million contract and one year after the Chiefs traded a fifth round pick to the Saints for him.
Grubbs' 2015 contract will leave behind some dead money. Over The Cap shows that there will be $5.2 million in dead money as a result of this with $1.1 million in true cap savings this year. Dead money refers to a cap charge for a player no longer on the team. The Chiefs, who had over $20 million in dead money last year, had been pretty good about that so far this year up until this point.
Here's to hoping Grubbs gets healthy and returns to the league.