Chiefs free agency winners and losers

The free agency period is now a week old. Let’s take a look at the early winners and losers regarding the Kansas City Chiefs in free agency.

WINNERS

QB Patrick Mahomes

They’re both winners because this free agency period showed me the Chiefs believe in Mahomes. The Chiefs already had two dynamic weapons in Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill but the Chiefs wanted to give him more so they went after a deep threat in Sammy Watkins. The Chiefs are taking the young-quarterback-on-a-rookie-deal-so-lets-go-for-it approach. And I like it.

GM Brett Veach

I’ve been impressed with Veach and his abilities running the Chiefs. This quote lands him on the winners list because is it September yet?

“We’re doing everything we can to win a Super Bowl,” Veach said. “We’re not trying to win a Super Bowl four years from now, we’re going out there and we’re trying to win a Super Bowl next year. Whether that happens I don’t know but I know that we’re going to do everything we can to put our team and our roster in a position to do so. If we have shortcomings we’ll continue to work on those things. Our mindset is at every period to get our team in a position to win a Super Bowl. We have a lot of talent here. It’s a lot of young talent which is exciting for the fans, but we realize there may be some growing pains but we have guys that can straight up play football and they’re exciting. I think our fans are going to love the product we produce.”

Bonus point for cleaning up the cap to Make Free Agency Fun Again.

RB Kareem Hunt

We haven’t talked much about Kareem Hunt but he could (should) be among the biggest beneficiaries of what the Chiefs are building on offense. Other than the times Andy Reid forgets about him, Hunt can be one of the Chiefs best playmakers. With two deep threats in Hill and Watkins and Kelce going over the middle, who is stacking the box to stop Hunt now?

TE Demetrius Harris

Sure, it was reported that he spent two days in jail as part of last year’s arrest (The real breaking news is someone got arrested for pot in 2018). The Chiefs had every reason to find another No. 2 tight end in free agency and they didn’t. They could still replace him in the draft or in free agency over the next few weeks, but it looks like he’s coming back until they do that. Winner.

WR Sammy Watkins

This isn’t one of those puffy contracts that is really a one-year deal. Sammy is going to make $30 million in Kansas City in two years — guaranteed.

Also, let’s celebrate his youth, as Sammy was born six months into the Clinton administration.

LB Dee Ford

Dee Ford experienced the rare situation in which being injured turned out to be a good (and very profitable) thing.

It was confirmed last week that Ford would be unable to pass a physical, guaranteeing his 2018 contract number of $8.7 million. That means despite inconsistent play, Ford will be back, and the Chiefs appear optimistic for his contract year.

“We’re anxious for Dee to get back and get in the mix,” Veach said at the Combine. “I spoke to Rick Burkholder, our trainer, a few weeks ago and we’ve been in an open dialogue. (Ford) continues to progress from the back. It was a couple of years ago he had that three or four-game span where he was on a tear and he started to turn the corner then had some setbacks. We believe in him and his ability to really make a difference when he’s fully healthy.”

WR De’Anthony Thomas

De’Anthony Thomas must really like Kansas City, as he reportedly agreed to $1.5 million less to stay with the Chiefs. With his last season ending early due to injury, Thomas will have another crack at a contract year as a role player.

LOSERS

WRs Chris Conley and Demarcus Robinson

They’re still Chiefs and I think they both make the team in 2018, but the addition of Sammy Watkins pushes them down a notch in the offense. If there are no injuries, it’s hard for me to see how they are going to make an impact week after week as the fourth or fifth option. Of course, injuries will happen or else Demarcus Robinson would not have been playing key minutes down the stretch last year.

Broncos LB Von Miller

Remember all offseason when Von Miller was drooling over free agent-to-be Kirk Cousins?

Well, the Broncos reportedly didn’t even offer Cousins a contact, settling instead for Case Keenum.

Cousins is a Minnesota Viking.