Mock 2/3/22

[kccrow]

I don't know what happened against CIN and I don't want to at this point. I expected to be waiting on a mock until after the Super Bowl, but here I am...

So here goes with the house cleaning.

Chiefs cut: ER Frank Clark, LB Anthony Hitchens
Chiefs restructure: QB Patrick Mahomes
Chiefs extend: WR Tyreek Hill (4y $109m)
This puts KC at approximately 67.7 m in cap space.

Chiefs ERFA tender: TE Jody Fortson, RB Derrick Gore, CB Deandre Baker
Chiefs Franchise tender: OT Orlando Brown
Chiefs re-sign to minimal deals: OC Austin Blythe, OG Andrew Wylie, LB Ben Niemann, RB Jerick McKinnon, WR Byron Pringle, FB Michael Burton, LB Dorian O'Daniel, S Armani Watts
Chiefs re-sign to market deals: CB Charvarious Ward (3y $44m), ER Melvin Ingram (1y $4.1m)
Chiefs let walk: S Tyrann Mathieu, S Daniel Sorensen, OT Mike Remmers, DT Jarran Reed, WR Demarcus Robinson, DT Derrick Nnadi, TE Blake Bell, CB Mike Hughes, OG Kyle Long, RB Darrell Williams, CB Chris Lammons, WR Marcus Kemp, QB Chad Henne
Chiefs add free agents:
OT Geron Christian (1y min)
SS Jordan Whitehead (4y $58m)
WR Tre'Quan Smith (2y $7m)
TE Kahale Warring (1y min)
NB M.J. Stewart (1 y min)
Chiefs trade 2022 2nd round pick and conditional 2023 3rd round pick to NO for ER Marcus Davenport (1y $9.5m)

Draft
1. LB Damone Clark, LSU (6'4" 239)
Adds a ton of range to the 2nd level of the defense and allows KC to deploy a traditional front and actually cover TEs and RBs.
3. ER Sam Williams, Mississippi (6'3" 256)
A 1st rounder that will slide because of off-field issues that may or may not be that serious and surely worth the shot at this point.
3. DT Eyioma Uwazurike, Iowa State(6'5" 319)
Big, strong, and long. Could go earlier with the season he had this year.
4. CB Coby Bryant, Cincinnati (6'1" 191)
Fundamentally sound and long, press-man corner
7. RB Kennedy Brooks, Oklahoma (5'11' 215)
Has some juice and some size to him, which fits well with the Veach type.
7. WR Erik Ezukanma, Texas Tech (6'2" 220)
Big and relatively quick, could go much higher if he truly blows the doors off in workouts. Criminally underused on a bad team.
7. WR Bo Melton, Rutgers (5'11" 190)
Quick, fast, and a bit of a waterbug type that could develop into a nice slot and return man.
7. OL Luke Fortner, Kentucky (6'6" 300)
Big ol' boy that could slide in at C or G as a versatile backup.

Roster:
QB: P. Mahomes, S. Buechele
RB: C. Edwards-Helaire, D. Gore, J. McKinnon, K. Brooks
FB: M. Burton
WR: T. Hill, T. Smith, M. Hardman, B. Pringle, C. Powell, E. Ezukanma, B. Melton
TE: T. Kelce, N. Gray, J. Fortson, K. Warring
OT: O. Brown Jr., L. Niang, G. Christian, P. Tega-Wanogho
OG: J. Thuney, T. Smith, N. Allegretti, A. Wylie, L. Fortner
OC: C. Humphrey, A. Blythe

DE: M. Davenport, M. Ingram, S. Williams, M. Danna, J. Kaindoh
DT: C. Jones, K. Saunders, E. Uwazurike, T. Wharton,
LB: W. Gay, N. Bolton, D. Clark, B. Niemann, D. O'Daniel
CB: C. Ward, L. Sneed, R. Fenton, D. Baker, C. Bryant
DB: J. Whitehead, J. Thornhill, M. Stewart, Z. Anderson, A. Watts

ST: H. Butker, T. Townsend, J. Winchester

[Dunerdr]

Thanks for the read on a boring snow day at work, i like the Whitehead signing. And i could live with the draft. Kennedy Brooks would be a nice pick up at that point who could eventually be a starter imo.

[duncan_idaho]

It's good work, man.

I like the idea of going after Davenport, for sure. Not sure what the draft compensation would need to look like to land him. They're in dire straits.

I'm not nuts about LB in the first. If it's someone like Nakobe Dean I can see it more, but that would be a big jump up draft boards for Clark.

Is your idea with Smith that he's an ascending player who was underutilized in New Orleans?

I think they'd need a little more of an upgrade at WR. Or are you looking at EE as someone who can contribute year 1?

[Hog's Gone Fishin]

I like that draft. Making LB a strength is a great idea.

[OKchiefs]

Seems like another year of minimal investment at WR would be a questionable move at this point

[kccrow]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

It's good work, man.

I like the idea of going after Davenport, for sure. Not sure what the draft compensation would need to look like to land him. They're in dire straits.

I'm not nuts about LB in the first. If it's someone like Nakobe Dean I can see it more, but that would be a big jump up draft boards for Clark.

Is your idea with Smith that he's an ascending player who was underutilized in New Orleans?

I think they'd need a little more of an upgrade at WR. Or are you looking at EE as someone who can contribute year 1?

Some chatter that Clark could go ahead of Dean and he certainly played better than Dean. Dean gets alot of press because of GA's success. I'd put the kid from Utah and Clark ahead of him but that doesn't mean the draft will shake out that way. From what I'm seeing, Clark is a 1st or early 2nd round player and not a late 3rd type some boards are projecting. I'm not overly hesitant about pulling the trigger there. He's going to be a stud IMO.

I think Smith is a bit of an unknown to me. When I personally watched him, I thought he was underused and played really well. Some fans of NO though think he's had some opportunities and didn't seize the moment and should have been more productive. I don't know the true answer there but he's intriguing to me and I feel like he has alot more potential if he's in the right scheme. I certainly think he's a huge upgrade over Robinson and Pringle if he lands here. The problem with any guy we grab is that there aren't much more than 40-50 balls to be had by the time Hill, Kelce, and Hardman get theirs. I don't think we need to dump 10+ million per into a guy for returns you can get from a guy worth 3-5.

I think they need some bodies at WR that have potential. Probably none of them play this year much unless the Chiefs do nothing to address the position in free agency and I really don't foresee that happening. I really don't think the Chiefs need a massive overhaul and to go try and find a couple of studs at WR, and I really just don't think it will happen. Maybe Veach tries to get a stud X and maybe he tries to find Hardman's replacement. Will he do both? I'm not thinking both in the draft. I definitely thought about snagging a guy in the 4th like Rambo but I went with building the defense first and foremost. You still have to have a good defense to win the SB (I think... although this season gave me room for pause, that's for sure). I'm just taking a shot on two guys oozing with potential that were on relatively bad teams so their stock might not be as high as it should be.

[DJ's left nut]

A guy with the Saints I'd kinda like to see us leverage out of there is Deonte Harris. The problem is that he's just damn undersized.

I just love his athleticism and ball-tracking skills. If there's any chance at all that Hardman has turned a corner, Harris is the kind of guy that could slide into that Y role and really create some havoc over the middle.

He's an RFA and if we offer even 3.5-$4 million/yr, they may not be willing to match. Get him on a 3 year, $12 million type deal and you might REALLY get a bargain.

[kcbubb]

Interesting…. While I disagree with some of what you’ve done. I like some of your ideas and respect the work and thought. And I like many of the players.

While I think Davenport is intriguing and could have huge upside, I’d rather not give up that draft capital with chandler Jones available. Chandlers weakness is his age but our focus should be winning in the next couple of years. So, I don’t mind his age. Also Davenport is injury prone, Ingram is old and our de group is too thin. This is the most important position group this off-season and needs major investment. Not enough investment here.

I don’t like spending that much on whitehead. That’s as much as chandler. I’d rather get a cheaper or an older safety and try to fill safety in the draft. And I don’t think our d drops off with and improved and dominant dline and a pretty good safety.

I don’t like investing our 1st pick in a LB when there should be a few WRs here and they are a value at the pick plus wr is a need for us. Not a fan of the positional value of the pick. Get an LB later or sign a cheap free agent, especially considering that we have gay and Bolton.

TreQuan is interesting. I like him. Good player, young and good value. I’d rather get Sammy back bc he won’t have to learn our complex offense. He’s already comfortable with mahomes and mahomes trusts him. This leads to instant production and again, we need to win now. Combine this with a wr round 1 and it’s a good combo with Sammy on a short term deal.

[kccrow]

Going to just post this here since I wanted to change a few things up after some chats with you guys on the WR position. My stance at WR hasn't changed wildly but I did get some ideas from everyone to alter some thoughts.

Chief restructure/extend:
QB P. Mahomes, WR T. Hill

Chiefs cut:
ER F. Clark, LB A. Hitchens

Chiefs ERFA tender:
CB D. Baker, RB D. Gore, TE J. Fortson

Chiefs re-sign:
CB C. Ward, OT O. Brown, OC A. Blythe, OG A. Wylie, LB B. Niemann, RB J. McKinnon, WR B. Pringle, FB M. Burton, FS A. Watts

Chiefs let walk:
SS T. Mathieu, S/LB D. Sorensen, OT M. Remmers, DT J. Reed, WR D. Robinson, DE A. Okafor, DT D. Nnadi, TE B. Bell, CB M. Hughes, OG K. Long, RB D. Williams, LB D. O'Daniel, DB C. Lammons, WR M. Kemp, QB C. Henne

Chiefs sign UFAs:
SS J. Whitehead, ER E. Ogbah, ER D. Barnett, DT M. Collins, WR C. Wilson, OT G. Christian, NB M.J. Stewart


Draft:
1. LB Damone Clark, LSU (6'4" 239)
2. ER Sam Williams, Mississippi (6'3" 256)
3. WR Charleston Rambo, Miami (6'1" 180)
3. DT Eyioma Uwazurike, Iowa State(6'5" 319)
4. CB Coby Bryant, Cincinnati (6'1" 191)
7. RB ZaQuandre White, South Carolina (6'0" 212)
7. WR Erik Ezukanma, Texas Tech (6'2" 220)
7. LB J.J. Russell, Memphis (6'0" 225)

QB: P. Mahomes, S. Buechele
RB: C. Edwards-Helaire, D. Gore, J. McKinnon, Z. White
FB: M. Burton
WR: T. Hill, C. Wilson, M. Hardman, B. Pringle, C. Rambo, E. Ezukanma, C. Powell
TE: T. Kelce, N. Gray, J. Fortson
OT: O. Brown Jr., L. Niang, G. Christian, P. Tega-Wanogho
OG: J. Thuney, T. Smith, N. Allegretti, A. Wylie
OC: C. Humphrey, A. Blythe

DE: E. Ogbah, D. Barnett, S. Williams, M. Danna, J. Kaindoh
DT: C. Jones, M. Collins, K. Saunders, E. Uwazurike, T. Wharton
LB: W. Gay, N. Bolton, D. Clark, B. Niemann, J. Russell
CB: C. Ward, L. Sneed, R. Fenton, D. Baker, C. Bryant
DB: J. Whitehead, J. Thornhill, M. Stewart, Z. Anderson, A. Watts

[duncan_idaho]

Crow, it looks good to me.

I think I just see the defense differently than you, so I'll always have a hard time valuing LB in round 1 over DE, WR, or CB. But I like what you did there.

How do you feel about Alex Pierce as a Round 3 WR target? He might push his stock higher than that, but I like his size/speed/versatility.

[kccrow]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

Crow, it looks good to me.

I think I just see the defense differently than you, so I'll always have a hard time valuing LB in round 1 over DE, WR, or CB. But I like what you did there.

How do you feel about Alex Pierce as a Round 3 WR target? He might push his stock higher than that, but I like his size/speed/versatility.

I just see that WLB position, with how much Spags deployed Niemann down the stretch, as mission-critical. Niemann was on the field more than Gay which speaks volumes to how Spags sees Gay.

Clark is a stud. Hell, he may not be there at 30.

I probably wouldn't do it if I felt like 1) the D-Line wasn't addressed well enough and 2) the secondary wasn't addressed. I think if you can get some vets in like I have here (with a lot from your thoughts in the other thread), then that gives you the ability to get a difference-maker at the 2nd level. All I remember from last year is Hitchens, Niemann, and Sorensen getting torched repeatedly so I see that position as a major need. I think they are grooming Anderson when they want to go a little lighter but they have nothing else.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by kccrow

I just see that WLB position, with how much Spags deployed Niemann down the stretch, as mission-critical. Niemann was on the field more than Gay which speaks volumes to how Spags sees Gay.

Clark is a stud. Hell, he may not be there at 30.

I probably wouldn't do it if I felt like 1) the D-Line wasn't addressed well enough and 2) the secondary wasn't addressed. I think if you can get some vets in like I have here (with a lot from your thoughts in the other thread), then that gives you the ability to get a difference-maker at the 2nd level. All I remember from last year is Hitchens, Niemann, and Sorensen getting torched repeatedly so I see that position as a major need. I think they are grooming Anderson when they want to go a little lighter but they have nothing else.

And I see it and hope that he sees how Gay flashed when deployed in pass sets and trusts him a big more.

I thought he flashed pretty good instincts as a pass defender.

[BryanBusby]

Give me Christian Kirk in FA and Olave in the draft and Pat's problems are over.

Good ****ing luck covering Hill, Kelce, Kirk, Olave and Hardman all on the field at once.

[T-post Tom]

Well thought out. I'd prefer CB or Edge in the 1st round. Assuming there's value at the end of the 1st round.

[kcbubb]

Thinking about Davenport…. Saints would probably get rid of cam Jordan before him. They need to rebuild. Not sure what that would look like or if it would work but it’s interesting. I’m assuming he’d be cheaper bc of his age but he’s been very productive. And he’s a voice for leadership & interviews that may take pressure off of mahomes. Mahomes gets way too much pressure and that’s one of our biggest problems that is overlooked.