PRIORITY: Chiefs Face GAMECHANGING Cornerback Moves After McDuffie Trade—Will Jaylen Watson RETURN?

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The free agency clock is ticking, it's about to hit zero and cornerback is right at the

top of the chief's list now from the land of the free and the home of the chiefs.

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We're going to run it down in the wake of the Tremac Duffy trade.

What does it look like?

The free agency reset here as we're a few days away from free agency beginning the tampering

period begins here rather quickly.

So what are the priorities now for the cheese and free agency?

What can they get done?

What else do we still expect?

Then we're going to come back and we're going to discuss specifically where does the

quarterback group fit in there?

There are other things to be done, but this is now a bigger priority.

And I think it's right up there at the top in particular in the free agency market.

And then we're going to play a little game about what might shock us if it were to come

true.

That's all the day.

Thanks for joining us.

It comes down to this.

There's a lot of priorities here.

There's now enough room.

I don't know what the cap is today.

I have not looked at it.

If you have it, please, please let me know.

There's enough space to do something.

And so they got to start prioritizing where we have to start prioritizing to recognize

what the team has prioritized to try to get done.

Looks like they are it's just under 25 million in cap space, and I will just say this.

I've said this multiple times in multiple different outlets.

I don't think they're done because while 25 million sounds like a lot of cap space,

it's probably more like 10 total that you have available after you sign your draft class

and you may be signing a couple of your own restricted free agents, exclusive rights

free agents, and you pay your practice squad and have money for the year.

So there's still probably moves that need to get done, especially if they're looking

and making a big financial push in free agency.

Yeah.

And I think that there are a number of things that they could do.

I do still expect your tranquil to probably be on the outside.

What is he?

He's 31 already.

I don't remember when his birthday is.

I don't have all that stuff memorized here, folks, but he'll be another year older as everybody

is every year.

So that's just one more thing to keep in mind there.

So I do think it's unlikely that gets you what six back.

Is that what it is?

Drew Trek was birthday is August 15th and cutting him would get the chiefs and additional

six.

Correct.

Okay.

32 in August, it just makes sense, you know, he's probably the last one that I say is

probably a pretty straightforward scenario.

There are other things that you could do.

No gravy in one of them.

I don't think they do that because I think they like gray and I think they want to keep

the band together here if Kelsey is going to come back.

I do think that there are things that they could do in terms of restructuring a couple

of guys, but that is always tricky.

But I guess that's where I ask you, when you look at like if there was more than one

thing to do, what would you think has the least impact on the future, the thing that's

most palatable to do right now?

Probably restructure create, although it's not going to free up a ton of money.

He's got an 18.1 cap hit.

He's got 14 million in salary.

You could probably get that down to closer to two or one and a half million in salary and

spread out the rest of it over the life of the contract.

He's still got a couple of years left on his deal, so you could spread that out.

You could spread out the 14.2, basically, and I'm going to round that up to 15, basically,

it would be like creating almost 10 million in cap space if they converted a little bit

less than 10 million in cap space if they converted his contract.

You could do something similar with the Trace Miss contract.

It would free up a little bit more money because Trace Smith is a larger contract.

He's got a $25 million cap hit.

He's got basically a $20 million base salary in 2026, but he's also still only got two more

years after this year.

You're looking at maybe being able to free up another 13 from Trace Smith.

You could do that.

You could do a conversion with Chris Jones.

I've talked about that.

I really hope they don't go that direction.

That's where you get the most bang for your buck.

The one that makes the most sense to me, but doesn't really free up a ton of space, is

George Carloftus.

The reason it makes the most sense to me is because he's 25 years old.

He's got a $15 million cap hit, but the bigger thing is he's got four years on his contract

after this year.

When you look at what was that?

It spreads out more.

Is that the advantage?

You could basically take a salary down to, I think, about one and a half, which basically

gets you about $9.5 million in cap space, I think, or sorry, $9.5 million that you could

convert and take forward.

Most of that is going to be something that you would be able to take forward, so it would

be maybe freeing up six to seven, maybe eight total, but the nice thing about that is you're

only spreading out $2 million a year on the next four years versus taking five or six

from Creed Humphrey or seven or eight from Trace Smith and adding that onto the next couple

of seasons.

Gotcha.

So, functionally, they have 10 now.

Say they do Creed, that gets them another 10, and then if they did Carloftus, what does

that bring them up to?

Like 28-ish to spend?

Functionally?

If they do who?

Just Carloftus?

Carloftus and Creed.

Carloftus and Creed functionally would get them freeing up eight from Carloftus, probably

close to 10 from Creed, so yeah.

Functionally close to 28.

27, 28.

Okay.

So, then you have to look at what can you do, and to me, the first priority is getting

back your own guy, whether it's Lillish and all, who I don't think it's going to work,

I think he's going to be priced out of there, or Jalen Watson, now the Charlie McDuffie's

gone.

I think it's got to be that, right?

Is it corner, is it linebacker, is it edge, is it wide receiver?

What's the priority?

That's a quick question, and for me, I don't know that it's either of them, mainly because

look at what the chiefs have done over the past five or six years where they've had

Brett Beach's their GM.

They traded away Marcus Peters to the same Los Angeles Rams, and they traded away, well,

Jerry Sneed, they've now traded away, Tramock Duffie.

I feel like they think that they can go out and they can find another DB that can come

in, and they can draft somebody to step in.

Maybe they like Jalen Watson, but if his market goes above $13, $14 million a year in

NYPY, are they still going to feel like that's a great deal?

I think you could make an argument, it is a great deal, but are they going to feel like

it's a great deal because that still gives you the ability to go out and sign a couple

of different players.

So, to me, it really just depends on what their focus wants to be.

Do they want to focus on defensive free agency?

Do they, I mean, everything that I keep seeing people talking about is that the chiefs

are going to try to attack running back in defensive end or defensive tackle in free agency.

If that's the case, then I don't know that you do anything with Jalen Watson, and you

hope that maybe he can't find the market that he wants and you get him back here for

12.

Maybe we'll see.

Well, that's what it comes down to, and I would make the counter, but let's look at

what the order needs to be and where CB goes, that's next.

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I definitely see where you're coming from and you guys have probably heard this argument

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I'm glad that you brought up where CB fits and what that math is because for me, I'm

the opposite.

I'd rather try to go aggressively at Jalen early and try to get him signed at a rate that

they want right away.

Maybe he'll go for it.

I think his reaction to Trimicked up and getting traded kind of set him apart there because

if he's not on this roster, these are your starting three at this moment.

Christian Fulton, Noel Williams and Chris Rowan Wallace are your top three corners.

There needs to be more than just a couple of draft picks coming in.

So I do think something's got to be done in free agency at CB.

Yeah, no, and I'm not saying that something doesn't need to be done.

I just don't know what is Jalen Watson's market.

What does he think his market is?

What does his agent think his market is?

Are they going to be willing to do a little bit less than what they think they're going

to get on the open market?

Because if they're not, I can't see him back in Kansas City because I think on the open

market, he could get 18 million a year.

Maybe I'm wrong on that.

But if he's considered the top CB in the NFL as a free agent, which he's close, a lot

of people think he's a very good corner.

He's going to get close to $20 million a year.

Top corners are getting 30.

The market is going up.

McDuffins going to get over 30 and probably I would get, I would guess probably over 31,

maybe even 32.

Maybe I'm wrong on that.

Look at how the sorry cap went.

Generally speaking, when you start looking at the things that are done, it's, okay, what

was last year's and then you take a percentage change for what the market changed?

Yeah.

It makes sense.

So if it's not CB, then we got to look at other things and as you said, the defensive

line is going to be one of those and a couple of things stand out to me.

When you look at edge rusher in particular on the outside, my guy can't

come from Thomas, went to Cleveland, did a couple of good things.

He'd be a cheap acquisition to throw another body at.

It's been in the system.

I like that concept.

It doesn't have to be a starter.

You have guys down the list.

They're expected to bring in a little bit of money like, lay on chase on the Patriots

guy coming in around eight is his projection.

Like I could do that too.

What do you think?

Let me ask a question.

Let me, let me throw you for a loop here on this one.

Is it more important to have has rush or to have good corners?

I'm not saying, yeah, exactly, I get where you're coming from.

But the reality is, is like you look back at the Super Bowl winners.

They won because of their defensive fronts.

Not necessarily their defensive backpills, although they had some good defensive backpills.

It's been the defensive fronts.

So does it make more sense to invest heavily in the defensive line?

Try to get more pressure and make it a little bit harder to or maybe a little

bit easier on your cornerbacks so you can not pay as much at that position.

And maybe have what they have and add another draft pick this year.

That's a fair question.

And I will flip it on you.

And I'll send it back your way.

Say the magic number to get Jalen Watson under contract is 11 mil per season.

You do it.

What if boy and mom face the same cost?

I think I probably go boy and mafia.

Yep.

And the reason is look at what a top notch defensive end is going to generally run you.

And while boy and mafia isn't necessarily a top notch defensive end,

he's a better defensive end than what they have behind George Carloftus.

And you're going to be looking in a situation where you're paying him less than Carloftus.

And the top of the market for defensive ends are is 40 top the market for corners is 30.

That's fair.

I like Jalen Watson, the issue that you have with Jalen Watson is he also has an injury history

and the chief know about his injury history.

So how's that play into this as well?

It definitely would.

Let me throw another hypothetical at you though.

Another guy that does have injury.

And I'm looking when I look at free agency, what I'm trying to do is if I give you a three year project,

I'm trying to to sign somebody that's 27 or younger.

That's it.

So mafia's like 27 and a and a month and a half at this point.

The guy that might be the better fit.

He's longer, but he does have injury history.

What if you could get Jalen Phillips at 18 or 17 to put across from George Carloftus,

knowing that action jolates here and you're going to rotate them.

And there's going to be enough pass rush to give everybody some rest.

Depends on the deal you're giving him.

18 and 18 a year over three years isn't horrible.

But you could also do, you know, make it.

You know, 15 million, 20 million in the signing bonus and spread it out and really drop his number.

The issue you're going into when you start talking to defensive line.

How this is going to play out is you've got to figure out what they're going to do with Chris Jones.

And if they don't do something in 2026 with his salary this year, they're absolutely possibly.

I would say absolutely more than likely going to do something maybe even trading or cutting him in 2027 because of the cost.

So how does that affect everything when you're looking at this because it isn't just looking at 2026.

It's how does it affect going forward and you have to plan for that.

So I would consider Jalen Phillips, but he does have an injury history and it makes a little bit more complex.

If you're talking to Jalen Phillips, who's going to trade Jones in 27.

So what you're saying is like the edge might not be the way to go.

I'm saying that it's a question of what you're going to do with the defensive line position or defensive line overall.

Because how much money you're going to have in that defensive line.

You already have George Carloftus at close to probably I think 20 for 2027.

You have Chris Jones for what's yeah.

Carloftus is number in 2027 is oh, okay, it's only 15.2.

So that's not horrible.

But you look at Chris Jones's number in 2027 and it's something like currently in 2027 is 38.

So it actually goes down.

That's if they don't do anything.

There's there's people out there that seem to think that they're going to do something.

If they don't, then 38's a little bit easier, especially if the cat goes up another 10 to 15 million next year, maybe even more than that.

But again, how much money do you want to have tied up in your defensive line?

I'm not saying you can't, but you have to make those decisions.

Do you want to invest and do what the NFL and this is kind of where I was going with my question before to you.

The NFL is showing the past two offs or the past two Super Bowl winners have invested heavily on their defensive lines.

They get pressure on the quarterback.

They get after the passer and that is help them win.

I'm not going to say it's the only reason they won, but it's definitely helped them win.

Is that the way that the chiefs want to go or are they going to look at going more of.

We need to be able to defend the past and it doesn't matter about our past rush, which hasn't worked out well for him lately.

And they can short up in their way, but I think it has to go.

You've got to chase the quarterback better. That's been the variable here.

So I think they have to it would shock me if it didn't you know what else would shock me the next couple of things when we get back.

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Chris has got work coming on a Casey chief corner as well.

So take me through a scenario that would shock you as you watch this free agency unfold.

The chiefs trade a second round pick for DJ more.

Oh, wait.

That already happened.

And it wasn't the chiefs.

Brandon.

Sorry couldn't resist taking a shot at the Buffalo bills who made incredibly stupid move.

I'm not saying DJ more isn't a great player or isn't a good player. He's a good player.

But 24 million a year for this year and next year and then coming back and taking guarantees that weren't there in creating guarantees when you trade.

15.5 in 2028 when he's going to be 32 years old as a receiver.

Good luck.

Yeah, that's going to be tough.

I completely agree with you.

Shocker though would be the chiefs making some kind of move that would do something like that.

I don't think that this team is going to go out and trade for veteran.

I don't think they're going to be giving up any draft picks.

I don't think they're going to be doing anything like that.

So to me, it's just a matter of can they find guys can they find somebody in for agency that they want to bring in.

It sounds like there's a lot of people out there talking about can't walkers going to get $13 million a year is the guess.

That would shock me.

I can't see Kansas City coming to a deal with Kenneth Walker where he can walks in and gets $13 million a year from the chiefs.

I don't see that happening.

And the other thing on that is the only way you do a deal like that is Chris Jones has to be restructured because you're not going to be able afford it any other way.

If you want to fill some of the other holes.

There's too many.

Yeah.

That does make it difficult.

And at that point, you're just kind of in a tough spot.

Things that would shock me is if now after clearing a little bit of space and trading away in McDuffie.

If they just stay in patent, don't do anything.

If it's three weeks later before we see a free agent signing, that would be a miscalculation.

So I expect that they will get something done before that.

That would shock me.

Yeah, I can see that.

I honestly, I can't see Brett Beach not having at least one guy signed by or we're hearing about somebody being tampered and the chief signs up.

But before the actual free agency period opens like I think he will have a deal done.

It will be a large deal.

My guess is it's probably going to be running back.

Like I do think that they're going to make a move with that position.

And maybe it's not going to be who we want.

But I do expect that that's going to get done.

You know, the other thing that's going to shock me.

And I kind of talked about it, kind of hinted at it.

But it would shock me if they did if they redid the Chris Jones deal.

Not necessarily because I'm worried about the future.

Although that's part of it.

But that sets a whole new precedent for this team.

If they go and restructure Jones and do a max restructure on Jones.

And maybe they don't, you know, maybe they cut to tranquil.

That's another $30 million in cap space.

They're going to do something with that $30 million in cap space.

Hope so.

They're going to do something large with that $30 million in cap space because the way they generally do contracts.

Their contracts are going to be backloaded.

And they're going to have a small first year and it's going to be something that they're going to get a large signing bonus that's going to be spread over the life of the contract.

So generally speaking, they don't need a ton of money and free agency to do something.

Unless you're signing somebody to one year deal.

And I don't expect that they're going to be doing one year deals this year.

Not for the higher tier of free agents.

Yeah, that makes sense to me as well.

The other thing that I don't think they're going to go do is I don't think they're going to go out and sign free agent linebackers.

I expect the illusion now gets a nine plus per year offer that he takes.

I think most of the size have him estimated down around four and a half five.

I think that's crazy.

And I think somebody's going to give him a whole lot more money than that.

I don't think the chiefs can be that that team.

So I do think you you are going to have to replace him Andrew tranquil, but I don't feel like it's going to be a big thing in.

I think the agency itself.

I think that they have boss away in the wings.

I think they like McDonald a whole lot more than any of us do.

And I feel like that's the way they're going to go.

I know we're talking for agency, but I have to ask a question because this kind of goes back to the trimmy Duffy trade.

We've talked a lot about the value in this draft and how it's just not there for this team.

If you have carnal tape and Rubin Bane or whoever you want to add to that list of two or three guys that are still sitting there at seven.

Do you offer a fourth round pick or a fifth round pick to see if you can jump up to seven.

Like do you make an offer trying to move up trying to go get a blue chip guy thinking that you won't have a chance if he isn't there.

Right now the chiefs have a compensatory fifth.

If they get another one, which is a lot of the expectation.

I would say yes, maybe two of those and you can move from nine to seven.

I don't know if that'll get it done quite honestly.

It wouldn't if I was the guy holding seven, but you could try.

But giving up anything in the top 100 would be out of the question for me, given the needs.

And I really like where they're sitting at the top of day three with that that first pick one or nine in the fourth.

That's that's good money right there. So I don't know that I'd give that away either.

Yeah, no, I get it. I'm just looking at the aspect of you're not going to get a top talent with likely sitting at nine.

And if you have two guys that you think are are blue chip players, is it worth throwing picks away that you didn't have like is it worth taking some of the picks that you have.

I mean, you have nine now and you have maybe a third light next year's what an extra third next year as well as it worth taking those insane.

I want to go get a blue chip guy versus being stuck with whoever's left at nine.

And maybe not being able to trade back and get what you want as value.

Yeah, that's true. That's that's the gamble that you're going to have to take in the end.

It would it would shock me if they didn't pull a trade at all.

Whether they trade up in a scenario like you put down or whether they do find a partner to trade back with could be ended up being the Rams again, who knows.

The Rams the Cowboys down to the Buccaneers. I think that's kind of the range that I would be looking for and I think that that's something that they could get some interest.

And I will say this I'm not going to be I want to be clear it's not going to happen in Kansas City.

But there is a trade out there that could happen that would shock me and it's max cross be being anywhere other than Las Vegas.

And I do think that there's a distinct possibility.

But it would be it would be even more shocking to me to see the Cowboys give up their two first this year to get it done as an example.

Like that.

They just got those by trade away from your past.

Right. I don't think they're in the market to go do that again.

Yeah. Well, and I don't know how they pay all pay all.

Yeah.

So I mean, that's the other thing.

And to be clear, the reason I bring up cross be the reason I bring up things with the Cowboys.

It all plays into what is going to happen with Kansas City because you also look at a guy like George Pickens whose franchise by the Cowboys.

Looking at probably getting over $30 million a year as a wide receiver.

That isn't going to play in Kansas City, but it's going to affect whether or not they can go out and sign their own free agent wide receiver if they want to.

How much is that going to play into the chiefs being able to go out and sign a guy.

If they wanted to go out and get a guy like I don't know Romeo dobs or I think Pierce is going to be way too expensive for what the chiefs are going to want to spend at the position.

So, you know, you have to have a little bit better expectations there.

A temporary expectations a little bit, but that's definitely something to to wonder about.

How is all this going to play together free agency is always a fun period.

It is and I hope it will stay that way.

Now it's going to pick up steam next week folks.

So be prepared.

We will have reaction for you to what does happen speculation as to what is likely to happen because you never know.

We were ahead on the traffic trade a little bit.

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