Kansas City Chiefs: Free Agency Moves So Far

By Leigh Oleszczak | Mar 10, 2015

The Kansas City Chiefs have had an eventful off season, and the free agency period hasn’t even officially began. The actual negotiation period doesn’t start until Tuesday afternoon, but the Chiefs (along with several other teams) have already had some excitement come their way.

Last week the Chiefs were the first team to place a franchise tag on a player. They did so to outside linebacker Justin Houston, and it didn’t come as a surprise to any fan in the area. Houston is a vital part of the Kansas City Chiefs defense, as he had 22 sacks last year and came half a sack shy of Michael Strahan‘s single season record.

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Houston was slapped with the non-exclusive franchise tag, meaning other teams have the chance to offer him some sort of deal. The Chiefs have a chance to match it, but if they choose not to, they get two first round draft picks.

Houston won’t be signing the tender anytime soon according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, and people aren’t happy with him. Can you really blame the guy though? He wants to make the most money possible and he deserves it. He had a monster season last year and Chiefs fans shouldn’t be upset with him in the least bit.

The next big free agency news came when it was reported that the Chiefs planned on trading or cutting wide receiver Dwayne Bowe. While this wasn’t surprising, the only thing that worried me at the time was that if Bowe was let go, who would be the number one receiver in Kansas City? Obviously we have that answer now, but it was a worry at the moment.

Bowe signed a five year $56 million deal in the 2013 off season, and hasn’t lived up to it. I think it’s best that the Kansas City Chiefs part ways with him and let him go elsewhere.

The most exciting news came on Sunday when it was reported that Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Jeremy Maclin planned to reunite with his former head coach and join the Kansas City Chiefs in 2015. Fans immediately went ballistic, as Maclin would finally give the Chiefs their elite number one receiver.

With Maclin on board, it’s safe to say that Dwayne Bowe’s days in Kansas City are over. He’ll be a highly sought after wide receiver though and shouldn’t spend much time on the free agent market.

One of the more upsetting moves was when center Rodney Hudson agreed to play for the Oakland Raiders for a massive deal (five years for $44.5 million). Hudson will be missed dearly on the offensive line, but now the team will look to Eric Kush to fill the gap and play center.

Fans were ecstatic though, when Tamba Hali agreed to restructure his contract in order to stay a Chief. It takes a pretty great teammate to do that and we all love Hali here. According to Terez Paylor of the Kansas City Star, Hali agreed to take a $3 million pay cut in order to remain in Kansas City, which is an awesome thing for him to do.

Free agency officially starts Tuesday, March 10th at 3:00 central time.

Next: Mike DeVito Re Structures Deal

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