Kansas City Chiefs: Mike DeVito Could Be Hitting Free Agency

The Kansas City Chiefs may be asking defensive end Mike DeVito to take a pay cut, according to Conor Orr of NFL.com. DeVito didn’t even finish a full regular season game in 2014, as he tore his Achilles in the season opener against the Tennessee Titans.

As of now, DeVito is scheduled to make $4 million in 2014 and other teams seem interested in giving him the same amount of cash.

It would be a bit of a downer if the Chiefs let DeVito walk, as the run defense struggled immensely without him and Derrick Johnson last season. That was about the only weakness when it came to the Kansas City Chiefs defense last year, but it was a huge problem in several games.

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Mike DeVito is 30, so the chances of him and Derrick Johnson being the long term solution in Kansas City wasn’t likely, but still. Fans were excited to hear when Pete Sweeney of KCChiefs.com said DeVito was doing better during the off season, and that he and Johnson would be back wrecking havoc on opposing offenses in 2015.

That may never happen now, at least not in Kansas City.

"With the market for a player at a similar age and position already heating up, a fully healed DeVito may be right to take a calculated gamble, especially with many run defense-needy teams out there with money to spend.– Orr"

Mike DeVito played his college ball at Maine and went undrafted in 2007. The New York Jets later gave DeVito a chance to prove himself and he ended up playing for them for six seasons before signing with Kansas City during the 2013 off season. He became a staple for the Chiefs’ defense and was deeply missed after his season ending injury in week one.

Now that the Chiefs might be parting ways with DeVito, what other options are there? Well, as Joel Thorman of Arrowhead Pride pointed out, once DeVito went down with his injury last season, Jaye Howard stepped up nicely.

"After DeVito went down last season, Jaye Howard emerged as a regular on the defensive line. The Chiefs also paid Allen Bailey with a multi-year extension. Do they want to continue with Howard’s development or bring DeVito back?~~~With Bailey and Howard developing at defensive end, I’m leaning towards the Chiefs releasing DeVito to create more cap space. With players like Justin Houston and Rodney Hudson needing new contracts, as well as the uncertain future of Dwayne Bowe and Tamba Hali, the Chiefs need as much cap space as they can reasonably create. DeVito, at this point, looks more like a luxury than a necessity."

Sad, but true. While Mike DeVito was a nice addition to have on the defensive side of the football, there are other areas needing to be addressed during the off season.

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