Kansas City Chiefs: Two bad free agent signings by Chiefs

Kansas City Chiefs general manager Brett Veach has hit a lot of home runs this off-season, but there are two signings I think he whiffed on.

Veach has made a lot of great moves so far this off-season, and I love most of them. But he has made two this week that I disagree with are the return of two fan favorites: Dustin Colquitt three year $7.5 million and Anthony Sherman one year $2 million.

Sherman is listed as a fullback on the team’s roster but at this point his main position should be listed as special teamer. The Chiefs offense changed last season to a shotgun heavy team as they where in the shotgun for nearly 60% of their plays. Mix in single back plays as well and Sherman was on the field for only 17.5% of the teams offensive plays last season according to Chiefs Wire’s Wesley Roesch. These numbers will only shrink for Sherman with Patrick Mahomes as the quarterback.

The Chiefs offense in 2018 is going to be a high flying affair. There is no reason to have a designated fullback on the roster. For the few goaline formations the Chiefs may run, they could easily use a backup lineman or have some fun with Chris Jones. Sherman’s 19 carries and 42 receptions in five years in KC should not be hard to replace.

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This means the only reason to sign him is because of his special teams abilities. In his five years in KC Sherman as 57 tackles and five forced fumbles on special teams. While those are solid numbers I don’t believe they are irreplaceable numbers. Especially not considering Sherman will make $2 million this season to be on special teams.

I find it hard to believe that the Chiefs could not find a perfectly good special teams player to fill that spot in this year’s rookie class. That rookie would be playing for league minimum of less than $500,000 saving the Chiefs $1.5 million to apply to a more important position. Fullback is possibly the most useless position in football in 2018 and special teamers are found every year. I love Sherman the man and he’s a fun character to cheer for, but he’s not worth $2 million.

The other move I disagree with Veach over is his decision to retain the services of Colquitt, the now longest tenured Chief. While I do appreciate the fun trivia fact that he is the last remaining player drafted by Carl Peterson, that’s not enough to keep him around.

Colquitt has been a top three punter in the league for nearly his entire 13 year career in KC. But having the best punter in the league is a lot like a golfer saying he’s got the best divot tool on the course. Yes there is a place for it and it’s something you need, but it’s ranked near the bottom of things you need to be successful.

I think under offenses run by Matt Cassel and Alex Smith Chiefs’ fans have been conditioned to believe that a punter is far more valuable than they actually are. When you are scoring points and consistently moving the ball on offense a punter just needs to be able to kick the ball down the field.

Yes it is nice to have a punter who can pin the ball inside the 10 yard line on a regular basis. It is a nice luxury to have, but not one a team should pay for. Just watch a game of teams with top five offenses and see how much of a real factor the punter is to the game. When your offense is good all you need a punter to do is not lose you the game by getting one blocked or shanking a 10 yard punt.

The Chiefs had Colquitt last season and it did nothing for them to improve in the playoffs. The defense was so bad it didn’t matter if the ball was on the five, 10 or 30 yard line they where going to drive down the field. Colquitt was in his prime when the Chiefs went 2-14, many saying he was the best player on the team during the Scott Pioli era. He did not move the needle in terms of team success one bit.

That will not change anytime soon as if the punter is a big difference for the Chiefs in 2018, then they have fart greater problems. Like the fullback position a punter should be a player that is on a league minimum deal. When he moves past that point it is smart of any team to move on from him to the next league minimum punter. They definitely shouldn’t make $5 million like Colquitt did last year, or the $1.6 to $3.1 million he’ll be making with this contract per the KC Star’s Terez Paylor.

The Chiefs will be paying nearly $4 million this season for a punter and fullback. That may not seem a lot, but they could have both those positions without losing much if any production for less than $1 millioin. That would make a $3 million savings that they could use to sign more valuable assets. But that is just two moves out of many for Veach. I’ll take this batting average from my GM, in Veach I trust!

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