Kansas City Chiefs: Veterans that could be cut this summer
By John McCarty
CHIEFS VETERANS THAT COULD BE CUT
FRANK ZOMBO – Linebacker
After the organization drafted defensive tackles Kpassagnon and Speaks with the intention of moving them to outside linebacker in consecutive second rounds, it’s hard to truly find a spot for Frank Zombo. With Dee Ford returning to the lineup and Justin Houston, at least for one more season, manning the left linebacker spot, Zombo looks to be the odd man out.
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Two other factors work against Zombo. As special teams continues to be a diminished part of the NFL game, it’s becoming more difficult to find a backup role for a player such as Zombo. Kickoffs are basically no longer part of the game so I’m not sure a team should keep a fifth outside linebacker simply to cover kickoffs.
Also, the Chiefs selected Dorian O’Daniel to basically do the special teams part this season (I’m guessing) that Zombo does. O’Daniel is not a good fit defensively with the defensive alignments as we’ve seen, so I’m really curious how he will be used. (O’Daniel is a classic 43 weak side linebacker who appears to be extremely undersized to play a linebacker in the configuration the Chiefs appear to be trying out.)
Combined with the contract and starting position to be assumed by Anthony Hitchens, there appears to be no room for Zombo on this team. Moving on from Zombo allows the Chiefs to save 1.210 million against the salary cap while incurring 166K in dead money.
Next. Observations from First Day of Training Camp. dark
There, as there always is, will be a name or two that comes across the waiver wire that surprises us. Will one of the mentioned players be on that list? It’s possible. We will have to wait and see.