KC Chiefs: Moving on from Dee Ford and Justin Houston right move
By Kole Berrey
Cap Space
The Chiefs picked a bad year to have roughly only $9 million in cap space. The defensive free agent class is absolutely LOADED this year.
From young stars like Landon Collins, to established studs like Earl Thomas, to savvy veterans like Cameron Wake and Ndamukong Suh, this free agency has a piece on every level for defense. The Chiefs simply don’t have the cap space at the moment to sign even one of these players as well as account for an incoming draft class and future extensions for players like Tyreek Hill, Chris Jones, and Patrick Mahomes.
If Justin Houston and Dee Ford are on the Chiefs roster at the start of free agency, GM Brett Veach will have his hands tied when it comes to adding high impact talent. If they both get a combination of traded or released? The Chiefs cap wiggles to right around $40 million dollars.
That would put the Chiefs near the top ten in cap space in the entire league. A team that was just in the AFC Championship game, with top ten money and an MVP quarterback? That free agency pitch writes itself. Throw in the atmosphere at Arrowhead and Kansas City BBQ into the equation, and players would practically be begging the Chiefs to give their phone a ring.
Let us not get things twisted, Justin Houston and Dee Ford are dominant players. Consider this, however. If you could turn Justin Houston and Dee Ford into a Tyreek Hill extension, Eric Weddle, Cameron Wake, and Ed Oliver, would you do it?
Some of you may not know who Ed Oliver is, and that is for good reason. It is because he isn’t in the league yet. Which leads us into the next part of this equation; the draft.