Kansas City Chiefs: Alex Okafor great addition to rebuilding defense
The Kansas City Chiefs added a defensive player to their ranks on Thursday, inking Alex Okafor to a three-year deal worth $18 million. Okafor brings a veteran presence to a defense in rebuild mode.
After cutting loose several fan favorites on defense, the Kansas City Chiefs have brought a nice addition in on a three-year deal. Alex Okafor is the recent Chiefs signing and he spent the last two years with the New Orleans Saints.
Before that, Okafar was a member of the Arizona Cardinals for four seasons and has been a decent player throughout his six-year career.
This is a good move for the Chiefs, who have made it clear that they’re no longer leaning on the old timers to run their defense. That was made obvious after Justin Houston, Dee Ford, and Eric Berry were all either released or traded this week.
The Chiefs have signed DE Alex Okafor to a three-year deal worth $18 million, a source tells me. Deal can reach $24 million with incentives.
— RIP Terez A. Paylor (@TerezPaylor) March 14, 2019
Okafor had four sacks with the Saints last year and four and a half the season before that. He might not be THE guy rushing the quarterback, but he can get after it. He started all 16 games for New Orleans last season in a year where the Saints defense was under the radar.
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Okafor can serve as a mentor for both Breeland Speaks and Tanoh Kpassagnon, neither of whom contributed much in 2018. Kpass has had an especially tough go of it, not seeing the field much in either of his previous two seasons. Having someone like Okafor around to help them could be extremely beneficial to both of those young guys.
This might not be a flashy signing, but it could end up as a sneaky good one. Okafor is just 28 years old and this deal will take him through his age 31 season. The former Saint has struggled with injuries throughout his career, but when healthy, he can provide a nice burst at defensive end for this rebuilding unit.
Chiefs fans might be a bit worried after seeing Berry and Houston released and Ford traded, but those moves weren’t bad ones. Berry and Houston were both expensive and not living up the bill while Ford was going to become much more expensive and until last season, hadn’t shown he deserved that kind of dough.
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While Alex Okafor isn’t going to make Chiefs fans jump for joy, he can be a solid contributor in what’s going to be a young defense. Here’s to hoping this move works out for the Kansas City Chiefs!