Kansas City Chiefs: Winners and Losers from 2019 NFL Draft
By Kole Berrey
Loser: An Undisclosed Safety
The Chiefs used the Free Agency period to address their secondary, making a big splash by signing Tyrann Mathieu. After the release of Eric Berry and the trade of Eric Murray, the crowded safety group appeared to be set.
Enter Juan Thornhill.
The Chiefs second pick of the second round was added as a versatile play maker, who has a style that compliments Tyrann Mathieu perfectly. This could spell trouble for Jordan Lucas, Armani Watts, or Daniel Sorensen. The Chiefs won’t carry five safeties during the regular season, so one of these three are not going to make the team.
My money would be on Daniel Sorensen, who the Chiefs would save the most in cap room by releasing. Still, in a year where it is obvious the Chiefs are in “win now” mode, it may be tough to get rid of another veteran and leader on the defensive side of the ball.
Even if he hasn’t been an All Pro type player ever in his career, Sorensen has always at least been consistent. His ability to play more of a linebacker role could be very useful if the Chiefs ever want to put three safeties on the field.
Either way, one Chiefs safety will be saying goodbye when cut day rolls around. Armani Watts may be safe as he was injured last year and was actually drafted by Veach, unlike Lucas.
This decision could be tricky.