Kansas City Chiefs: Ranking three best moves from 2019 offseason

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The Kansas City Chiefs and their passionate fanbase have a lot to be excited about. They are fresh off of an AFC Championship appearance, Patrick Mahomes is their quarterback, and a bunch of new faces have arrived.

In the NFL, being stagnant is the equivalent of a self-imposed death sentence. You have to try to be ahead of every curve, early on every new trend, and foresee problems before they even arise. Every year, teams come out of the offseason looking drastically different than when they entered it.

The Kansas City Chiefs are no exception. They made plenty of moves this offseason, but let’s pick the top three and rank them in importance to the upcoming season and beyond.

Move #3: Letting go of veteran players

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This will always sting. It is always hard to say good-bye to fan favorites, especially ones who made the team exciting during the Dark Ages, or those who were pivotal in pulling us towards brighter days. It was time to cut ties with a few of those players, unfortunately, but it was for the best of the team.

In the past, the Chiefs are generally pretty smart about these moves.

The likes of Dontari Poe, Dwayne Bowe, Jeremy Maclin, Derrick Johnson, Tambi Hali, and Jamaal Charles were all fan favorites let go in recent memory. Not a single one those players have gone on to produce a Pro Bowl season after leaving the team.

Most were older veterans close to the twilight of their careers who gave it one more go for other teams. Others, like Poe, have struggled to make a name for themselves away from 1 Arrowhead Drive.

The same may or may not be true for the most recently released, or in Dee Ford’s case, traded players. That doesn’t mean the moves don’t make sense. Eric Berry and Justin Houston still have quality football left in them. Dee Ford doubly so because of his young age and steady improvement.

These moves aren’t necessarily about the players themselves, but what the team was able to do in respect to jettisoning them. The Chiefs managed to replace Dee Ford, Steven Nelson, Justin Houston, and Eric Berry with Tyrann Mathieu, Frank Clark, Besahud Breeland, and Alex Okafor. Most would argue the Chiefs moved laterally. That is simply not the case.

The players the Chiefs acquired are, for the most part, young players who fir better in the new scheme. Frank Clark and Dee Ford had the same sack numbers last year, but Clark is a more natural fit in Steve Spagnuolo’s base 4-3.

Mathieu is younger than Berry and more versatile. Berry also hasn’t played more than one full game in the last two regular seasons.

Losing Justin Houston hurts, but by combining his cut with Berry’s and then Dee Ford’s trade, the Chiefs were able to sign all the aforementioned players, open up $25 million in cap space, and add a second round pick. Not too bad.

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