Kansas City Chiefs: Free agents to target on one-year deals for 2020
By Chris Clark
Devin Funchess
Devin Funchess would be a similar scenario to that of Laquon Treadwell, in that, he hasn’t lived up to his full potential.
While not a first-round pick, he was drafted number 41 overall by the Panthers in 2015. The big 6’4″ 225-pound receiver looked to have a lot of potential coming out of Michigan in that year’s draft. Chiefs fans may remember how receiver-needy the Chiefs were headed into 2015 and Funchess could have easily been a draft target.
Funchess has the physical tools to be an offensive weapon, but hasn’t quite put it all together yet. He spent time in Carolina building chemistry with quarterback Cam Newton and even put together a decent season in 2017 with 840 yards receiving and eight touchdowns. When Newton started to struggle with accuracy issues, it seemed as though Funchess’ rise began to plateau.
After four seasons with Carolina, he was let go and pretty quickly latched on with the Indianapolis Colts last offseason.
Unfortunately, the 2019 season didn’t go as planned. After only playing one game, he suffered a collar bone injury and missed the rest of the season. The Colts may look to re-sign Funchess, but would likely ask him to take a pay cut or he could take the option of exploring the open market.
The Chiefs could be an interesting landing spot, as Funchess would be different than the smaller receivers in Kansas City and give the team a bigger type of end zone threat (he played tight end for two seasons while at Michigan).
The prospect of catching passes from Patrick Mahomes on a one-year deal might be enough to lure him in and he could spend that year auditioning for a bigger contract thereafter. It’ll be interesting to see if the Chiefs are in the mix for his services in the coming weeks.