Kansas City Chiefs: 3 potential NFL cut candidates to pursue

Arizona Cardinals DE Devon Kennard

Going back to some pass-rush options, Arizona Cardinals DE/OLB Devon Kennard is another name that could help out another team but has become expendable for Arizona due to the emergence of Haason Reddick and the stacked DE/OLB room that now also includes J.J. Watt, Markus Golden among others.

The Cardinals signed Kennard to a three-year $20 million deal in 2020 free agency which now looks like a mistake. Kennard is also making a pretty penny for someone who may not even start and the Cardinals could save upwards of $6 million by cutting him according to OverTheCap.com.

If I’m a betting man, I would say Kennard is the most likely of the three to be cut and he may be exactly what the Chiefs are waiting for. We mentioned that it is a little bit frustrating that the Chiefs haven’t made the obvious move in signing one of the remaining free agent defensive ends but a player like Kennard may be better than all of them. Kennard would likely be willing to sign for less than any of those free agents are looking for and he doesn’t have the durability concerns others may have.

Kennard is a solid player. He only had 3 sacks in 2020 but he had 7 in 2018 and 2019 with Detroit and he has a knack for making tackles in the backfield. Kennard also has experience in a 4-3 scheme which is what Steve Spagnuolo runs and Kennard has been one of the better run-defense defensive ends in the league playing in a 4-3. In fact, Spagnuolo actually coached Kennard when he was DC for the New York Giants back in 2015-2017.

A swiss army knife of sorts, Kennard offers a little bit of everything and could absolutely fill that veteran void in the defensive end room for the Chiefs.

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