Kansas City Chiefs Should Look at These Free Agent Edge Rushers
By Lucas Murphy
The Kansas City Chiefs have had a top-tier offense since quarterback Patrick Mahomes arrived in KC. During the 2021-22 offseason general manager Brett Veach made it apparent he would fix the struggling offensive line, and he did just that. He addressed multiple positions on the offensive line through free agency and the draft making it one of the best in the NFL. Fast forward to this current offseason, and the defensive end/edge position is in a similar situation. It needs the dire attention Veach gave the offensive line.
Steve Spagnuolo is the current defensive coordinator, and his scheme is dependent upon applying pressure to the opposing quarterbacks. The scheme is executed through different blitz packages, but the most important entity is getting pressure from the edge. According to pro-football-reference.com, the Kansas City Chiefs’ defense applied pressure 26.4% of the time on opposing quarterbacks. This stat ranks them 5th overall out of 32. KC’s defense made opposing quarterbacks hurry 13% of the time, which put them 3rd overall. The most glaring stat is this defense only recorded 31 sacks ranking them at 29th overall.
The point is the defense is not completing the sack once the opposing quarterback is made uncomfortable. The Chiefs currently have six defensive ends on the current payroll, Frank Clark, Mike Danna, Joshua Kaindoh, Jonathan Woodard, Malik Herring, and Austin Edwards. Out of those six, two logged significant time for the defense. I am going to provide three potential edge rushers the Chiefs could sign this offseason.