Return of the Chiefs Q&A: On Dee Ford, Justin Houston and the NFL free agency frenzy
I don’t know about you guys, but the Antonio Brown saga kept me up all night on Thursday. During my nightly Sex and the City binge (thanks for the reruns, E!), Ian Rapoport tweeted that a deal to send Brown to the Bills was imminent. Suddenly I was wide awake. It didn’t matter that I had just taken my heavy duty cough medicine. There were Twitter jokes to make and Twitter jokes to read. And, of course, there was Brown’s “fake news’ Instagram comment.
Here. For. It.
I dozed off maybe two hours after that, only to wake up with Adam Schefter alerts on my phone.
The deal was dead. Brown wouldn’t be going to Buffalo after all.
More drama!
From there, I woke up every hour or so to check on the progress of the story. Somewhere in there, I think I watched some SNL clips because I had a dream where I was best friends with Aidy Bryant, but that’s neither here nor there.
By the time I woke up for good this morning, Brown was definitely not going to Buffalo, and his future was a lot more uncertain that it was 12 hours earlier.
My first free agency period as an NFL reporter hasn’t even started yet, and it’s already a blast. But as much fun as last night’s drama was, I don’t expect the Chiefs to be involved in anything like that. Would it be fun to see a backfield with Le’Veon Bell in Kansas City? Absolutely. Could Patrick Mahomes and Antonio Brown hook up for some incredible plays? Duh.
But I don’t think either of those things are happening, no matter how many Instagram videos Chris Jones posts.
Instead, look for the Chiefs to make defensive moves, possibly a lot of them. But general manager Brett Veach seems to move in silence, so I wouldn’t think he’ll be keeping us up all night with back-and-forth drama. Then again, you never know with free agency. So stay on your toes, everyone.
If your question didn’t get answered in this Q&A, check out my free agency primer for more info on what’s going on in Chiefs world.
I think Landon Collins makes the most sense here. From what I’ve heard, the Chiefs wanted him prior to the trade deadline and couldn’t get a deal worked out. Now, with Collins as a free agent, that could be a different story. Though he’s only 25, Collins peaked in 2016 when he was named All-Pro and was a Defensive Player of the Year candidate with five interceptions, four sacks, 13 passes defended and 86 solo tackles.
Since then, he’s declined every year, and he didn’t have any interceptions in 2018. But the Chiefs like to bring in elite players who need changes of scenery (see: Sammy Watkins). Adding Collins to stuff the run would free up Eric Berry to drop into coverage, and that would be a pretty fearsome tandem — assuming, of course, that Berry is healthy.
Good question. Not necessarily. I think even if the Chiefs did build a roster for next season without Houston and Ford, their top priorities would still be the secondary. I tend to think the Chiefs would address the edge rushers in free agency or through trades, maybe by adding a guy like Trey Flowers. And they’ve also got players making progress at that position in Tanoh Kpassagnon and Breeland Speaks. Are those two guys as good as Houston and Ford? No. But I think they’ll still fit in the scheme better than they did last year.
It’s really tough to tell in those situations, because the Chiefs don’t like to tip their hands as to their plans. Sometimes they’ll purposefully avoid guys they want and meet with other guys to throw up smokescreens. That being said, I think they like Joejuan Johnson from Vanderbilt. He’s a big-bodied corner who would fit well into the Chiefs’ scheme as an outside guy.
I was really impressed with his emphasis on off-the-field community service, and I think that’s something the Chiefs really value. I also liked Corey Ballentine from Washburn, a guy who could be a late-round value. Others I’d look at: Deandre Baker and Johnathan Abram.
GM Brett Veach doesn’t shy away from taking the best player available on his board, but I think in the first round, that player will be be a secondary player. The Chiefs need to badly address that position, and they need to do it with the most talent they can.
Defense. The defense kept the Chiefs from the Super Bowl this year. Plain and simple. The organization wants to win now and the best way to do that is by adding to the defense in as many ways as possible.
Landon Collins, Earl Thomas, Jamie Collins and Trey Flowers. Just to name a few. I don’t think they’ll get them all, but I think that’s a good short-list.
Hahahahaha *deep breath* hahahahaha
No.
Whew, thanks for that.