Great points.

I would counter with asking how much of that per year money would be evened/leveled out through GM cap wizardry, and how far we can afford to kick the can down the road that way if we were to choose to do so....

We're already doing it, to some extent.

You have:
Mahomes - 49.2m
Clark - 28.7m
Jones - 28.3m
Thuney - 22.1m
Kelce - 14.8m
Reid - 12.7m
MVS - 11.0m

What are we going to have to do this year? Probably cut or significantly reduce Clark's hit and move money on Mahomes contract if we want to add OBj back into the mix and his first year will likely be at least 15.0m

When OBj's number goes up next year as well as Mahomes, you got Clark coming off entirely but you're still at 7 players at the threshold if Jones does get extended. That might mean you have to let Thuney go and most likely means MVS needs to come off the books.

These ideas that the Chiefs can just go and trade for a DHop and so on is what make me think it's difficult to manage. Yeah, you can make it work this year with some wizardry. Next year gets a bit more difficult because you don't want to keep kicking the Mahomes' can if you can avoid it.

It's not going to take long to know the plan. Maybe not all, but at least a significant part of the plan. The end date for taggging OBJ is March 7th. By March 15th, teams are required to be under the salary cap. So an interesteing week to week and a half coming up.

Man the more we REALLY look at the numbers, the more I think tagging and trading Brown is the way to go if at all possible.

If the goal is to compete EVERY year for a SB, I think it's the wise move. Brown is a good but not great player, and we just shouldn't overpay for that production.

I’ve gone back and forth a dozen times.

What would Brown fetch is what it all comes down to.. he was available and we got him for the equivalent of a 2nd rounder. He SHOULD be worth more since he’s shown he can be a productive LT.

If the jets offered 13, then it’s a no brainer. I just don’t know if we’d even get offered a first. Maybe if the bears trade down we could get 2 2nds??

It also doesn’t help that this FA class is trash.

I THINK I’m on the boat of signing him long term. But I’ll just trust Veach on this and not get too worked up

The 25M or so he's gonna want can be used to:

Extend Jones
Extend Snead
Sign a vet RT (Either Jawaan Taylor or McGlinchey)

All of those things could come from moving on from him. To say nothing of us moving up to get whomever at LT @ 13 or so.

We're not trading into the top 15. People need to let that dream die. It's not happening.

Buzzkill..../"But the chart syas if we gave up 4 7ths and next years 3rd we should be able to trade up!"

Yeah, I get it. It is a buzzkill.

But I fully expect 3 things:

1. The Chiefs re-sign OBJ
2. The Chiefs don't trade into the top 15 at all.
3. CP will bitch the entire time and well into the future.

As sure as the sun rises.

Man, seems like we could (should!) come up with less expensive replacements for Clark, Thuney and Brown. Everyone else on that list looks reasonable (to me).

Obviously, Brown is a free agent. How quickly can we get out from under Clark and Thuney's contracts?

Clark will not be here at that price, and to be fair to Thuney he played the last 2 years at low numbers and he's arguably the best guard in the league.

L’Jarius Sneed is not a difficult player to replace. Orlando Brown Jr is a difficult player to replace due to asset allocation and limited supply/ultimate demand.

It all comes down to dollars. If Sneed demands a big contract he should be traded

Thuney has played great. Again, all of this stress can be solved by getting rid of the weak link on the line (I'm not counting Wylie)...he's the worst out of our OL guys and he wants by far the most money. Orlando needs to take his desire for a 25M deal to another team.

This OBJ thing is an easy choice IMO.

With regard to Thuney it isn't a question of talent for me- he's indisputably great. I just wouldn't allocate the money to an offensive guard. I would prefer to spend money on other, more impactful, positions like QB, DE, LT, WR and the anamoly that is Chris Jones.