Charvarius Ward.

There will be more. Because we've never had to carry this kind of QB contract before. To 'inflation adjust' it, the most we'd ever carried in the past was, what, a $20 million sort of QB contract? Under this cap, that frees up $20+ million we could plow into whatever other position(s) we want.

And we've never paid the SB tax before. Nor have we had many teams with rosters this deep.

We'll start losing guys who we'd rather keep. And some of them will go elsewhere and play really well.

Shit happens.

Veach, as always, has a plan. If he told OBJ to kick rocks Id bet my bottom dollar one of the below has taken place:

1.) He has a trade partner set in stone for the draft to go get one of those top three tackles (Pete Skoronski, Paris Johnson, Jr., Broderick Jones). Yes, Im fully aware it may take pick 31 and our 2024 1st rounder to get there.

2.) He has a trade in place for a top tier tackle with another franchise.

3.) He knows they have something lined up in free agency.

I mean....maybe?

I'm sure it will happen, happens to everyone. But most teams that sign those types of guys.....suck. I dunno, like Meck said, they seem to know what they're doing.

We traded a top 10 all time WR and won a SB. Whetevs man.

I must have missed elite pass rushers he protected Mahomes blind side from during the postseason. He was helped a ton and was saved in the SB with the field conditions.

I'm not trading next years 1 to go get a LT. I'd just sit and take whoever falls or a developmental guy and go with a vet for a year.

Yeah. And he's solid, but unspectacular. Not worth that kind of coin.

I'm as shocked as anyone that Orlando's not getting tagged. I would think he would draw back near the draft capital the Chiefs gave up to acquire him. I understand that PFF hated him, but he made pro bowls each year. And left tackles are highly sought; particularly ones in their mid-twenties.

The only explanation is that the bag he demands is so high that the Veach knew that a long-term deal would never happen. And any partner for a trade would have to accept paying Brown as the highest tackle in the game because Brown will not sign a second tag as part of a trade. That's a tough ask.

Then, as others have pointed out, it became a simple analysis of the liquidity needed to work the rest of our roster. If a deal could have been done with another team for draft picks, I'm quite confident it would have been. I look forward to the wizardry Veach will employ to solve the problem and strengthen the team overall in the process.

It's my secret hope that we can swallow Jesus's entire cap number again this year. That would put the team on an elite financial trajectory as Creed, Smith and Bolton become due.

yep, and I agree. Do NOT touch Mahomes' deal. Swallow it this year, do the best you can and don't push any money forward.

You might win anyway. And if you don't, you'll be in SUCH great position to win in 25, 26, and 27.

I'm not that shocked.

I didn't see Veach and Brown coming to an agreement.


Didn't sound that likely a tag and trade would work.

And I didn't see Brown playing on a second tag.

And I can see why Veach didn't want the cap tied up while negotiations dragged on.

I didn't hate Brown but it appeared Brown valued himself way more than Veach did.

I thought Brown was going to hold out for elite money and long term guarantees and Veach was going to be forced to say screw that, even if getting a different starting LT was going to be painful.

Cut your losses and move on.

Dude 'bout set a shitload of records.

Your question wasn't "who have we ever lost who proved catastrophic?"

It was "who did we ever lose who went on to play well elsewhere?"

Ward and Hill. And yes, there will be more. That's not to say we can't replace them with viable, more cost effective players. But that's the new job in front of Veach.

It's no longer about building roster depth as much as it is surviving roster churn and maintaining a core. The RIGHT core, at that. Because some real real REAL important pieces to this here puzzle are entering the back 9 of their careers.

Did you just say we should trade a 1 to get Tunsil?

Because "I'm not trading 'X pick'" is simply not anything I will ever believe from you.

Yes you will. You'll trade any pick. All the picks. All we need to do is find someone older and more expensive and eventually you WILL bite.

Not touching Mahomes deal means 25-27 look great... but we have no Kelce and an aging CJ under that scenario. No guarantee you can replace them. I might rather have 24-25 as the window with those 2 guys still playing...

I hilariously forgot about Hill! Ha!

Out of sight, out of mind.

Gonna go order my Pacheco #10 jersey now.

Eh, I think he actually outplayed his contract. He was quite good last year.

A whole lot of corners are going to get paid more than him in the coming years and play far worse than he did and will.

Ward's a FA success story, IMO.

But we replaced him so who cares?

The best thing about Mahomes' deal is that they have different ways to approach it.

They could restructure a CHUNK of it, but not all of it, pretty easily.