Nnadi is back.
 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Update: The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Chiefs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Chiefs</a> have signed back DT Derrick Nnadi, a 2018 3rd round pick who played his entire career with the team, per his agent SportsTrust.</p>&mdash; Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) <a href="https://twitter.com/NFL_DovKleiman/status/1638214504986169344?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 21, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Nnadi is back for '23
 

woah

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Chiefs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Chiefs</a> are re-signing starting DT Derrick Nnadi, per his agents <a href="https://twitter.com/_SportsTrust?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@_SportsTrust</a>. Nnadi started all 20 games last year and now returns for a sixth season in Kansas City.</p>&mdash; Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) <a href="https://twitter.com/MySportsUpdate/status/1638214599412523011?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 21, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Must not have liked what we saw on the market for IDL

Of all the guys we could have and did lose, he's the one that didn't need to come back.

I'll be interested to see what he got for a deal. Hopefully it's peanuts and not much in the way of guarantees. That way if they find a NT they like, they can easily cut him in camp.

Yuck.

As a former Nnadi Stan - this guy has been hot garbage the last 2 years.

I hope the staff knows something about why that we don't because this guy hasn't been an NFL caliber player of late. That's really surprising to me. I'd take Woods 100 times out of 100 over bringing Nnadi back.

If they tried to use the veterans exception for him, it's the bonus amount, IIRC, that they can keep off the cap. I wonder how all that works?

Because yeah, you'd like to hope that he's getting little more than a camp body contract and he'd have to earn his way back onto the squad.

Isn’t his contract not counted now

Nnadi sucks

Totally agree, he's not been very good. I was hoping for an improvement to the position, guess that will have to wait until the draft.

Yep, yuck is right. If this is the plan, it's not one. You have to think we add another in the draft and maybe FA. My only hope is it's used as leverage to ratchet down the cost of someone else...but this guy taking any snaps is, not good.

It is an awful collection of dross left, but still better than Nnadi.

Meh. He's got skill, he's just terribly inconsistent with it.

For a minimal contract I'm not surprised at all. If nothing else it adds competition in TC.

That's kind of the way I see it, a chance to earn a spot on the roster. It may also be a way for Veach to keep his cards close to the vest until draft time.

Well, at least I have someone to hate all of next year. I was running out of those guys.

I mean, if he sucked as bad as many of you are saying they probably wouldn't be bringing him back. I'm sure he's dirt cheap and the guy started all 20 games for a Super Bowl winning team.

He's certainly worth having on the roster considering we have absolutely nothing at the moment. Thinking we're going IDL high in the draft but he can certainly have a rotational role.

Kaindoh should be on your list

Have to believe he is just cheap insurance.

Really would have liked Saunders over Nnadi. Veach is going after DL in the draft so vet presence to hold the spot until the rookie is ready?

Hey, he sacked Trevor Lawrence in the Divisional Round!

Literally forgot ol' Kantgo was on the roster.

Dude, he was terrible. His average depth per play was POSITIVE. He got blown off the ball time and time again. You want your NT to hold the line and eat up space. He can't do that.

This is probably a nothing contract that is easily cutable if the draft doesn't fall well.

His in game play recognition is dreadful.

A run stopper that..doesn’t.

This is it. Hopefully he's been given nothing and can be cut for nothing - I mean really he should be paying the Chiefs. We can't have snaps from this guy, he's a liability.

Yeah - um...this.

Sometimes teams bring back known quantities because they're cheap and available - not because they're good. Sorensen and D-Rop spring mind immediately.

Signing him doesn't give me any sort of confidence that he was better than my eyes or any sort of objective measurement suggests.

He was very mediocre in 2021 and flat out bad in 2022. I don't see any reasonable way to argue otherwise.

Pretty much, I think they're hoping they can find guys in the draft that are better but they are prepping with insurance.

Meh. Roster depth.

If this was somehow a package deal that brought SR back to CP…. Nandi would be my new favorite adopt-a-Chief. Wishing the very best for you SR, wherever you are! (And success to you Nandi, on every snap you play for the finest team in the National Football League: the Kansas City Chiefs!) Hugs all around!

Yeah, I'm not saying the guy is good, but he is an experienced body at a position where we have nobody under contract. I'm sure the deal is basically league minimum. There really aren't 53 NFL caliber players for every NFL team to have on their roster, especially at certain positions, so you're always going to have guys like Nnadi lingering in the league.

We always have players who suck who stick around here seemingly longer than they should and we still just keep winning Super Bowls. No complaints from me anymore regarding who they decide to keep and let go. I would assume they are targeting IDL early and Nnadi will play sparingly if all goes as planned

If he's playing as much as he did last year, yeah, that's not good at all.

Fills another need, nice move.

Chiefs give Nnadi to Nnadi
CP does not give Nnadi to Nnadi

They could get a guy off the street to do what he does. If he gets any snaps at all, it's a shame. He's terrible.

Where the issue lies is do you really want a NT in the 1st?

I don't.

I mean I dig Mazi Smith but I dunno about him that high even though I think the Cowboys could take him at 26.

The Cowboys are a real weird wildcard in this draft the players they're linked to seem to be. Mazi Smith, Darnell Washington and Adebawore is linked a lot to them.

Nnot a very nnice signing, but it is what it is. Perhaps there was nno market for him and Veach got him for cheap. Here’s hoping that nnext year he is better with another year under Cullen.

You don't think someone like Coburn couldn't be had in the 3rd? Keanu Benton?

I think there are a LOT of 3rd/4th round DTs in this draft, actually. Even quite a few with inside/outside potential. Jerrod Clark, DJ Dale, Jacob Slade, Cam Young, PJ Mustipher, Broderic Martin; presumably a few more...

And no, not all of them will slide that far, but some will. And maybe some guys we don't expect to fall into the 3rd like Karl Brooks or Jaquelin Roy. I think Brooks is a GREAT fit and since he didn't get invited to the combine could easily stay under the radar and slide to us in the 3rd and potentially even the 4th.

Nah - we can easily find a nice player in the middle rounds, IMO. There's decent depth at IDL in this draft, IMO. Not amazing, but solid.

I don't think Benton is really a run stuffing nose he has some get off to him.

And if they find one they like and draft him....I don't really see Nnadi having a spot on the roster coming out of camp.

I don't see any desperate need for a 'run stuffing nose'. They're overrated as a concept. And Nnadi didn't 'stuff' a damn thing at the nose last year.

Run defense is a team concept. And with 3 versatile LBs, two of whom are excellent in space, I wouldn't be surprised at all to see us spend more time in base defenses and firm up the run defense in early game/early down situations. Especially against teams that are less dangerous out wide.

The experience of the young CBs will reduce the need to sell out as much in coverage.

I'd take someone like Benton 10 times out of 10 over a 'run stuffing nose' as they just don't move the needle all that much.

I think people get enamored with Mazi because he's so big and strong and moves well so he's more "classic"

Pretty much how I feel about it.

Sure - if you can get a tank in the middle who ALSO collapses the pocket or can get a little penetration, well that's just aces.

But what's that have to do with Derrick Nnadi?

Just seems like a non-sequitur. Somewhere between Jerry Rice and Snoop Minnis is a player we can really use.

I personally think run stuffers do matter, and they are not a position you should take lightly.

DJ Reader is a big reason why the Bengals defense gets away with all of its exotic crap. He's immovable, even against an elite interior like the Chiefs have. The Bengals do all kinds of weird stuff and leave a relatively bare bones DL alignment in place because Reader can shut down the business all by himself.

That said, I don't think there is a 1- or 0-technique block of granite DL the Chiefs have access to at the end of the 1st. Keeanu Benton is the closest you get and he'd be a really good pick at 31 in my opinion. Not my favorite pick, but a great one nonetheless. But in all likelihood, there will be better options available, including at DE where you pretty much have to go at this point.

Benton has a lot more juice to get upfield than I originally thought, but he's still a plugger that you can't move.

Yeah....this news didn't make me jump for joy. But as long as they're not planning to start him, I'm cool with it. They need depth.

Honestly, I can't figure why the Chiefs didn't give Danny Shelton playing time last year. Shelton's under contract now so who knows.

That guy is a pure 0-tech with long arms.

For a guy with a reputation for being a brilliant personnel gameplanner, Spags can be so dogmatic sometimes.

Did Shelton sign a futures deal off the practice squad or something? I didn't realize veterans were eligible for that. I don't understand why he didn't get PT last year either.

Chiefs Sign Two-Time Super Bowl Champion to Bolster Defensive Line

Shelton did play in a couple games, iirc. At least one. I remember because the poor guy had to drop into coverage on a play. One of the funnier things i saw in 2022 was that dude actually being in phase with a WR for a few steps.LMAO

But yeah, I'd liked to have seen more of him. I'm seriously hoping he's in shape (for him) come OTAs.

While I've been as hard on this guy in the past as anyone in here - probably more than anyone - I did notice that he actually picked it up a bit and played reasonably well the last maybe 1/3 of the season and into the playoffs. Not enough for me to want him re-signed, but he did start playing better - not that it was a high bar to reach. And I'm not saying that just because we signed him, I said it about a month ago.

YESSSSSSSSS!!!!!

https://media.giphy.com/media/UlqLDtI8Qc0j6/giphy.gif

ROFL

He qualifies for the 1.5m qualified veteran cap reduction program because he’s been here for 4+ years. So I’d imagine he signed for vet min and his salary won’t count against the cap.

Even then, he’s been terrible enough that every year we’ve needed to go dumpster diving to improve the run defense with him not being good at all.

The dude on the left gets me every time. You can just tell he gives zero ****s LMAO

His greatest skill is diving like he's doing a belly flop and totally missing everyone and everything.

It's impressive

Positives about Derrick Nnadi

1. He has stayed healthy for his KC football career. He has not missed games in the 5 years he has been in KC.
2. He will be very familiar with the defense.
3. Coaches know what he can do.
4. He won't cost too much. This is an assumption since his 2023 contract has not been reported yet.
5. He fits in with team chemistry.
6. He can get better from last year.

I disagree with #6. I can't imagine there's that much improvement potential in a guy with his age and experience.

Lol dudes been on a pretty steep decline the last couple years. Last year it seemed like he stopped that decline. Not because he got better, but because he probably hit the floor and is as bad as he can possibly be. I know we gotta have guys on cheap deals, but we could easily replace this turd in the 4th or later.

I used the word "can". I know, he can also get worse. I was trying to come up with positives. I think defensive coaches must have decided that they can work with him.

I know you used the word "can". In fact, it's that word I take exception to. I really don't think he "can" improve at this point. He's maxed out and now on the decline to go with it.

Brett Veach communicates and works with his coaches. I assume that they said to sign Nnadi.

I'm not excited by the signing. I came up with some possible reasons that it happened.

The only thing I could think of to even make #6 remotely possible is that he's at rock bottom and he cat get worse, but that's not remotely likely. He's gonna probably remain the same worthless turd he was last year.

It's pretty telling that Saunders went out and got a 3 year deal, but last year was the only year he's been healthy. Nnadi never missed a game in 5 years and started for the best team in the league in all but 12 games over that time and no other team is willing to give him even $2 mil for a year. Hell, did he even get any interest if he's signing for vet min less than a week into free agency? The guys been so bad that he was almost out of the league.

Oh I don't disagree. I'm not excited about it but they obviously know something I don't.

Or what is more likely, Derrick Nnadi's agent reached out to every single team and there was literally no interest. They came back to KC and said we didn't get any offers, but my client wants to keep playing. Nnadi has been on this team during the best 5 year stretch in it's history and Reid/Veach did him a solid, because it really doesn't hurt the team and they wanted to do him a solid. It's less than a week into free agency and he's already settling for vet minimum. He had no interest.

Now we know the truth, KC Pet Project has a lot more influence over chiefs personnel decisions than we thought. bunch of dogs on d seems to be the plan.

Yeah I kinda agree. I get DJ's point that you can work around it somewhat, as we did, but a guy who holds up to double teams allows you to get a lot more creative on the DL, which I think Cullen and Spags would. I honestly don't think those guys are all that common.

I'd probably prefer a guy like Karl Brooks over most of the lumps, purely for continuing the trend of inside outside versatility. Hell I was in on that guy early on here. But at some point you just have a lot of pass rushers who get shoved around in the run. The absolute worst is guys like Nnadi who can't do anything.

Watch SB54 and then SB 57

Look for common denominators

PMII, Travis Kelce, Chris Jones, Derrick Nnadi, Frank Clark

Nnadi is one of those pieces that plug gaps in a roster

DJ Reader is not just some big guy in the middle.

That guy is a tank and can move. Nnadi on his best day can't hold Reader's jock.

Again - I'm not sure what some of these comments have to do with Derrick Nnadi. Having an elite version of ANY player is a good thing, even a pure NT. But having a merely average NT doesn't move the needle and Derrick Nnadi isn't even that.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Es20HCUX...jpg&name=large

Can he...?

Do you truly believe that Veach is holding up cap space and aroster spot in order to do someone a solid? That seems unlikely.

I'm pretty sure his contract doesn't count towards the cap, because of some reason lol. Idk the details. An off-season roster spot means nothing. Also he got a camp fodder contract. They sign dudes and release them all the time, so why wouldn't they just do the guy a solid when nothing bad can happen because of it.

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What were the numbers on the contract?

I haven't seen or heard exact numbers, but

This is from USA today: https://chiefswire.usatoday.com/2023...adi-re-signed/

"Expect this to be a veteran salary benefit contract, similar to the one signed by Nick Allegretti to return to Kansas City. That’ll keep his salary cap hit low for the 2023 NFL season."

So I believe is they do the veteran salary benefit, then the cap hit is only $940k.

Yup, he hit the ceiling 3 years ago and has been sliding backwards ever since