How to play this off-season with free agency?

[Walt White]

I don't know the cap space that well so people smarter will have to tell me what we can do. I'm just excited to see how good this team can get. All the building blocks are in place. It's a matter of how we can supplement the pieces. And I know retain the big pieces is most important.

So assuming we can keep Chris Jones and give Pat an extension, will we have any room at all in the cap to make impact additions? Keeping Sammy looks unlikely. Not sure how many of our corners we can keep?

Even if we play it perfect, will there be any cap left to add some vet free agents? It seems like a pretty strong offensive line class in free agency if we could add one or two. Or if we could add an LB (although Hitchens make a lot). Or a vet corner? Trade possibilities?

I'm just trying to get a realistic grid of what potential moves we can make. I know hitting on picks in the draft will be the biggest way to improve. But if we can get some discounted vets or something, that could go a long way into having freedom in drafting more luxury picks.

[RunKC]

We could give Jones his $20 million/yr but it would be incredibly difficult to have any flexibility with our cap. That to me shows that they might have no choice then to tag and trade.

It’s hard to get that many decisions right consistently. It’s also extremely difficult having a $40 million QB with no flexibility.

And sure we could try to cut a bunch of mid paid guys like LDT, Erving and Sorenson, but then you run into a numbers game. You have to hit on a lot more moves than only replacing one player.

I love Chris Jones. We know this organization does to. But keeping him just doesn’t look like it’s in the cards.

[BWillie]

Trade Frank Clark, sign Chris Jones would be an unpopular opinion. I think Jones is much more valuable than Clark. You can find edge pass rushers, even well rounded ones. It's really hard to find a Chris Jones. We saw that when Chris Jones plays in a big game, he maintains his gap responsibilities and plays to win. It's true that he may play for stats a little bit in the regular season, but who can blame him? It's essentially a contract year. But in the Super Bowl Jones showed us that he can and will play disciplined if he needs to.

[DRM08]

Originally Posted by BWillie

Trade Frank Clark, sign Chris Jones would be an unpopular opinion. I think Jones is much more valuable than Clark. You can find edge pass rushers, even well rounded ones. It's really hard to find a Chris Jones. We saw that when Chris Jones plays in a big game, he maintains his gap responsibilities and plays to win. It's true that he may play for stats a little bit in the regular season, but who can blame him? It's essentially a contract year. But in the Super Bowl Jones showed us that he can and will play disciplined if he needs to.

Agree that Jones is more valuable, but I don't think anyone would trade for Clark at $20.8M per year. Chiefs are stuck with Frank.

[Kidd Lex]

Originally Posted by DRM08

Agree that Jones is more valuable, but I don't think anyone would trade for Clark at $20.8M per year. Chiefs are stuck with Frank.

Modern NFL seems to believe an edge rusher like Clark is more valuable than a DT like CJ. Looking at how Clark set the edge for our run D all season id tend to agree. Past Spags for Sutton, and HB in place for the shit 2018 safety’s, our biggest upgrade on D was arguably Clark over Ford. He sets the edge like a boss, and helps not the run and pass D equally.

Really a moot point either way, Clark is going to be here for years, no way we trade away a 25 year old edge stud, as the draft capital invested and dead dollars to move him make it near impossible and as I said, he’s a key player in our D.

CJ is likely to be a victim of the Mahomes extension. Hopefully we figure it out, but if not he will return a ton more than Ford did.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by wachashi

If you believe the rumor that Chris Jones will be shopped via a tag/trade deal to NFC contenders then I see a few teams that could make sense. It's the off season and it's fun to speculate, so that's what I'm doing.



For reference, the Chiefs gave up about 240 points of draft capital for Frank Clark. Since Jones plays DT, I doubt there's a team out there willing to give up that much for him.



1. SEATTLE

- $50 million in cap space

- Top 2/3 team in the NFC

- Ranked 30th in sacks in 2019

- Tag/trade relationship between the organizations is already established

- Could trade their 2020 first round pick (27) at a valuation of 216 points. Could possibly get another future pick from them in this trade



2. DETROIT

- $45 million in cap space

- Tough year last year, but they have a QB and some offensive pieces

- Ranked 31st in sacks in 2019

- Matt Patricia is a defensive coach - he's going to look to upgrade that unit big time

- Could trade their 2020 second round pick (35) at a valuation of 170 points, then swap third rounders with KC and maybe get a future pick from them



3. PHILADELPHIA

- $40 million in cap space

- Contending playoff team

- Ranked 16th in sacks in 2019

- Fletcher Cox + Chris Jones would be a nightmare for QBs

- Organization staff very familiar with one another

- Could swap their first round pick (21) with KC's first rounder, give up their second (53) and a future pick



4. DALLAS

- $76 million in cap space

- Contending team with new staff

- Ranked 19th in sacks in 2019

- Might not have the cap flexibility their current space reflects though

- Could swap their first round pick (17) with KC's first rounder, give up their third (82) and a future pick



DRAFTEK TRADE VALUE CHART

This is well-reasoned, but I also could see Jones being perceived as having the same or even slightly more value than Clark since the excellent pressure from DT is more rare to find.

[smithandrew051]

Seattle seems like the most likely.

If they trade Jones to swap first round picks with someone outside of the top 10 and pick up another mid round pick, then we’re getting ripped off. That would be a steal for any of those teams.

[wachashi]

Originally Posted by smithandrew051

Seattle seems like the most likely.

If they trade Jones to swap first round picks with someone outside of the top 10 and pick up another mid round pick, then we’re getting ripped off. That would be a steal for any of those teams.

Seattle seems like they’re in the best position to make a fair offer for both orgs. Detroit could play around and come up with some appealing offers as well due to their draft position.

[Walt White]

If Chris Jones is the difference between a championship or not, you have to do what it takes. Either way though. Maybe some think he could cost us one by killing our depth.

If it is a matter of ripping the band-aid off, I would kind of rather trade him now as much as I'd love to keep him. If we truly have a plan where we can keep him and keep the depth of the team strong while Pat gets his extension over the next couple years, then great. But I suppose we could still at least prolong it one more year if we tag him right?

I wonder if it's a matter of Chris Jones contract being more of a problem in the future that we could worry about it later. If we sign him, couldn't we trade him in the future if need be? Or is the worry that it would be hard to move that contract? I'd figure teams would still be clamoring for him. I suppose this is still probably the peak of his value after a Super Bowl win and being younger.