Chiefs Keep Building: Breaking Down the Kenneth Walker III Deal, Kelce's Return & Signing Tonga
The Chiefs wasted no time in legal tampering, making Kenneth Walker III their big offensive addition while the secondary took major hits with Jaylen Watson and Brian Cook heading elsewhere. Price Carter and Christian Ainsworth break down what Walker brings to Kansas City, why Khyris Tonga matters more than people think, what Travis Kelce's return means, and how all of this changes the Chiefs' draft plans. This was a massive day for Brett Veach, and the ripple effects are only getting started.
Video Transcript
Welcome into a live tampering session edition of The Intangibles brought to you by Arrowhead Addict.
My name is Price Carter.
Joining me as per usual is Christian Ainsworth, and no question about what we got to talk about today, because the Chiefs, they are making a flurry of moves.
The NFL is making a flurry of moves as legal tampering began today.
And the, the signings are coming in fast and furious.
We won't waste a bunch of time getting into it.
This is a little bit change of pace for us for the draft, where we're breaking down the draft, but I will just real quick plug all the great written work on the website.
I'm writing up 100 prospects in 100 days, talking about Roman Hemby today.
On the, uh, as a day 3 running back option, which now seems a lot more likely with the addition of Kenneth Walker.
So, Christian, let, we'll just dive right into it, and we, in case you're wondering, like, we kind of took the baton from Patrick, who went live to talk about the Kelsey news, and also talk about the big signing of Kenneth Walker.
Um, so we'll start here with the most recent addition that the Chiefs have made, and that's Kyris Tonga.
The defensive tackle from New England is a signing that the Chiefs are adding.
Looks like the Chiefs are getting finally serious about adding a run stuffing defensive tackle here.
It's 3 years, $21 million is the deal reported by several sources.
So, real quick, any thoughts on Kyris Tonga?
Uh, yeah, I mean just a solid addition, it feels like we've needed interior defensive line depth for years now, and it seems like they're finally adding somebody not named Mike Pinnell or um, oh, what was that other guy that we had, uh.
Who's our other run stuff?
Derek Natty, of course.
How could I forget?
Careful, careful, careful using the term run stuffing with Derek Noddy, please.
OK , yeah, my bad, my bad.
Um, no, dude, at 3 years, 21 million, he's 29, or at least he was this past season, so we're gonna have him through the beginning of his, you know, year 30, 31, 32 years, so that's gonna be a little bit interesting to see if he stays on the roster for that entire time, but it just seems like, you know, great addition, the first day.
Not my favorite addition of the day though, that's for sure.
Yeah, so Kyri Tonga, just, just a little bit of background about him, a former seventh round pick out of, uh, the 2022 NFL draft.
He was drafted by the Bears, 250th overall, so a late day three guy.
Um, he's bounced around a little bit.
So his first year in Chicago, he appeared in 15 games.
Um, Kyris Tonga, you will notice.
One or half a sack in his career, but the pass rush win rate has been one of the better.
Among qualifying interior defensive linemen, his win percentage, which is 11.2% per PFF, ranks 30th among interior defensive linemen this year, which is uh one slot right behind Jalen Carter.
So, the pass rush upside is there.
This is more of a true nose tackle.
He then spent 3 years or 2 years in Minnesota, 1 year with Arizona, and most recently with the New England Patriots.
New England Patriots' run defense was amongst the best in the NFL last year.
Uh, Tonga also kind of exciting.
Daylight's at a fullback.
Um, he, he would be put in there on short yardage, and it's actually capable.
I think kind of like what Scott Matlock did and, and some of those other guys.
So the Chiefs here, they give him $14 million guaranteed.
It's a 3 year deal, which probably tells you it's probably 2, with some funny money there on the back end.
Uh, this is a little bit different pace than we've seen from the Chiefs.
Now, he's 29, Turn 30 this season.
So, not a young guy.
This is probably a little bit more like that Charles Ainahu type of signing where you're getting a guy on that, like, second, it's his first real contract, kind of that like second contract deal.
Um, but this is a guy that they're bringing in to stop the run.
He's a math changer in the run game.
Um, he has been one of the better run stuffing nose tackles in the league, and Keep in mind too, sometimes, like I think when we're picking out the breadcrumbs of what we've learned so far, like it always felt like whether it's gonna be Walker or ETN that the Chiefs were gonna get serious about running back.
Every piece of information we've been giving, essentially since Eric the enemy being brought back is.
The Chiefs are breaking up the status quo.
They're letting Mike Caliendo walk instead of tendering him, which is not an expensive contract, right?
Like they just kind of sent him to the door.
They are saying no more Derek Noddy, no more Mike Pinnell.
Let's get serious about adding a run stuffing defensive tackle, and this isn't something that's breaking the bank, and they're not going crazy here, but they are really, really trying to be specific about improving and changing the way things go, and I think Tyrus Tonga is a piece of that.
Oh yeah, 100%, and you could look at our cornerback signings as, or our departures, I guess rather, as more evidence of that like this used to be, you know, DBU.
We had everybody, uh, Trent McDuffie, Jalen Watson, both fantastic defensive backs.
They are now both gone to the Rams.
Seems like we're investing more defensive line.
Norman Locke back as well.
Um, running back wise, again, you mentioned that Kenneth Walker coming in, that's a huge upgrade as well.
So it does kind of feel like they're investing in some of these positions that they haven't necessarily, uh, in the past.
So, I, I love it personally, seeing that 180, especially, uh, with issues that we have said have been evident for 4 years now, 5 years now, half a decade, it seems like.
So, it's nice to see him, you know, finally investing in some of those positions.
Yeah, just a little bit more details about Kyris Tonga, the, the run stuffer.
Um, he was credited with 15 run stops by PFF.
Um, those are basically like where they're bringing down the run tackle or impacting the, the line to where the run stuff is.
It's 7.8 run stuff rate ranks 40th among interior defensive linemen.
Look, these numbers aren't gonna blow you away.
They're not bringing in, um, you know, Quinnin Williams or Jordan Davis, some like high level, but that's not what this contract is.
That's not what.
The money is, and what they're doing here is they're just trying to set a floor.
And, you know, like, if they want to be in the Peter Woods, Caleb Banks business, Lee Hunt, you know, I think that this would probably take out like a Lee Hunter or a Dante Corleone off their draft needs or the pure nose tackle.
So if they want to go for more of that penetrating 3 tech like a Peter Woods or like a Caleb Banks, I think this is a little bit more, you know, that speed, right?
And there's still a lot of things on the list.
There's still a need at edge, there's still a need at wide receiver.
Um, but this, this was a nice value signing, and Chad, thanks for joining us.
It's great to be live.
We don't always get to do a live show.
So, please, if you, if you see more news or any more value signings, whether it be newsworthy, like the 49ers giving 3 years, $60 million to Mike Evans for some reason, no clue what's up with that.
Um, apparently, I'm sure that that's more of a 2 year deal, but wow.
Wow.
So yeah, and I mean Kyris Tonga, right?
Like, we want to see him in at fullback.
Uh, he did, now I will say I was going through, I was trying to as quickly as possible go through.
It's hard with NFL Pro, because if you look up Tonga, he's gonna pull in all this defensive snaps, so I had to go to like all short yardage situations that the 49ers or that the Patriots ran in.
But yeah, I mean he.
He wasn't just sitting there with his thumb up his butt as a fullback either.
He was actually doing some real stuff as a fullback.
So, hopefully, that is a double signing there that they can use a little bit.
I would have expected a ton, but it's hopefully getting back to these roots and , and making the run game more effective.
Christian is battling some audio issues right now.
So, um, let's, let's kind of go on to the biggest news of the day, and that is the Chiefs bringing in Kenneth Walker.
Patrick was, uh, talking about that earlier.
Look, the deal is It's, it's, I would say this about the Kenneth Walker signing.
The Chiefs had a massive need that has been ongoing for years now.
They took the top free agent in the class , the Super Bowl MVP, and signed him to not a record setting deal.
Like, it's not like they reset the running back market, the running game needed explosiveness, and they added that.
Do I think, and like, I'll point this out too, go to the top of the running back market on over the cap and look at the deals.
The top 10 to 15 paid running backs, how many teams regret that deal?
It's not many, it's really not.
He's gonna account for 4.6% of the cap this year, as far as like APY.
I, I just have a hard time coming away from this, and I've already in like, can we stop with the running backs don't matter gimmick, right?
Like I've already seen like the, the counter of this, of like, oh, you know, is this really a good idea for the Chiefs to be spending this on running back?
And, and by the way, Travis Etien got like a pretty similar deal.
I, I don't have the full Travis ETN numbers in front of me cause the, the news is just like flowing at an insane rate right now.
But I, look, he's, he's slitting in right above, uh, right above, uh, Jonathan Taylor as far as his contract goes.
It's basically gonna be a 2, you know, it's basically gonna be a 2 year deal with, cause it's, let me pull, I wanna pull up the numbers here.
Christian, you talk for a second while I pull up.
OK, all right, all right.
So Kenneth Walker to me was just an insane addition, and you spoke about it a little bit there.
Perfect, Joshua, by the way, major needle, needle mover, 100% in agreeance with you.
Um, there was a stat I saw on Twitter that was really, really interesting.
So Kenneth Walker had 25, had more 25 yard runs on one drive in the Super Bowl than the Chiefs running back had combined all season.
So you're not just talking about a minor upgrade in the running back position.
We are talking from going from the lower levels of incompetency at the running back position to the upper echelon.
And that is a major change for the Kansas City Chiefs.
We haven't seen that since Kareem Hunt.
Damian Williams did an OK job.
For those few years he was here, but then after that, we were kind of relying on Jarek McKinnon in the playoffs to make any of those plays for us from the running back position.
Isaiah Pacheco had kind of a good stint there, um, but there was really nobody to kind of pick up that mantle, and as far as I'm concerned, Kenneth Walker is gonna be that dude that comes in and allows the Chiefs and Andy Reid specifically to run the offense how they like to run it, which is limited touches for the running back, you're running out of spread, not under center.
And you're giving the running back opportunities to create rather than forcing something from, you know, an under center outside zone run or something like that.
We can stay in shotgun, we can hand it to him and let him lead the defense, and then let him make a cut and break a few tackles.
Um , I think he was 2nd.
In missed tackles force this past year on a per-run basis.
So, again, you're going from like the 30th or 40th running back in the league in missed tackles force to the 2nd, and he's gonna run into light boxes, he's gonna be put in situations where he can absolutely take advantage of it and I mean, whether we'd like to admit it or not, without the Jawan Taylor on the books this year, um, this is gonna be one of the best offensive lines in the AFC and in the NFL I think total, especially when you factor in that Jalen Moore is a better run blocker than he is a pass blocker.
So, this is an offense that is primed to break out as far as yards per game go rushing, and we're in a situation where, again, that takes some pressure off of Patrick Mahomes as well.
Yeah, so Travis Etienne got 4 years and 52 million from the Saints, which, by the way, I mean, look, I, I really I'm not trying to bring everything back to the draft, but I do think it's kind of interesting where, so the Cardinals, they signed Tyler Algier, and they have James Connor back.
I don't think that they're taking Jeremiah Love.
The Saints take Travis Etienne.
I really, and Alvin Kamarshall on the roster.
I really doubt that they're gonna go Jeremiah Love.
So I don't know, like there's still a lot of teams that could take him.
I know the Giants were supposedly in on the running back market.
Um, it'll be interesting to see where that flows.
I would say that this definitively takes are completely out on running back.
If the Chiefs take if the Chiefs take Jeremiah Love with pick 9, or frankly draft a running back at 29, given the running back market, I will be upset .
Yeah, I'm sorry, it's too, it's too much for, for what this offense is, it's too much, OK.
They, they do need to draft a running back.
I would say early day 3 now or late day 2.
I would put them in that, you know, Kenneth, you talk about like what Kenneth Walker does well, the player, right?
He is obviously explosive, um, had a huge amount of carries go for over 10 yards.
Ho, let me pull up that number real quick cause I have that in front of me.
Um, but super dynamic, super, uh, fast.
I mean, that's one of the things too, like you want to talk about something that has been missing from the offense for a long time.
How about outside zone, right?
So rushes of 10+ yards in 2025.
The Chiefs running back room total 22.
Kenneth Walker, 33, carries a 15 miles an hour or faster per next gen stats.
Chiefs running back 24, Kenneth Walker 67.
He had 15 miles an hour or more, 67 times in 2025.
Chiefs had zero carries of 20 miles an hour or faster.
Kenneth Walker had 2.
Percentage of light boxes faced.
So this is how many times these teams saw 6 defenders or less in the box.
Chiefs were 1st.
47% of the time they saw light boxes, the Seahawks ranked 30th at 26.4.
So he put up the numbers that he put up with facing a lot of heavy boxes.
Now, here, here's something else that I've seen.
Well, you go look at his numbers, like I saw someone in my time I was trying to tell me that like he's basically Jalen Warren as far as productivity goes.
I, so I do think that this is worth bringing up.
The entire time that Kenneth Walker was in Seattle, they were spelling him with another back.
They took Charbonnet in the 2nd, the year after taking Kenneth Walker.
Seahawks fans who are close with the team will tell you, like, a huge part of the reason why he was the guy that he was in the playoffs is cause he was able to be fresh and ready to go, and be able to be that lead back.
He is not in every down back.
The pass protection is not a strength, it is not something that you're just gonna keep him on 3rd down.
No, as far as pass catching, I do think that there was a little bit more there for him.
He is a good pass catching back.
But he's just not a guy that you're gonna want to bring in on pass protection.
I'm not sure, I mean, I think ETN offered there a little bit more, but not much more.
I'm not sure that that, like, I'm not sure that there was a true 3 down every down back.
You, you know, Algiers was close to that , but then again, you're, you're in a much different zip code as far as explosiveness goes, as far as speed goes.
Um.
I honestly, seeing the money now, I, I think I'm , I'm content with Walker over ETN cause I think Walker, also like, Walker has been the better player this past year as far as explosiveness goes.
So, the Chiefs, they, they address a huge need here, and something that I have been pounding the drum for all offseason.
For the first time in what, years since like 2022, Travis Kelsey.
The Chiefs have an offensive skill player that strikes fear into defenders.
If Kenneth Walker gets a scene, he's gone, and that's not something that the Chiefs have had in quite some time.
Dude, I'm, I'm just so excited, man.
Like, any stat you bring up with Kenneth Walker is gonna be like, oh, he's literally 10 times as good as any Chiefs running back has been over the past 3 years, which, I mean, we've talked about it ad nauseam, especially on this podcast of like how bad we needed that.
And I, it's just nice to see him on the roster.
Now, one thing that hasn't been brought up yet that I think really does deserve a little bit of time here is Kenneth Walker's injury history.
Um, I have a buddy, my name is or his name is Devin, and he's a huge Seahawks fan, and he told me straight up, he's like, you're gonna, he, I, I don't know if he can be all three downs, and I don't know if he can stay healthy for the whole year.
That's been his thing.
So, as far as injuries go, 2022, this was his first year in the season, had a hernia.
Before week one of his rookie season, he was only out for a game, so not a huge deal .
2022 ankle injury, um, missed a game, 2023 oblique, two games, 2023 shoulder injury, zero games though for that 1, 2024 oblique, 2, 2024 calf, and then another 2024 ankle injury, um, all were two games each, so he missed six games in 2024.
Um , that is a concern.
I think that you have to look at when you look at this contract.
Now, obviously, um, some of that stuff is just the normal wear and tear of a running back, you know, running against stacked boxes for, you know, 60% of his carries.
And part of it is, you know, um, he was really, really heavily utilized until they got Zach Charbonnet in there.
So it is one of those situations where, um, is a lack of Snap's going to be beneficial for his long-term health, I would say yes, and I think that's probably how you're going to have to utilize him here in KC.
Um, outside of him though, Breshard Smith, the only guy on the roster running back-wise, um, I would like to see a Kareem Hunt reunion, maybe just for one more year as a third-down back, he can come in and play some.
Some, uh, pass blocking snaps or maybe, you know, the Chiefs feel like Bershard Smith can take that next step and be that receiving back on 3rd downs, but as of right now, I don't think that this running back room is 100% complete yet, even with the, the Kenneth Walker signing.
Yeah, yeah, I, I, I agree, like, and keep in mind, I think everything you just said is true of Travis ETN too.
Um, I think the injury history is a little bit more reoccurring.
Obviously, actual games missed, ETN has missed more cause he missed an entire season with a torn ACL his rookie year, but Kenneth Walker's missed 10 games in his 4 4-year career, um, with the Seahawks.
Um, keep in mind again, like I, someone was telling me like, oh, you know, like look at this, they're, they're way overpaying for this.
Saquan Barkley, Christian McCaffrey, Breece Hall, those are 3 out of the 4 players who sit atop the running back APY market.
All three of those guys have had injury issues.
Sawan had definitely had his injury issues and especially with the Giants, not so much with the Eagles.
McCaffrey has always struggled with injuries, and Bruce Hall had a season ending ACL in his rookie year too.
So we've not seen that major injury, and like, look man, you're just not going to find many running backs or like Derrick Henry is an absolute unicorn when it comes to his ability to stay healthy.
Um, that's, that's crazy.
And um, I, I just think that h al king it up to like you're, there's always inherited running back injury risk.
And I personally don't think that there was a guy on the market that you could have said that they were gonna go sign and be an every down back.
So yeah, whether we're sitting here talking about Travis Etienne or Kenneth Walker, or frankly even Tyler Algier.
There was always going to be a, they, they need more.
This whole running back room needed a makeover.
And what they did, they, they needed a makeover and they brought, you know, they, they went and got no more half measures, Walter, right?
As Mike Ehrman Trout said in Breaking Bad.
All right, we're done with the Isaiah Pacheco's and the Elijah Mitchell's and the Darryl Williams and this stuff.
We like, we're we're, we're going to getting the best guy, and we did it like 1015 minutes into illegal tampering.
You know, like, just enough time, you're like, OK, here they start to come, and boom, there you go.
Like, no more broad strokes, or they took a broad stroke to a big problem, and it gets a lot easier to fix your running back problem when you have that level of player right off the tippy top and leading your backfield.
And this is what you want leaning into this Patrick Mahomes second wave, and don't get me wrong, I think Tongo was 95% signed to be a defensive lineman, but you can't tell me that there's not 5% of them that's thinking like, we can, we can use this guy on offense too.
We've we've brought in a new running backs coach.
We've brought in an offensive coordinator who gets the most out of his running backs.
We've brought in a bunch of offensive, new offensive coaches, like we are getting serious about trying to improve this running game.
So hopefully, getting under center more and also bringing back some of the outside zone.
Like they've just not had an option to run that, like at all.
Wide zone has just not even been a concept.
You've got 3 interior offensive linemen who move really well, and that's not even including Josh Simmons, who is a high level athlete at the position.
And you brought in Jalen Moore is a better run blocker than he is a pass blocker.
So, I, I just think this just puts you in a really good place to add a, a day 3 back, and then, yeah, if you want to bring back Kenneth.
Uh, if you want to bring back Kareem Hunt, or, I mean, you know, there's still plenty of names out there, like a Sean Tucker.
He's a guy that I would like, uh, as just like a nice change of pace back.
The whole room needed a makeover.
At this point, Breshard Smith, like, I, I, I will believe it when I see it, when it comes to him being a contributor in the offense, but you know he can be a kick returner, that's fine.
He was a 7th round pick.
It is what it is.
Well, and I think there's something to be said.
You mentioned it there with EB coming back, um, what he did with D'Andre Swift last year.
It was incredible.
I mean, you looked at D'Andre Swift's tape over there in Chicago, and he was one of those guys that, hey, um, you know, wasn't fully utilizing his skill set because of his vision.
I think that when you have somebody like Eric B enemy that can come in here and invest a little bit more time into that running back room, um, improve him even more than he already is, like , we might not have seen the best version of Kenneth Walker yet, and Kenneth Walker was a Super Bowl MVP like, what, 1 month ago, 2 months ago?
So it's really, really cool to be able to see him, and honestly, I hope to see, you know, a little bit more from Kenneth Walker anyway, just because he's in the KC offense, but it'll be interesting to see for sure.
Uh, let us all take a moment and point and laugh at the Denver Broncos, who Um, have lost John Franklin Myers to the Titans, which very good interior defensive lineman.
That's a name that I kind of like for the Chiefs, but he was a tweener.
Like I think that they have a more pure edge need.
They obviously kind of go sign that, uh, go sign, uh, Tonga to kind of fix the nose tackle part of it, but the, what have we heard all week?
Oh, the Broncos are gonna be in on this running back market.
I thought Tyler Tyler Algier would have been a great fit for them on early downs, and then change of pace with RJ Harvey.
Well, he goes to the Cardinals.
Oh, they're in on ETN, well, he goes to the Saints.
Well, the Chiefs go get Kenneth Walker.
Uh, sources are confirming that they are close to re-signing, wait for it, JK Dobbins, who, wait for it, is also injured again.
Um, so, there's that Joshua Clayton in the chat.
Do they get Jaarian Price or Emmett Johnson in the draft?
Uh, I think both those names would make sense.
I will be honest, I cannot, I, I just finished my top 100 big boards here.
I, I'll be honest with you guys, it stresses me out too much doing it in Excel.
Uh oh.
Uh oh, Did we lose Bryce?
Price, you still here, big dog?
Can you hear me?
I can hear you.
I think we can hear you.
My video, my video is gone.
I bumped my, I bumped my camera.
Hold on, stall for a second.
I'll be all right, stalling, stalling, um, uh, Joshua Clayton, Rashard White, here we go and that would be sick to have him on the roster as well.
It stressed me out.
It stressed me out too much, the Excel files and everything, so I just literally wrote my top 100 on legal pads, and that way I could like have all my notes up in.
Stuff, so I will put this up and we'll update the Arrowhead Addict big board.
I can't get behind Shaarian Price as a top 50 player.
I, I, I, I, I can't get it.
I, I, I don't get it, but Emmett Johnson would make a lot of sense behind, uh, Kenneth Walker, um, or like, you know, honestly, what I'm kind of into now that we've got this dynamic, like, let's get a little thunder in here.
Bring in the fat man.
Kaytron Allen is someone that I'm higher on than most.
I'd be into it.
And then you've got like, look, man, you're just not bringing in any running back in the draft and just being like, hey, this is our pass protecting back.
That's just not something that happens very often, except unless you're LaQuin Allen, shout out Syracuse, um, great player that I really liked, who's already a really great pass protecting back for the Jaguars, but yes, I, I do think that they will still draft a back, but this gives them the luxury that like early day 3, late day 2 is what I would think about there.
So.
Yeah, I mean, I, again, the Chiefs have a skill player that that teams now fear, and Patrick Mahomes has never had a 1000 yard rusher in his career.
This is the best running back that the Chiefs have signed or had since Kareem Hunt, Patrick Mahomes' rookie year.
Um, and there is no like, we have to see, right?
Like you can still like Clyde Edwards looked really good in his early start to his career.
That changed.
Um, they now have the ability with the running game to hit explosives, and they've not had that for quite some time.
Yeah, which is gonna be really, really nice.
Another free agent guy that I think they could go out and sign, AJ Dillon, used to be a Packer, uh, one of those big bruising guys.
He missed all of last year with injury, I believe.
Yeah, I know, hey, listen, we're not, we're not reaching for the top of the shelf anymore, Price.
We're, we're getting little guys that we can add.
Then they can do little things.
And here we go.
So here, here's some news that's relevant.
The Bengals are signing Chiefs safety Brian Cook to a 3 year, 40.25 million deer.
Sources tell Tom Pellisaro, um, who was reporting that they had, like, Bengals had completely set out free agency until the signing.
Um, it, it felt like that was one of the landing spots for him.
So Brian Cook, and also we saw Jalen Watson go to the Rams, which by the way, like, people keep telling me Brett Veach sucks, and so far 3 of his players have signed for like, What, $130 million guaranteed the past two days.
Uh, guy's doing something right, cause these guys are all cashing in at the bank, but Brian Cook to the Bengals, I, hey, I do think that that is noteworthy because We are entering unknown territory here with the Chiefs secondary, and this is, this is something that we will need to talk about more than we probably are right now, and that is just the lack of continuity inside the secondary.
I mean, Dave Merritt's got his work cut out for him.
Either that or it's, uh, it's time for Jaden Hicks to really take a step up, because your veteran in the secondary right now is Shamari Connor, who's kind of a hybrid defender, slot, safety.
I think he needs to be at safety more.
Um, there are plenty of veteran safeties still on the market, but there's not that ascending player like a, like a a Justin Reed or a Tyrann Mathieu, and Brian Cook, I thought was going to become more of a priority for them and, and hope that he had a chance at returning with Jalen Watson leaving, cause there's just no connui in that secondary.
Noel Williams is, is essentially a rookie.
Christian Fulton struggled to get on the field this time last year.
And you, you don't have that, that key player, and you can't just say like, OK, well, we'll just draft, we'll just draft a rookie, Jeremiah Love with the 9th pick.
I, I think he's a really smart player and I think he's gonna be incredible, but that still makes him a rookie, right?
So I, I do think that the need for a veteran voice is there, like, hey, maybe, no jokes, like, with the Saints trade Justin Reid?
I, I don't know, like that, that would be something that makes sense.
I The, yeah, they need, they can do, no, I, I agree, they, they need something.
They need some sort of continuity in that secondary.
There's a legitimate case to be made right now that the Chiefs have the worst defensive back in the league or defensive backroom in the league right now.
And again, it's the start of free agency, we haven't seen what they do, they've done in the draft, so, you know, this isn't going to be who's trotting out on the field week one, but there is a case to be made.
You have Noel Williams, you have Christian Fulton, and who else?
Jaden Hicks, OK, yeah, that's fine.
He showed a little bit of promise.
We loved him in training camp and, and even last year, we, we thought he had a, this, not this past year, but the year before, we thought he had a really good shot of taking over the starting role when they let um Justin Reid go.
Now, we're in a situation where if Jamari Connor is taking 90% of the snaps from the spot, this defense is going to get eaten alive.
And I've had this few, I've had this conversation a few times with a few different people when we traded McDuffie.
That 3rd-down defense was awful with him on the field.
OK, now we take him and Jalen Watson away, our two best cornerbacks, that you're telling me that defense is gonna get better on 3rd down.
That is not a realistic situation that the Chiefs are gonna be in next year.
So, a signing, I would imagine is going to be imminent for cornerback, defensive backroom.
And this to me almost forces their hand at cornerback at pick 9 or pick 29, um, in this draft.
They need more talent in that room.
I know we love Noel Williams, um, but there's just not enough there for me to be, to feel comfortable personally.
Yeah, yeah, I mean it, it's, and I , I think like if they're talking to themselves into this, it's like, hey, we're gonna hopefully be winning more in the trenches.
There's still a lot of work to be done there too, right?
Like Tonga is an early down guy specifically.
Maybe you hope that he can develop a little bit more into a pass rusher, but he's also 29, right?
So like, You figure there's not a whole lot of growth there happening.
So there's a lot of work done.
I, I would think here like the Chiefs, we knew that they were going to be active here.
They've done what they've, they've made moves here to be active in free agency.
I do not think that they are done.
Um, and keep in mind too, like this free agency period, it, it's really about a week or so.
So, this wave here on the first day of tampering is always the most, like just drinking from the fire hydrant.
We'll get some tricklings here and there, but there, there are plenty of names like Bradley Thulby is still out there.
There's several other names that are available that like, uh, Ameek Robertson is a nickelback that, like, I think they could go get a nickel for a pretty, a pretty affordable rate, and like, OK, we've just added a veteran there that we know can be a nickelback for us, and And and really help us out.
Um, so, Kenneth Walker obviously is the big news of the day, but right before free agency, and honestly into Sunday, we got some interesting news about Travis Kelsey.
So there's a report put out by Diana Rossini and Jesse Newell that says like Kelsey is pretty much planning on coming back, and he is in conversations with several teams, and it, it seems very divisive, the way that it is being talked about that he is talking to other teams .
I, I assume this is posturing by his agent to try to get the most out of it.
And let's be clear, this, this deal was never going to be easy.
The Chiefs, they don't normally use void years, which is, this would kind of be a classic void year situation.
Where you can tack on some dead money onto a contract.
Well, the Chiefs and they're going back and forth.
It could be up to $15 million.
It, it came out today that Kelsey will be returning to Kansas City or retiring.
That those are the only two things.
And then there's even been even more like he is a free agent, you know, I would be like, first off, let's not talk about the number until we actually know what the number is, because up to can be a lot of different things, right?
Like with Travis Kelsey.
You can put uh An incentive unlikely to be earned that won't account against the cap, like, uh, for instance, an all-pro.
Like if he were to be an all-pro, he wasn't an all-pro like last year, so that's an incentive not likely to be earned , so it wouldn't cut against the cap if he were to get it.
So, I'm, I'm sure that the number is the big thing here.
And look, man, Travis Kelsey, he's, he's earned the right to take his decision and take it up to this, and with Donna Kelsey's renovations at her house, I mean, he had no choice.
Yeah, I do.
What is, what is a guy supposed to do?
He's marrying a billionaire.
Like he's gotta earn his nut too, right?
Like it does that kind of make you a little bit mad?
I've seen a lot of discourse on Twitter, like, bro, you're about to marry a billionaire.
Like, take the vet men, you'll be all right.
So Kent, who on the show with me a couple weeks ago.
He's brought this up that like, Kelsey is like one of the founders of Titan U. I, I think like he cares a lot about the position and the stature of it in the league.
I think he owes it to the position of those people to just not take nothing, right?
Like we all know that Travis Kelsey is gonna get.
Well compensated, like the TV markets are just salivating to have him as a broadcaster when he's done or on some sort of thing, and his podcast alone is like worth a lot of NFL contracts, and then it's not even um factoring in what his fiance does.
So, I, look, I, he's worth what he can get, and that's part of it, and I think like part of it is just trying to get it there, I'm sorry.
I, I just never ever thought, like, OK, he's coming back for 3 million, playing on the vet minimum, right?
So we'll just have to wait and see what the guarantees are.
I purposefully did not really respond to that report on Sunday, cause it's just like.
I, I don't want the validity of it seemed very, very unreal, and two, like, I'm just not gonna get upset about potentially maybe stuff, right?
Yeah.
It always felt like he was gonna return to Kansas City.
That was the most logical solution.
And look, if you want to look at it like this, and this is what you have to do during this time of year.
Stop thinking about the 2025 Chiefs and start thinking about the 2026 Chiefs.
The 2026 Chiefs, their starting tight end was Noah Grey.
They added Travis Kelsey today, not officially, but it seems all but official, which keep in mind none of these signings are official yet, that will happen on Wednesday when the new league year starts, including the Trent McDuffie deal.
Um, but, If the Chiefs do bring back Travis Kelsey, they've just added what was, uh, you know, a a French top 10 tight end back to their offense, and that makes the offense better.
There's still work to be done, but it's good to have Kelsey back in Kansas City.
Yeah, well, and to speak more about the, the financial aspect of it, dude, if any player on the Chiefs deserves to be paid more than what he's going to output, it's going to be Travis Kelsey.
Like, he was the focal point of this offense for a really long time.
He's probably the greatest tight end of all time, maybe not by consensus yet, but he is well on his way to doing that.
Um, if he takes a year where he makes $10 million more than what he's worth, he deserves it.
In KC should be happy to pay it, and I think they will be.
Thank God that the, uh, the Broncos are giving JK Dobbins a two-year deal.
They had, had to lock him in for another year.
Oh dude, you have to, when you get a talent like JK Dobbins in the door, you can't let him walk, dude, that's, that's just what it is.
So I will say this to give JK Dobbins some credit, like, he's got a pretty good yards per carry average for his career.
Now he can't stay healthy for anything, but he's a pretty good player still.
Yeah, yeah, I mean, I think he's useful.
It's just like anytime you sign him, you just assume that he's going to get injured, and, you know, the good thing about players is they always get healthier the older they get, right?
That's how it goes.
Yeah, that's exactly right, yeah, of course.
OK, so to do list, the Chiefs, like if we're, if we're crossing things off, right, the first step, create cap space, check, and, and they, they have other devices to do that.
We'll see how aggressive they get in that area , um.
So now, they, they address interior defensive line.
Who knows, they might make another move there, but I think with Omar Norman Lott and Tonga, you've and Chris Jones, obviously, they at least have pieces there to say like, we have the, we're we're close to having an interior defensive line that will.
So Now, what is next?
Like, what do you view as the Chiefs' next biggest need?
A defensive back to me is the most immediate need, um, especially after seeing Jalen Watson leave in conjunction with Trent McDuffie.
It's just one of those things where it's like, yeah, something's gotta be done here.
Um, I also think wide receiver is kind of a low-key need right now, and not a lot of people are talking about it, but it does seem to be one that I feel like is gonna limit the offense pretty substantially, whether that's Tyquan Thornton, whether that's Romeo Dobbs, fingers crossed, or somebody else like that, like I would love to see another wide receiver come in that can be a little bit more reliable than the guys we have on the roster currently.
Yeah, and, uh, you know, wide receiver market's been a little bit interesting.
The, uh, the Saints, or not the Saints, excuse me, the, uh, Colts decided to, uh, like borrow money from future generations to pay Alec Pierce and then promptly trade away Michael or Michael Pittman, which was one of those things like I kind of would have been in on that cause it's a, it was like a late, it was a mid-round pick.
But he does get a new deal.
So the New Deal part of it with Pittman makes me a little more nervous, but we've not seen a bunch of movement other than the very strange Mike Evans deal.
Consider me totally out on giving Mike.
Evans, multiple years and, and uh $60 million.
I didn't see what the guarantees are on that deal, but that's a, that's a hefty one there.
But the wide receiver market, we haven't, we haven't seen much movement there, right?
I think, uh, O Olomade Zakus went back to the Falcons.
We've not seen where Romeo Dobbs ends up, so maybe this running back market is going to kind of slowly develop and the Chiefs can pick up some value there, whether that be a Romeo Dobbs or someone like that.
Now, how would you feel about Rasheed Shaheed?
He's an interesting guy that I feel like is being brought up a lot with the Chiefs .
Well, here's the thing, Shaheed, I, I feel like you ever see those graphs on Twitter where it's like recognition, talent or like recognition production or like what player is this?
I feel like Shaheed might qualify for like the like if you go look at what he actually did in Seattle, the actual like on field production wasn't that great as a receiver.
Now great special teamers, but I'm not into paying Rasheed Shaheed like.
$15 million a year.
Like, I, I just don't see it.
Like, this is what he did in Seattle, 188 yards receiving, 15 receptions.
Now, he's a field stretcher, and he is dynamic in the return game, but just the idea of like, oh, let's, let's give this guy the bag.
Like, I'd much rather give a guy like Dobbs the bag, because he, he serves a very functional purpose every down.
You can put him on the outside, he's gonna be dependable and contested catch situations like.
Shaheed to me is a lot closer to Xavier Worthy than people want to acknowledge.
In fact, Xavier Worthy was just like better than him, right?
To me he's Tyquan Thornton.
He's gonna be your field stretcher, and yeah, and we haven't seen, we haven't seen Tyquan Thornton sign either, right?
So there's a chance that he comes back.
This, this stuff is like anybody coming to a conclusion yet about like, oh, Brett Veach cooked or like, oh, Brett Veach got cooked today, like, hey, like, you know, like it's just.
It it's, we can't come to that conclusion yet.
Well, and there's some other guys here too that I think we should at least mention, Jauan Jennings, Tyreek Hill, Darnell Mooney, I think all those guys, uh, maybe minus the Tyreek Hill would be a really, really good fit on the roster.
Um, I think Jauan Jennings is gonna get the bag though.
I, I think we might be.
After that Kenneth Walker deal, I think we might be priced out a lot of a lot of these potential free agents.
We might be looking bottom of the barrel, excuse me, like a Jalen Tolbert or a Jalen Naylor, somebody who can just come in and fill a role.
One thing Brett Veach does really, really well though, is he fills out the roster in free agency, not maybe not with top tier talent, but with guys who can come in and at least eliminate a position off of the draft board where you're like, dear God, if we don't get out, if we, if we make it out of the first round and we don't have a corner, like our next season is screwed.
Like I, I think we'll get somebody like that as far as wide receiver goes, but I just, I don't know.
I'd love to see Jauan Jennings though.
One, so like, the Chiefs are very clearly betting on themselves, right?
They're betting on their ability to defend, to develop defensive backs, and it's a fair bet to make.
They, they've been doing it consistently over and over again, so.
I, I think it makes sense for them to do that.
The one thing that I'll bring up here with this is just The Chiefs are positioning themselves to, to draft a bunch of defensive backs again, right?
Like that's, that's just where they're gonna go, and that's what they're gonna have to do in order to reset this.
They are choosing to pay positions right now in free agency that do hit free agency, and you actually can get a top talent.
Like that's something they talked about in the draft, right, when Brett Veitch had his presser, is drafting positions that are premium positions.
Where they're not going to be hitting free agency.
You wanna have a chance at a player like a Ruben Bain or something like that, or a player like that.
In, in free agency ever, but you do get a chance at a Super Bowl MVP and a guy who is fantastic in the playoffs.
Obviously Tonga's not, doesn't fit that description, but yeah, I mean, there's, there's a lot of work to be done, and they're, they're gonna have to look at doing something here long term to help fix the secondary, and I, I, I will be shocked if they come out of this without having some sort of veteran addition to the secondary.
Yeah, I mean, that is absolutely key, I think at this point.
Now, another room I feel like they could make a move in is along the defensive line.
I know we've seen some movement there with the, with Tonga signing, but this still feels like a room that needs something.
I know Felix and UdiK Ozama didn't necessarily get a fair shake last year because of the injury.
Omar Norman Lott kind of the same situation there, but it does seem like they need one more guy.
Um, whether that's a rotational piece that they can add to the room or, or what, but Um, I just don't feel like they can go into the draft without adding someone else.
One more piece.
I, I think we probably need a defensive back, a defensive, and a defensive lineman at the minimum, and then wide receiver being kind of a luxury.
Um, are there any names that kind of strike you as far as defensive linemen go that are still out there?
Trey Hendrickson, should the Chiefs sign Trey Hendrickson?
I, I have a hard time thinking that they'll sign that they'll go that big.
Um, I was kind of interested in Rashaw.
Gary until he got traded .
Um, so that, that kind of changes some things, right?
Um, I brought up Bradley Chubb as a name where like I think that he's a nice in-between of like, has been productive, used to be a big name, not quite a big name anymore.
Um, so, you know, I Let's see here, for some reason my free agency tracker is stinking.
OK, so Jalen Phillips goes to the Panthers, which by the way, that was like it was all but done.
He was going back to the Eagles, and then the Panthers swoop in there.
Um, let's see here.
Adafe Oe is still available.
He's 27, coming off a good season with the Chargers.
He's a, a medium level fit.
I'm not sure how I feel about that one.
Uh, scrolling down the list here a little bit.
Let's see, where's our next edge.
It starts, it starts in and out here.
Bo, yeah, Boa Mafe is the name that I think a lot of people are gonna talk about.
Only had 2 sacks this season though, and that was a defensive line that, you know, like they got after it in the playoffs, but if you actually go look at the numbers for the Seahawks in the regular season, they were towards the bottom of the pack, and, um.
In actual sacks, so they weren't some crazy, you know, they weren't the Eagles defensive line from the year before.
But yeah man, I, I, I think that edge, there is some value there.
I do think that they have to consider some sort of edge.
I saw Cam or, uh, what's the Cameron Thomas?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, he just signed with the Falcons, which it feels like the NFC West always does, or the NFC East always does that, or NFC South, that's what it is.
Like they're always stealing each other's players, so he's gonna play against his rival, or play with his rival now of the Saints.
So that's interesting .
He's been there forever.
We still haven't seen Leo Chanel sign anywhere.
Um, I'm just kind of scrolling through the free agents list and seeing if there's anything that really judged me.
Quitty Pay, who you mentioned, he's a, he's kind of a Brett Beach guy, like a former first round pick.
He's gonna be 27 this season, had 4 sacks and 27 pressures last year.
Another guy that could make sense.
I, I just think that they need to raise the, the floor of that group.
Uh, there's Draymond Jones got a lot of money from the Patriots.
He was a name I kind of liked, but I was surprised at how much money he got.
Logan Hall is another guy who makes some sense.
He's kind of a 4-3 defensive end, so he'd be a tweener, 6'6, 283, 10 sacks and 42 pressures in his 4 seasons with the Bucks.
Um, so he's nothing that that can make some sense.
And then, uh, yeah, just scrolling down the list here, the cornerbacks.
There's been a lot of movement at cornerback, um.
Kobe Durant, yeah, Jamel Dean got signed.
Kobe Durant's still out there.
He's something that can make some sense.
Um, Joseph Assa is already signed, so yeah, the, the edge, and so is Kingsley and Eigbare.
So there's, it's starting to thin out here at the edge position for sure.
Yeah, I mean, you talked about a defensive lineman there.
I think Malcolm Koontz is another guy who I feel like could come in and play some, some good rotational snaps for you.
He's not gonna be, uh, you know, a 3rd down, go and get you a sack type of guy, but, yeah, he's not really their type, right?
Like he's more of kind of a stand up, um, yeah, I mean, but he's a bigger body that has some power, run defender first, I think he.
Can do what Spags asks our defensive ends to do in this, in this defense.
So, that'd be a name to watch as well, but again, that's low-profile signing.
That's, I think where we're at at this point as far as, you know, Chiefs free agency goes.
I don't think we're gonna be adding a Jamel Dean or, you know, Trey Hendrickson at this point.
Just somebody that could come in, raise the floor like you said, and, and play good rotational snaps.
Yeah, I, I really don't, man, I just don't see a situation that the Chiefs are going to be able to fix all their needs before the draft, or if so it's gonna be some like really low level guys, right?
Like we're, we're just kind of like we've got a stopgap here.
We , before we get out of here, let's make fun of the Raiders for a second.
Here are the average salary, the APY for centers.
Connor McGovern at 13 million.
Cam Juergens at 17 million.
All-pro, best center in the league, Creed Humphrey, 18 million.
Today, the uh the Raiders signed Tyler Lindenbaum.
His average salary, $27 million.
What?
I like, I get it in theory of getting a, a good center to pair with your rookie quarterback, a veteran who can help him with protections.
The process there makes sense.
But in a, in a year where like Biaish signed other like what?
You, he's not even the best center in his own division.
He's not even the best interior offensive lineman in his division, cause Quinn Myers is a better player than him, and he's the guard from the Broncos.
You could argue about, uh, you could argue about Trey Smith.
And then Creed Humphrey is definitively the best center in the division, $27 million.
Like this is why the Raiders are the Raiders.
Don't do that.
Don't do that.
That's just, it's just not smart, right?
Like to, to go and just blow something out of the water like that , it's just, it's crazy.
Well, it was kind of crazy to me when they were talking about him leaving the Ravens, and I was like, oh, why?
I mean, the Ravens are really good, they do good business, like they're gonna sign him to a $20 million per year deal, and that'll be that, and then you hear he signed for 27.
And I'm like, OK, yeah, that's good.
Let Max Crosby go so you can sign a center.
That sounds like great business, Raiders, good job.
Yeah, uh, just, just wild there for sure.
Let's do one more refresh of the timeline here, which by the way, like Twitter cannot just like update fast enough for to keep up with all this.
Uh, Marcus Mariota, back to the commanders, the Chiefs, you know, could be in the market for a free agent, uh, quarterback here, just kind of, they need a backup anyway, and obviously with everything going on with Mahomes, right?
Like that's, that's something.
So nothing, not a whole lot else with the Brian Cook knows, we, we talked about Jaylen Watson.
Um, yeah, I, I think that's about it for us here.
So just real quick, like run down, give it a grade.
Obviously there's a lot to be done, but we know the money now and stuff.
What would you give the Kenneth Walker signing?
Uh, right now, he hasn't played it down yet.
I, you know, the conservative person in me says incomplete, but I'm gonna give it an A. I just, I just feel like it's the perfect signing for the Kansas City Chiefs in this era, upgraded a position of need, not like, just barely, like you completely changed the dynamic of the offense with one signing, which if you're a free agent, one free agent does that for you on one side of the ball, that is a slam dunk, so it's gotta be at least an A. Yeah, I, I'm, I, just to go back to it, I do think that there is a little bit of risk there, but overall I'm gonna say it's a, uh, a B for me, right?
Like, you're paying a non-premium position, would have loved for them to kind of Maybe be able to get him for a little bit less, or, or maybe sign a player that doesn't have the same injury history that he has, and the lack of passing production.
Like, you know, if, if you're gonna pay this guy close to the top of the market for running backs, I would have loved for him to be a be Sean Lovell player.
But that guy's just not on the market, right?
He's just not there, and they, they can't force an issue that's there, and this is better than, you know.
Trading up for Jeremiah Love or something like that, which is not something they need to be doing.
So it'll be interesting to see how this shapes all the draft and everything.
Um, we will continue to have our live shows.
I believe we, Sterling will be live tomorrow to talk.
Um, look out for all the written content as well.
To, Matt Connors trying to just furiously turn out things as much as possible as we find out more and more news.
So, that's gonna be it for us here today on the live stream.
Thanks so much for joining us.
Uh, thank you, Christian, and thank you to producer Joanne for helping us do the live show.
And as always, from here at Arrowhead Attic, go Chiefs.
