Quote:
Originally Posted by RunKC
Now is not the time to do this move. If it was 2023? Sure. Not now.
The 2021 and 2022 draft has done the heavy lifting for this team the last few years and now the time has come to pay them.
To my count, they can keep some, but not many. You’re likely losing one of Trey Smith/Nick Bolton. You’re losing Pacheco, probably Watson, maybe Chenal (I’m hoping we can keep him) and Williams.
Also gonna have to replace Kelce and guys like Tranquil, maybe Omenihu, maybe Hollywood and Kareem since we have a terribly non-explosive RB room.
We haven’t exactly had great drafts recently compared to those 2.
I love Rashee, love Worthy, love Hicks and think Kingsley will start at RG, but they need these early picks to build the future of the roster the next 4 years.
It’s a risk assessment of captital. Use it on one important lottery ticket or use it on several lottery tickets for the greater good of the whole roster?
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I'll try to address this in little chunks here with my thoughts.
1. Losing Kelce is going to happen and we won't necessarily replace him but I do like what we have in-house already with Gray and Wiley (who will develop). I'm not especially concerned here.
2. I've never been overly concerned with losing off-ball LBs. There are always quite a few functional players in FA and the 2nd and 3rd rounds yield quality players there all the time. Losing Bolton and Chenal wouldn't pressure me into not trading resources for a legit LT. Chenal is under contract for another year and Tranquil is under contract for two more years. We can navigate that situation.
3. Losing Pacheco is the last of my worries. He's a very average RB with limited vision. I feel like there is a better replacement value in FA every year. This year's draft is loaded. My strategy would be buying one with a mid-round pick, above many other positions.
4. I think when we look at depth and look at the future of the roster and where we are at now, there is something we do need to keep in the back of mind and that's expiring contracts and available cap. Thuney and Kelce have one year left in 2025. McDuffie and Karlaftis are under contract yet with 5th-year options through 2026. So we kind of have that buffer, right? No doubt Jawaan Taylor will get cut in 2026. There will be operating funds there to get some guys.
5. If we move up for a LT, we're losing a 1st and a 3rd probably. We've wasted plenty of 3rd round picks on near-zero returns. In the past 10 years we've had no 3rd rounder twice and more or less whiffed 4 times (Saunders was shit until his final year, O'Daniel, Russell, and Niang). I'm looking at that as I think it's worth giving up 1 legit contributor to get a legit LT for the rest of Mahomes' career. If we can do that, then we can stop spending bad money bringing in broke dicks and below-average tackles and use it instead on these other, cheaper positions and obtain some quality vets. If you're worried about RB, TE, S, and LB, those positions are all, generally speaking, under 10m per in FA. That's for solid guys, not all-stars. You can buy at least one of those with the bad OT money. Now you have the chance for two good players instead of one and a below-average to bad one.