The Kansas City Chiefs made a splash Monday afternoon in the opening period of NFL Free Agency when they signed former Patriots interior lineman Joe Thuney to a 5-year $80 million deal. The addition of Joe Thuney made perfect sense and will definitely help out along the offensive line especially because Thuney is versatile and can play guard, center, or even tackle in a pinch if necessary. However, where Thuney really helped out Monday is in the Cap space department.
You see, Thuney's contract is largely backloaded and Thuney will only be taking a $990k base salary in 2021 and a total cap hit of $4.5 million which means Kansas City still has plenty of money to play with in free agency. The contract restructures of Patrick Mahomes and Chris Jones along with the cuts of Mitchell Schawrtz and Eric Fisher freed up over $20 million dollars for Kansas City. Now with Thuney only taking $4.5 million in year one of his deal, the Chiefs still have around $17 million in cap space to work with depending on where you read.
There's a lot of things the Chiefs can do with that money but they might not be done spending it on the offensive line. It was rumored just shortly before the Chiefs signed Joe Thuney that the team was interested in LT Trent Williams. Many would think that signing Thuney takes the Chiefs out of the running for Williams but that is not the case. This contract was structured in a way that indicates the Chiefs are not done and Trent Williams is still in play. The question is how much exactly would Williams be willing to take to come to Kansas City? It's probably unrealistic that the Chiefs still dish out $20+ million like deal to Williams, but if he is willing to take a little less on a shorter deal to potentially win in Kansas City then it is definitely possible and The Chiefs will most likely still try.
Williams is a great player and an upgrade from Eric Fisher believe it or not. He has tremendous size at 6'5", 318 lbs and extreme athleticism for someone of that size. He played for the San Francisco 49ers this past season and was a mauler in the run game for them. Although Williams is getting a little older at 31 years old he essentially took a year off in 2019 after refusing to play for the Washington Football Team and it may allow him to play younger than he is for an extended period.
If this does happen, then the narrative about the offensive line entering the draft drastically changes. If the team signs Williams, that gives the Chiefs a hypothetical starting line of Trent Williams, LDT, Nick Alegretti, Joe Thuney, and Lucas Niang. That's a pretty solid offensive line excluding any new draft picks. The Chiefs will likely still draft an interior lineman and maybe even another tackle even if they get Williams but one thing is for sure. Hvaing Williams and Thuney on board before we even get to draft night makes everything a lot easier and will give the Chiefs freedom in what they want to do moving forward.
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