It's not every offseason that a team lets their most talented cornerback and starting left tackle walk. But the Kansas City Chiefs have stared down some difficult decisions this offseason in the name of some much needed contract extensions and salary cap space.
John Dorsey faces difficult decisions with Chiefs future
From watching key veterans walk to dealing with unhappy players wanting extensions, John Dorsey has his work cut out for him this time of year.
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When the Chiefs parted ways with Brandon Flowers and Branden Albert, it demonstrated general manager John Dorsey's willingness to make difficult sacrifices. In order to secure key players, he had to let longtime valuable veterans walk. Those players -- Jamaal Charles, Alex Smith, Justin Houston -- will hopefully carry the Chiefs toward a successfull future. The question is: at what cost?
Watching veterans walk
The importance of the left tackle position can’t be overstated. There’s a reason teams spend major dollars securing the bookends of an offensive line, ensuring protection for their greatest investment: the quarterback.
Branden Albert/Kyle Terada, USA Today Sports When the Chiefs let Albert walk to the Miami Dolphins this offseason, it was a significant chance for Dorsey to take. He’d set up such a move by selecting Eric Fisher at No. 1 overall in the 2013 NFL Draft, but Fisher’s rookie year was marred by inconsistent play and nagging injuries. Over the last six seasons, Albert started 83 of 85 games, made the Pro Bowl, and was still playing at a high level at the age of 29.
Flowers presented the same scenario for the Chiefs. A couple of promising youngsters were in house, but Flowers, like Albert, was the consistent veteran the team could count on. While Flowers’ performance dipped in 2013, he was still the greatest certainty at the position before he was cut. Yet by cutting him the savings were substantial; the Chiefs saved $7 million.
Overall, the team lost a significant number of veterans to free agency, and it was hard for fans to watch them leave. Here’s a look at the players the Chiefs lost and the money they commanded in the open market:
| Name | Position | New Team | Contract / Years |
| Branden Albert | LT | Miami Dolphins | 5 years, $47M |
| Tyson Jackson | DE | Atlanta Falcons | 5 years, $25M |
| John Asamoah | G | Atlanta Falcons | 5 years, $22.5M |
| Geoff Schwartz | RT | New York Giants | 4 years, $16.8M |
| Dexter McCluster | WR | Tennessee Titans | 3 years, $9M |
| Brandon Flowers | CB | San Diego Chargers | 1 year, $3M |
That’s an average dollar amount of $4.85 million per year for each player. What that equates to is just over $9 million in available cap space for the Chiefs.
Extensions aplenty
John Dorsey already took care of the team’s top priority: extending Jamaal Charles. Charles was reportedly going to hold out of training camp, but both sides quickly struck a deal that will pay the Pro Bowl running back $8.3 million this year instead of $3.9 million.
With Charles’ deal out of the way, it still leaves two pending decisions for Dorsey to stare down. After the Charles’ extension, the Chiefs now have $5,259,628 million in cap room for 2014, a bit less wiggle room for Dorsey to figure things out for Houston and Smith.
Houston's best days are ahead of him, and he will be the anchor to the team's pass rush for years to come
Houston is likely next up on the list. The Pro Bowl linebacker is in the prime of his career and is a playmaker in all facets of the game. After coming into the league as a pass rusher with questionable work ethic and character, Houston has turned the corner into a complete package on defense, an impact player with 11 sacks, one forced fumble and three fumble recoveries in just 11 games in 2013.
Kansas City is on the hook for only 1.4 million for Houston’s services in 2014, a travesty for a player who totaled 26.5 sacks over his last 32 games. Houston’s best days are ahead of him, and he will be the anchor to the team’s pass rush for years to come as Tamba Hali gets older.
The good news is that Houston is in camp for the Chiefs. It’s just a matter of Dorsey figuring out how to weave Houston’s raise in with the others.
Photo credit: Rob Carr/Getty Images
That leaves Alex Smith. The Chiefs’ quarterback deserves a deal worthy of a franchise signal-caller after helping the Chiefs make the playoffs just one year after picking first in the draft. He’s scheduled to make $7.5 million in the final year of a three-year, $25.25 million contract.
Smith is often overlooked on lists of the NFL's top quarterbacks, but Smith ranks fourth among quarterbacks with at least 30 starts since 2011 in wins (30, tied with Andy Dalton and Joe Flacco) and posted a 92.5 rating during that stretch.
Though Charles made the highlight reel most often, Smith was the backbone of the team, as Adam Shein of NFL.com points out:
"You can be in position to win a championship with Alex Smith under center. His accuracy, his leadership, his production and his poise led Kansas City to the playoffs last season, his first with the Chiefs. Smith joined a team that was a mess -- the absolute worst in the league -- and teamed up with Reid to immediately turn it around. This cannot be pooh-poohed.
"Jamaal Charles was the best player on the Chiefs last year. The defense -- which featured five Pro Bowl players -- was loaded. Alex Smith was the MVP."
The Chiefs have a leader who can take them to a deep run in the playoffs. Dorsey has to find a way to make him believe they want him there long-term while maintaining enough talent (i.e. enough money) around him to keep him.
What it all means
One of the reasons that getting these extensions right is because they are not the only ones. When the dust settles on new contracts for Charles, Houston and Smith, another wave of players will be waiting their turn after the 2014 season: namely another handful of impact players like Dontari Poe, Eric Berry and Derrick Johnson. They're each important players who will want fair market value for their services.
It sounds like a vicious cycle, but it’s just the life of an NFL GM. We’ll know soon whether Dorsey’s up for the task.
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