5 Free Agents that would be great fits for the Chiefs
Free Agency is about to kick off and these five players could fit with the Chiefs' like peanut butter and jelly.
The Kansas City Chiefs have been busy here leading up to free agency. They began this process by restructuring Patrick Mahomes' contract, followed that up by releasing Jawaan Taylor, and on Wednesday, they decided to trade Trent McDuffie to the Los Angeles Rams. There are probably more moves to come before the NFL’s legal tampering period starts on Monday, March 9th.
Pairing this with some rumblings coming out of the NFL Combine that they may not be able to bring back the majority of their own pending free agents, the Chiefs are set to make some splashes in free agency rather early. Typically, the Chiefs make a notable signing quickly once free agency starts, but are slow to restructure contracts, move money around, and publicly announce moves. This year has changed here early on and could be setting the Chiefs up to be a team that does do some “Wave 1” spending this year.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at FIVE free agents who could be excellent fits with the Kansas City Chiefs.
5 Free Agents that Fit the Chiefs
Travis Etienne | RB | Jacksonville Jaguars
Starting with the hits, Travis Etienne has been rumored to the Chiefs a ton over the past few weeks. On the surface, the fit makes a ton of sense as the Chiefs could finally find a solution to their lacking dynamic run game. There is also the little fact that the Chiefs were high on Etienne coming out of college, and we know they like to dip back into that talent pool. He also had his best NFL season under Doug Pederson, who ran a very similar offense to the current Chiefs’ offense. The final nail in the coffin is looking at how Eric Bieniemy got D’Andre Swift to develop and improve his running style in Chicago. As a runner, Etienne and Swift share similar positive and negative traits, so the hope would be that there could be a similar uptick in Etienne’s consistency with Bieniemy at the help.
As for the actual player, Etienne is an incredibly explosive runner who does a great job accelerating through daylight. He is able to pick up speed while shifting and contorting his body around contact. He shows the ability to make defenders miss both in tight quarters and in the open field. He’s not a perfect player by any means, but he’s a good zone running back who has a tendency to hit big plays. The only hang-up is that the Etienne and Brashard Smith pairing lacks a physical, short-yardage back and is incredibly poor in pass protection, meaning a third musketeer would be a must in free agency or the NFL Draft.
