There will be a slight uptick in free agent signings following the Sept. 1 roster cuts, but the Kansas City Chiefs could still look to the free agent market ahead of training camp. There are still plenty of free agents available, and several could come in and immediately help the Chiefs, especially in a depth capacity.
TE Austin Seferian-Jenkins
The Patriots released tight end Seferian-Jenkins a few weeks ago so he could deal with personal issues. New England had hopes that Seferian-Jenkins could help mitigate the loss of recently retired tight end Rob Gronkowski.
Expectations are that Seferian-Jenkins’ time away from football will be brief and that he’ll be ready to return to action sometime in July. A return to the Patriots isn’t out of the question, but there will be room for a team like the Chiefs to swoop in and make Seferian-Jenkins an offer.
The only tight end on the Chiefs roster with more than 13 games of starting experience is Travis Kelce. The depth behind Kelce is shockingly unproven, and while the front office likes guys like Deon Yelder, Blake Bell and John Lovett it’s hard to imagine them making much of an impact if they were pressed into starting action.
Seferian-Jenkins would instantly upgrade the position group and provide much-needed stability behind Kelce.
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DT Allen Bailey
The Chiefs are quite familiar with Bailey, who played with them for the past eight seasons.
Bailey had the best season of his career in 2018. Hard to believe that playing well would actually hurt a player, but in Bailey’s case it’s a big part of the reason why he remains unsigned. He set career highs in sacks, quarterback hits and fumble recoveries. At 30 years old he’s looking to cash in on another contract, but apparently NFL teams don’t think he’s worth his asking price.
The Chiefs know what he’s worth, even with a new coaching staff in place. If they can sign Bailey to a performance-based contract for a few seasons, it could prove worthwhile, especially if a holdout by Chris Jones is on the horizon with a potential application of the franchise tag in 2020.
How many 6-foot-3, 288-pound defensive tackles have you seen hop over a cut block like this?
Bailey is built like the Hulk and nimble like Spider-Man. He deserves to be on an NFL roster for the 2019 season, and it’d be great to see him at home with the Chiefs.
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DE Dion Jordan
This might not be a right now signing for any team, including the Chiefs, because Jordan is facing a 10-game suspension for the use of Adderall. Jordan previously had what is called a therapeutic use exemption for Adderall, but it had expired when he tested positive for the drug.
Jordan previously had been suspended for four games in 2013, and for the entire season in 2015 for violations to NFL’s policy on banned substances. Jordan had cleaned up his act for the past two seasons, but it appears this slip-up will cost him big time in 2019. He was denied a chance to appeal, so he will serve the full 10-game suspension.
Jordan seems like the type of player that a team like the Patriots would go after and turn into a key role player. I wonder if the Chiefs wouldn’t be opposed to adding this troubled player. He already has familiarity with Frank Clark, whom he played with in Seattle for the past two seasons.
The Chiefs could certainly look to add Jordan after he’s served his suspension, especially if the team gets bitten by the injury bug during the season.
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