In a moment to himself after Super Bowl LVII, Frank Clark sat on the Chiefs’ bench, unfolding the protective gear covering an injured elbow. Tears came quickly.
At the other end of the same bench, his teammate Khalen Saunders also sat all alone, not looking at anything in particular, silently taking in the on-field celebration in front of him.
In the middle of that field, Juan Thornhill throws two arms skyward, causing red, white, and gold confetti to fall in his face.
And looking back now, you can’t help but wonder whether each of them knew: This was the last stop on the farewell tour.
The Chiefs will look vastly different next season than they did that evening in Glendale, Arizona, and let’s not dance around the reason. They selection of To stand out, unlike the days of “run it back” after the first trophy in this era.
If you’re trying to make sense of the chaos that surrounded the opening week of NFL free agency — including why a Super Bowl winning team isn’t particularly interested in putting together a band — pull up a chair. Let’s have that conversation. There may be some pain and frustration in the process right away, but it is much wiser than that. play it back ever had.
The Chiefs have already lost a half-dozen starters early in free agency. This is not a small number. The salary cap is a factor, and it will be important as long as the Chiefs are paying quarterbacks in the neighborhood of $50 million annually — though they secured some short-term relief on Wednesday by moving a portion of that cash forward into the future. Season – But Calling It The Cap Is Wrong Only Idea.
These are calculated decisions that follow a common thread drawn from a different sweater. at Clarke, Saunders and Thornhill. Also on Orlando Brown Jr., JuJu Smith-Schuster and Andrew Wylie. And others are yet to come.
that thread? You can’t be too attached to yourself. The aim is to pay for future implications, not reward past success. This should not be confused with the priority of letting all run. Instead, the preference should be to stick to a budget, or in some cases, a personal price.
If the Chiefs want to run it back, it should come down to the cooperation of the players, not the team raising their payroll. To state the obvious, this applies to some players, though not necessarily to all. This is dependent on the cost and value of the potential replacement.
The Chiefs are essentially deciding whether Patrick Mahomes, a handful of key contributors to the offense, is getting more help than vice versa. They can only back-date their evidence by a year. (Hint: It’s usually the former.)
The timing of this is attractive, given what their counterparts are doing. On Wednesday, not-for-long Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers spent half an hour on The Pat McAfee Show announcing his “intent” to play for the New York Jets next season — none of which is his fault, he really wants to know you He denied sending a “demand list” to the Jets to sign players, although the report actually called it a “wish list”, and he was not at all sure that he did not have some suggestions.
Packers have been employing a handful of them for a very long time. Those players are good players in the locker room, Rodgers said.
And?
Can’t do it can’t go that way. There’s a reason Rodgers only wears one ring.
And there’s a reason the NFL hasn’t celebrated a repeat champion in nearly two decades. While each subsequent roaster ends Some Changes, often don’t make enough room for it. It’s human nature to believe that players included in a championship group are capable of doing it everywhere.
There is a lot of truth in this, even.
But at what cost?
If the Chiefs want to turn this thing into a dynasty, however we define the term, that is the question that needs to guide their decisions this offseason, next offseason and all of them for the foreseeable future. Will be
Most of the above list – Brown and Smith-Schuster the headliners – form a collection of players not only valuable to the Chiefs in this Super Bowl run, but capable of providing value in the next one.
The chiefs wanted some of them back for the record. They offered Smith-Schuster a contract, but were outbid by New England, and when informed of this, stood by their original offer. It was a year ago that he initially presented the Browns with a long-term offer, and even after helping shut down the league’s best defensive line in the Super Bowl, he informed him that his offer would remain unchanged this March. .
Don’t blame the players. In many cases, they are cashing in their first big payday, lured by guarantees in a league that has so few. He has earned it.
Let someone else take care of it. The chiefs need to avoid the trap of temptation that many of their counterparts have fallen into over the last 18 months. While it is literally true that a certain group of supporting players provided Kansas City with another Super Bowl, it is true that Process Provided one more to get that group. The draft got them second, and then developing those draft picks got them second.
Notice how quiet the Raiders, Chargers and Bills are this month after a year of throwing resources toward a one-win-now proposition? Just wait until the Dolphins find themselves in a similar spot a year from now. They are acting out of desperation, indulging in an arms race.
The recommendation here is not that the chief should sit out completely, but rather that he should work with the luxury he has. luxuries most others do not.
Be selective.
Don’t despair
