The Kansas City Chiefs have made three moves to continue and set their roster up for 2018 and beyond. All of these moves will have major impacts throughout the roster. With these signings, we will look at how these moves add to the Chiefs depth and gameplan.
The first signing we will take a look at involves football’s most important position, which is quarterback. Yes it is Patrick Mahomes time now, but with third stringer Tyler Bray signing with the Chicago Bears, the Chiefs were still in need of a backup quarterback. The Chiefs made the move to bring in veteran Chad Henne, as he will serve as the backup quarterback. The deal is for two years for a total of $6.7 million.
Henne, 33 years old, spent the past six years of his career with the Jacksonville Jaguars. In his first two seasons in Jacksonville, Henne played in 25 games and threw for 24 touchdowns. Once Blake Bortles was drafted in the first round in 2014, Henne has since been a backup and has only appeared in six games over the last four years. The big thing Henne brings to the Chiefs, is his ability to teach. Henne mentioned, “I’m more than happy to help and make sure Patrick is ready to go and be the most prepared quarterback in the league.” Add that in with Andy Reid’s past tutelage with quarterbacks and that sets up well for Mahomes.
The Chiefs also made a move to try and beef up the defensive line, by signing nose tackle Xavier Williams. Williams not only gets a fresh start with a new team, but he is also coming home. Williams was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1992 and he attended Grandview High School just south of Kansas City. Following his time at Grandview, Williams played college ball at Northern Iowa. In 2015, Williams signed as an undrafted free agent with the Arizona Cardinals, where he has played the last three years. Williams fills a major need at defensive tackle for the Chiefs. He also fills the need of being a physical run stopper up the middle and being able to disrupt quarterbacks’ drop backs.
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The final of the recent signings we need to mention is for running back Damien Williams. Like Xavier Williams, Damien Williams signed with an NFL team after being an undrafted free agent. Williams has spent his entire four year career with the Miami Dolphins, but not usually as the number one guy.
That will likely be the case with the Chiefs. The Chiefs already have the NFL’s 2017 leading rusher in Kareem Hunt, so how does this impact the Chiefs? Hunt will still go into 2018 as the top man, but Williams provides a lot of upside. Williams could be a perfect guy to become Mahomes’s check down on pass plays. In his career, Williams has 85 receptions out of the backfield, for 733 yards and 6 touchdowns.
Does this mean Spencer Ware’s recovery has been slowed? Or do the Chiefs want to load up on as many running backs as they can? Sometimes having a crowded backfield can be a good thing. For example, the Eagles were Super Bowl champions last year, and their running back combination consisted of LaGarrette Blount, Jay Ajayi, Corey Clement and Wendell Smallwood. All of these guys had major roles and shared the playing time every game.