Keep Or Sweep: 2022 Chiefs Defensive Free Agents

The Kansas City Chiefs will certainly be making plenty of changes to their roster entering 2022. But before they look to make moves with outside free agents or other teams, making decisions on their own pending free agents will come first.

What players are the Chiefs hoping to stash away from other competing teams? Are there any players that must be kept, in order to further Kansas City’s chances in 2022? At the same time, what players are worth cutting the bait with? Some pending free agents have likely reached their ultimate ceiling as a member of the Chiefs.

Today, we will be looking at the list of pending free agents for Kansas City on the defensive side of the ball entering the 2022 offseason. We performed the same exercise for the Chiefs pending offensive free agents yesterday, which you can read here. Let’s kick it off.

List Of Pending Defensive Free Agents

Unrestricted Free Agents

• DE: Melvin Ingram, Alex Okafor
• DT: Jarran Reed, Derrick Nnadi
• LB: Ben Niemann, Dorian O’Daniel
• CB: Charvarius Ward, Mike Hughes
• SAF: Tyrann Mathieu, Daniel Sorensen, Armani Watts

Exclusive Rights Free Agent

• CB: Chris Lammons

12 of the 27 pending free agents for Kansas City come from the defensive side of the football. As you can see, all but one is an unrestricted free agent. This means that they have no ties left with Kansas City once reaching free agency. The lone exclusive rights free agent from the Chiefs defense is back with the team no matter what, if the team does indeed want him back and issues the player a qualifying offer for one season.

Top Priority

Safety Tyrann Mathieu is unquestionably the best player from the Chiefs that is due for 2022 free agency. Are there other good safeties available in free agency? Sure. Is there a chance of the Chiefs selecting a blue chip prospect at safety in the 2022 NFL Draft? Certainly. Nevertheless, not one player can match Mathieu’s instincts, leadership and tenacious mentality on the field. He was essentially hand-picked to change Kansas City’s defensive culture in 2019. That led to two straight Super Bowl appearances, one Super Bowl win and improved or heightened play from written off characters within the Chiefs defense. That defense was unafraid of any challenge that laid ahead of them, while Mathieu was at the helm.

The team definitely wants him back. On the other hand, one would have to think that Mathieu wants to stay with a team that he has accomplished so much with already. There are obviously a lot of difficult hurdles to get through. What does the Chiefs salary cap look like in 2022 and 2023? What annual salary figure is Mathieu seeking, and where would it rank him among the NFL’s highest paid safeties? Lastly, does Kansas City still look like an appealing defense for Mathieu to play in, given that many changes are likely on the horizon?

Prediction

Could Mathieu be a candidate for the franchise tag? Possibly. Yet, the position he plays, along with his age and veteran presence, compared to Orlando Brown Jr., make that a little less desirable for both the Chiefs and Mathieu himself. Last July, we mapped out what a possible extension could look like for the defender. Much of those same items are true, regarding Kansas City and the safety himself. That was last summer, just before other safeties like Jamal Adams and Harrison Smith inked hefty deals.

All in all, I think general manager Brett Veach will remain swinging the bat for a home run type of move. It may be difficult to map out the exact contract figures right now. But, I believe the Chiefs will do everything in their power to open up salary cap space with other moves and reward Mathieu, keeping him in Kansas City.

Worth It, But For Cheap

There are honestly not many of those names that fall under this category. If you bring back anyone from this category, the Chiefs should obviously pay them in a certain way. That would entail knowing that they would likely play a tremendous amount of snaps. But at the same time, these players are likely second or third highest on the depth chart for their respective position.

As a result, I see two players that fall under this category, among unrestricted free agents. This would include Ingram and Ward. There are reasons as to why each could be a beneficial re-signing. For Ingram, his explosiveness and power as a pass rusher is a style that has been missing for Kansas City’s defense for a good bit. His leadership also paid dividends after the midseason trade of Ingram to the Chiefs. Elsewhere, Ward has progressed throughout each campaign in Kansas City’s program. Let’s not confuse complementary play with shutdown cornerback play, however.

As Veach said last week, there is still mutual interest between the Chiefs and Ingram. I think his veteran stance could make him a better bet to return over Ward. Ingram’s possible lower salary per season and Kansas City’s emphasis to build strong depth in the trenches also gives the pass rusher a greater chance to return over the cornerback.

Prediction

Of those two unrestricted free agents, I only see Ingram making his way back to Kansas City for 2022. The Chiefs have plenty of interest left in the pass rusher. And with the factors mentioned in the previous paragraph, Kansas City can present a picture that will still likely allow Ingram to play plenty of snaps, while still being in a comfortable environment and set as one of the top leaders on the defense.

Ward has always felt capped at a CB2 level, in my opinion. He is just not a lockdown outside cornerback, despite his progression with the Chiefs. I think Kansas City will allow other teams to possibly overpay for a defender that they have already received adequate performances from.

Finally, I do believe that Lammons will be back after receiving a qualifying offer as an exclusive rights free agent. The Chiefs could probably easily replace him. But, his special teams prowess will likely be heavily favored by the KC coaching staff.

Replaceable

Some of the players under this category may not be too surprising. On the other hand, there are a few names here that could still be counted on in a reserve or rotational role. There are just too many factors that make them otherwise replaceable, however. Salary cap availability, lack of value on the investment and the position they play could let solid defenders walk.

The players that fall under that previous sentence could be Reed, Nnadi and Okafor. Reed can still collapse the interior of the pocket and exudes short area quickness. Even still, Kansas City may have been expecting a bit more production from him this past season. The Chiefs would also be losing a stout run defender in Nnadi if he goes. Though, hanging onto defenders who are not true three down defenders could be tricky for business. Okafor has had his moments too. Overall, you can replace his lower-level production with someone else relatively quickly.

You then have the names that are not too surprising, if the Chiefs were to move on from them. This includes Sorensen, Watts, Hughes, Niemann and O’Daniel. Sorensen found a resurgence when Steve Spagnuolo came to town and had notable playoff moments. The experiment with him has long run its course. Like Reed, Hughes was brought in last offseason. There may not have been star level expectations for him. Yet, his lack of resistance at outside cornerback and continued horrid results in pass coverage did him no favors. Watts, Niemann and O’Daniel do most of their damage on special teams. Niemann has received many snaps at linebacker. However, his lack of speed, spatial awareness and inconsistent tackling can be replaced by something much better in subpackages.

Prediction

The need to invest money elsewhere on the roster, along with the Chiefs being able to find more athletic, powerful or trustworthy options at these spots, makes the chances slim that most or any of these guys return. Defensive tackles that hold more value could be drafted or signed from other teams in free agency. Kansas City should also look to find more technically refined replacements within the back seven of the defense.

Be on the lookout for more FPC Chiefs articles throughout this week. For more great sports and NFL content, stay tuned to Full Press Coverage.

– Braden Holecek is the Kansas City Chiefs managing editor for Full Press Coverage. He covers the NFL. Like and follow on Follow @ebearcat9//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Follow @FPC_Chiefs//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js and Facebook.