KANSAS CITY, Mo. – After their recent flurry of player moves, there’s no doubt where the emphasis has to be for the Kansas City Chiefs as they continue with free agency and look toward the draft.
The Chiefs are thin in the secondary. The loss of Sean Smith to the Oakland Raiders in free agency leaves a huge void at cornerback, where other than Marcus Peters and Ron Parker, a starting safety who played a lot at nickelback in passing situations, the Chiefs don’t have a lot they can count on.
The Chiefs have Phillip Gaines, but he’s coming off a torn ACL that cost him most of last season. They also have several developing players trying to establish their careers, including Steven Nelson, a third-round draft pick last year.
The Chiefs had five safeties who played a significant number of snaps last year. That’s a number that suits them well, so expect them to go to training camp with at least that many legitimate roster candidates.
Right now, they have three: Parker, Eric Berry and Daniel Sorensen. Tyvon Branch signed as a free agent with the Arizona Cardinals, and Husain Abdullah is still unsigned.
Otherwise, the Chiefs are in good shape at most other roster spots. Their offensive line took a hit with the free-agent departures of Jeff Allen and Donald Stephenson and the release of guard Ben Grubbs. But the Chiefs signed tackle Mitchell Schwartz from the Cleveland Browns and have sufficient depth otherwise to handle the losses.
The Chiefs also lost backup quarterback Chase Daniel to the Philadelphia Eagles free agency, but they’ve been grooming Aaron Murray and Tyler Bray to compete to be the primary back to Alex Smith.
Completing their recent player activity, the Kansas City Chiefs retained safety Berry, linebackers Derrick Johnson, Tamba Hali and Frank Zombo and defensive lineman Jaye Howard.
