KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Kansas City Chiefs are scheduled to have 16 free agents when the signing period begins, though some will be re-signed before then. Here is a list of the 16 listed by position group:
Quarterback: none.
Running back: none.
Wide receiver: Dexter McCluster, Kyle Williams.
Tight end: Richard Gordon.
Offensive line: Branden Albert, Jon Asamoah, Ricky Henry, Geoff Schwartz.
Defensive line: Tyson Jackson, Jerrell Powe.
Linebacker: Robert James, Akeem Jordan, Frank Zombo.
Defensive back: Husain Abdullah, Quintin Demps, Kendrick Lewis.
Punter/Kicker: none.
Long-snapper: Thomas Gafford.
Gordon and Henry are scheduled to become restricted free agents. I’m not clear on whether Powe and James would be exclusive rights or restricted free agents, though neither has a contract for 2014.
Everyone else is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent.
I’ll be starting to dig into this with you beginning in the next few days. I’ll have some advice for Andy Reid and John Dorsey as to what they should be doing with this list as well as the players who are under contract for 2014. I’ve already started on what they should do with quarterback Alex Smith.
For now, a couple of quick thoughts on this free-agent list:
Ideally, the Chiefs would keep Albert, their starting left tackle. But his contract demands may be out of their price range. Asamoah and Schwartz split time as the starting right guard. The Chiefs will need to keep at least one of them and Schwartz’s versatility was valuable last season.
Abdullah, Demps and Lewis are among their top four safeties. But the Chiefs will have Sanders Commings, a rookie, coming back from injuries next year. The Chiefs like him a lot.
