The Kansas City Chiefs are trying to keep the band together after their Super Bowl LIV victory. One position that is expected to have some turnover, however, is the linebacker spot. Starter Reggie Ragland and reserve Darron Lee are both scheduled to become unrestricted free agents. Another starter in Damien Wilson has a club option on his contract that could save the Chiefs $3 million in cap space. The Chiefs would like to keep all of these players, but with salary cap restraints, it seems highly unlikely.
With the Chiefs already hard against the cap trying to retain their own free agents, shelling out top dollar in free agency for a replacement doesn’t seem feasible either. As amazing as it would be to add a player like pending free agent LB Cory Littleton, the Chiefs will quickly be priced out of his market.
There will be some options, however, that shouldn’t break the bank for Kansas City and could fill in nicely. Here’s a look at three pending free agents that the Chiefs could add in free agency:
Bengals WLB Nick Vigil
Vigil is a wildly underrated player because he’s been playing for a bad Bengals team on a bad linebacker corp. In 2019, Vigil played 986 defensive snaps which were the most of his career. He amassed 111 tackles, one sack, one interception, five passes defended and one forced fumble. He’ll be a good fit at weakside linebacker because of his coverage ability.
The Chiefs have some options on the roster at the weakside position, namely Dorian O’Daniel, but you need to bring in more competition if you’re Brett Veach. This seems like the type of player that the Chiefs could snag on a short-term deal who could come in, earn the starting job and cash in as a free agent in a year or two.