We have our first truly shocking cuts of the 2021 NFL offseason. Today, the Chiefs have released both left tackle Eric Fisher and right tackle Mitchell Schwartz. The moves save Kansas City over $18 million in salary cap space and will likely put Patrick Mahomes’ scrambling ability to the test. They still have a pretty long Super Bowl window, though.
Schwartz is expected to retire after missing 10 games last season and undergoing back surgery. However, Fisher should get a ton of interest from around the league. The Panthers have a rather large hole to fill at left tackle, so they should be one of the teams who gives him a call.
Pros
It’s not every day that a former No. 1 overall pick becomes available and for good reason. Fisher has been among the league’s top offensive tackles since he was drafted in 2013 and is still going strong. Pro Football Focus gave him a high 80.0 overall grade last year. Fisher missed half of the 2019 season due to injury but aside from that he’s only sat out three other games in his career.
Cons
Fisher just turned 30 years old and he has already appeared in 117 regular season games plus several deep playoff runs. While he’s been relatively durable since entering the NFL, that’s still a lot of mileage. Fisher probably has several good years left, but it’s not unreasonable to assume that his game will begin to decline over the next couple of seasons.
Conclusion
While it’s tough to say what he can earn on the open market, Fisher’s cap number last year was over $15 million, which is a good place to begin negotiating. That’s tough to swing for a team that just invested $13.75 million in their right tackle and still needs to find a way to pay Curtis Samuel. Fisher would be a tremendous get, though. After Trent Williams he’s the best OL on the market this year.
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