Tag: brett veach

Chiefs GM Brett Veach about potential of CBs Alex Brown and Antonio Hamilton

Veach is excited about the Chiefs’ cornerback depth, citing Alex Brown and Antonio Hamilton as players who could contribute in 2020.

The Kansas City Chiefs will certainly have some new faces contributing during the 2020 NFL Season.

In his Thursday conference call with the media, general manager Brett Veach spoke about two potential contributors in the defensive secondary that have him and his personnel staff excited. Those players are Alex Brown and Antonio Hamilton, and as Veach explained, the Chiefs specifically targeted both of them ahead of the 2019 season.

“(Antonio) Hamilton is an interesting guy because he’s a guy – every year at the cut-down day, Director of Pro Personnel Tim Terry and Director of Football Operations Mike Borgonzi do a great job of really identifying young guys that we think are developmental talent guys – and at the trade/cut-down day last year, we identified Alex Brown and Antonio Hamilton as two guys that we thought we’d like to add if not to our active roster, to our practice squad,” Veach said. “Hamilton ended up making a team but Alex Brown, we were able to get on the practice squad. And Alex did a good job for us and was active late in the season for our Super Bowl run. So, Antonio was a guy, he was on the bubble and he made the team, but we monitored him throughout the season in case they had a roster crunch where they had to cut him, but they never did. But we certainly kept that in our back pocket for free agency.”

We’ve learned in the past with Veach, when he wants a player, he exhausts all options to make that happen. So while the team was able to acquire Brown during roster cuts in 2019, they had to wait a season to add Hamilton in free agency. Now that they’re both on the team, he likes their potential to help out in 2020.

“When the window for negotiation opened up, if we liked him back then and we wanted to add him back then, we may be able to do it, it makes sense for him and for us. We’re excited about him. You can never have enough depth. Certainly, losing Kendall Fuller, bringing Bashaud (Breeland) back, having (Charvarius) Ward and (Rashad) Fenton, and now Hamilton, gives us four corners that we think can help us on the field. Alex has done a great job on special teams and Antonio, as you know, is a good special teams player. So that really went all the way back to last year at the cut-down day…”

While the Chiefs lost Kendall Fuller to free agency, Veach seems hopeful that Hamilton can replace that presence on the defensive side of the ball. He expects both Hamilton and Brown to have strong roles when playing special teams as they have in the past too.

For a player like Hamilton, the opportunity to play on defense could be fruitful. Veach later added that the team wanted to sign him to a multi-year contract, but Hamilton opted for a one-year deal in order to bet on himself. No matter what happens, the Chiefs have options they’re excited about behind their projected starters and that will only help keep the team competitive as they continue to add more players this offseason.

Chiefs GM Brett Veach provides update on Chris Jones contract talks

Chiefs GM Brett Veach was open to questions during a press conference regarding the team’s status on contract negotiations with Chris Jones.

As the Kansas City Chiefs offseason continues with the upcoming 2020 NFL Draft, there are still some burning questions left unresolved. The situation regarding the long-term future of defensive lineman Chris Jones is still a mystery in Kansas City after the franchise tag was placed on him for the upcoming season.

Chiefs general manager Brett Veach was open for questions during his pre-draft press conference regarding the team’s status on negotiations with Jones.

”Yeah, we’ve had a lot of discussions with Chris and the Katz brothers and we continue to have that. We’ve got a lot of time,” said Veach. ”Certainly, it’s a unique environment we’re working with, and we were able to navigate the free agency period and retain some guys. We’re going to work through the draft and we’re going to continue dialogue, but we know how talented Chris is, I think the franchise tag speaks for it.

“We also have a lot of time. I think the deadline to get a deal done is July 15. So, there’s a lot of time to continue the dialogue and to work on something with Chris, but we certainly are going to work to retain him, not just for next year, but for the future.”

The plan is still to retain Jones beyond the 2020 season with a long-term contract extension in mind. Perhaps complicating the matter, is the $84 million dollar contract extension the Indianapolis Colts handed to DT DeForest Buckner. That sets a new ceiling for a deal for Jones and makes things even more difficult for the Chiefs when it comes to agreeing to a long-term contract extension.

Jones has 33 sacks in four seasons as a member of the Chiefs. He recorded a career-high 15.5 sacks in 2018 and added another nine during their Super Bowl-winning season, despite missing multiple games with an injury. Jones also continues to be a team leader on the defensive side of the ball.

As the July 15th deadline to extend franchise-tagged players approaches, Veach has made it known that Jones is a priority. Only time will tell just how much Kansas City is willing to commit to Jones and if it will be for beyond the 2020 NFL season.

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Brett Veach says Chiefs ‘have a lot of time to work with’ on signing QB Patrick Mahomes to an extension

There is currently no timetable for a Patrick Mahomes contract extension and Brett Veach says the fifth-year option is still on the table.

The Kansas City Chiefs haven’t been in a rush to sign star QB Patrick Mahomes to an extension.

The language from both Brett Veach and Clark Hunt has been consistent regarding Mahomes as we get closer to a potential contract extension. The team is more than confident that Mahomes will remain in Kansas City and a deal will get done. They’re less confident about putting a timetable on when a long-term extension might happen.

When Veach spoke to members of the media in a conference call on Thursday, he reiterated that Mahomes is a priority for the Chiefs.

“Pat [Mahomes] is a priority, ” Veach said. “The way we look at it now, with all that is going on, we’re going to have a lot of time to work with. Again, Pat and his agents Chris [Cabbott] and Leigh [Steinberg], know that Pat is a priority. Pat isn’t going anywhere, he’s going to be here for a long time. I can’t sit here and speak definitively, I can’t say that the fifth-year [contract option] won’t be an option or anything like that. It’d be hard for me to say that we’d have to use that. We feel that it is a priority when you have a great player, and when a great player is a priority, things get done. It’s just hard to put a timetable on exactly when and how it will all work out. But we know and I’m sure he knows that it will get done and be taken care of.”

Veach appears to be keeping their options open, and it’s not because they’re uninterested in re-signing Mahomes long-term, it’s for the sake of flexibility. He even left the idea on the table for the fifth-year option to be something that is used on Mahomes, perhaps to extend their negotiating window.

Were Kansas City to exercise a fifth-year option on Patrick Mahomes’ contract, they’d have to do so by May 30, 2020. Keep in mind that fifth-year options are guaranteed for injury, and for the quarterback position the amount should be over $24 million in cost for that fifth year. Picking up the fifth-year option would also open up the possibility of the franchise tag being used the following year.

At the end of the day, we shouldn’t expect any traction on Mahomes’ contract before the draft. While his contract is a priority for the Chiefs, it isn’t as pressing of a matter as some seem to believe.

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Chiefs GM Brett Veach preparing for the unexpected at pick No. 32

Brett Veach is getting the Kansas City Chiefs prepared for all the twists and turns in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft.

With a week to go until the 2020 NFL Draft, Kansas City Chiefs GM Brett Veach held his pre-draft conference call on Thursday.

This is the first time in the past two seasons that the Chiefs are slated to have a first-round pick, but picking at No. 32 provides some unique obstacles. When it comes to predicting what will happen in the 31 picks prior, Veach warns to expect the unexpected.

“Obviously, it’s good to have the 32nd pick in the draft, knowing that you’re Super Bowl champs,” Veach began. “When you’re sitting at 32 — we all look at the mock drafts and do our own mock drafts — the only issue with that is that there are just so many variables.

“There’s always a couple of twists and turns in the draft, but the further down you are, there are going to be more twists and turns. [For example] at 32 as opposed to at 10. If you’re sitting there at 10 there are only so many things that can happen, by the time you get to 32, there could be two or three scenarios. Not that we don’t anticipate, because in the last few days I feel like we went through every scenario possible.”

While the Chiefs try to prepare as best they can for all the different twists and turns that they may face in the draft, they feel comfortable with many of the position groups. He even feels that people might be surprised at the players available at the end of the first round.

At the same time, Veach is not looking to box the team into drafting a specific player or position, because he knows the goal is to build the team for the long haul and not just the upcoming season.

“There are certain positions where we feel good in the first 2-3 rounds,” Veach said. “There are certain positions that aren’t as deep. But I think you guys have kind of seen our approach with free agency and just being able to always stick to the best player available philosophy. We’re not just trying to build this thing for next year, but for the next 5-10 years. So to sit here and say a certain position isn’t in need, we don’t really look at it like that, because we’re looking at the roster 2-3 years from now… We’re just looking to add high-level talent and stick to that best player available philosophy.”

As you assemble your mock draft scenarios, it’s important to keep the needs of the future in mind for Kansas City. Veach has basically spelled out that they could draft for future needs as early as the first round, even if they already have a quality starter at that certain position.

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Updated Chiefs’ 2020 NFL draft picks with trade value chart

Keep track of the trade value of all of the Kansas City Chiefs’ draft picks here.

In the NFL draft, nothing can be said to be certain except for fans booing the commissioner, a team drafting a kicker way too high, and Kansas City Chiefs general manager Brett Veach making trades.

Seeing a trade from Veach in this month’s draft is quite likely for Chiefs fans. In each of the past two drafts with Kansas City, Veach has traded draft capital to either move up in the draft or to acquire a player. He was quite selective in the 2018 NFL draft, using the team’s eight picks to move around and make a total of six selections. The Chiefs traded up a total of three times in order to select Breeland Speaks, Derrick Nnadi and Kahlil McKenzie. They also acquired pick No. 100 in the Speaks trade, which was used on Dorian O’Daniel. In the 2019 NFL draft, the Chiefs traded their first-round pick for DE Frank Clark. They also moved up to select Mecole Hardman at pick No. 56 in the second round.

In order to determine the value of draft picks, NFL teams use a trade value chart. Most of them are based on the chart below, which was devised by Jimmy Johnson when he was the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys in the 90s. To get a better idea of what each pick in the draft is worth, here is a look at the 2020 NFL draft order with their accompanied trade values:

Here are the individual values of the Chiefs’ draft picks this year, per the chart:

Round 1, No. 32: 590
Round 2, No. 63: 276
Round 3, No. 96: 116
Round 4, No. 138: 37
Round 5, No. 177: 19.4

Total value: 1,038.4

The Chiefs have a first-round pick, for the first time since 2017, which significantly increases the total value of their picks.

It’s entirely possible the Chiefs use that first-round pick to make a move up during the upcoming draft. If the Chiefs combine all of their draft capital they can move up as high as pick No. 16 in the first round. That’d leave them with a single pick and little flexibility, though.

Their first-round pick is also a prime spot for moving back into the second round. Keep in mind that salary cap space also comes into play here. As Kansas City adds more draft picks, they’ll add more salary cap commitments too. With their current draft slots, the Chiefs are projected to need just over $5.1 million according to Over The Cap.

Use the chart above and play around with some potential trades for Kansas City. Be sure to let us know the haul that you end up with on Twitter and Facebook.

Chiefs decisions on Sammy Watkins, Chris Jones contingent on new CBA

The salary cap situation is complicated for the Kansas City Chiefs due to new CBA negotiations.

As the Kansas City Chiefs look to ensure that star players like DT Chris Jones and WR Sammy Watkins remain with the team in 2020, they anxiously await an agreement on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement.

General Manager Brett Veach has meetings scheduled with representation for both Watkins and Jones. Watkins is under contract for the 2020 season, but his high salary cap hit is untenable. Jones is scheduled to become a free agent and he’s a player they’re working toward retaining.

“Sammy (Watkins) is a guy like Chris (Jones) that we’re going to have a dialogue with this week,” Veach said. “There are certainly different options and different scenarios that could play out with him. He’s a guy that we do want back. These are good problems to have because you win the Super Bowl, you obviously have a lot of good players and they make a lot of money. Sammy is a guy that, as you mentioned, he’s been critical to our playoff success. Just having a dialogue, again, we’ll meet with the Katz Brothers (Jones’ agents) and we’ll meet with Tory Dandy (Watkins’ agent). We have a good relationship with these guys and we’ll sit down and we’ll talk about the landscape, where we are and what makes sense.” 

Veach is confident that his personnel staff will be able to meet the challenge of retaining these players head-on. At the same time, the impasse currently holding things up is uncertainty surrounding a new CBA.

“Going back to my personnel staff, I also have a great cap staff,” Veach said. “Brandt Tilis and Chris Shea do a tremendous job. It’s challenging but it doesn’t mean it’s impossible. I think just working through the breakdowns and just the dispersals, a lot of this we just have to wait until the new CBA and see how that looks. It’s always a challenge. I think when you have guys as talented as Chris (Jones) and these other players, you’re going to turn over every scenario.” 

Dispersal’s and how the Chiefs’ front office structures contracts will differ, based on how the NFL’s salary cap rises each year in the new CBA. You can’t look at the salary cap in a vacuum, with just the 2020 season in mind. In the proposed CBA, there wouldn’t be much of a jump in the first year compared to current projections, but down the line, there could be more dramatic increases.

Right now, Tilis and Shea are using the information gained in the meetings with agents and working through all the hypothetical scenarios. Once a new CBA is agreed upon, they’ll be able to further narrow down a proper contract for Jones and an extension with a year one restructure for Watkins.

According to a report from Yahoo Sports’ Terez Paylor, there will not be a player vote on the new CBA today, but they’re expected to vote sooner than later. NFL owners have already voted to approve the new CBA agreement.

Chiefs GM Brett Veach expects either Matt Moore or Chad Henne to return in 2020

General manager Brett Veach expects that one of the backup QBs will be back with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2020.

Kansas City Chiefs GM Brett Veach expects that at least one of two backup quarterbacks will be retained in 2020.

Both Matt Moore and Chad Henne are pending free agents, leaving the Chiefs in a predicament at the backup quarterback position. It was a position that was very important for Kansas City this season. They called upon Moore when Mahomes suffered a kneecap dislocation. Moore went 1-1 in two starts and closed out the game during which Mahomes was injured.

On Tuesday, Chiefs GM Brett Veach confirmed that he expects one of the two veteran backups to return for the 2020 season. They’ll hash out some of those details as they meet with representatives for both players at the combine.

“We’ve been blessed and fortunate to have two veteran guys that just did a tremendous job,” Veach said. “Chad (Henne) got hurt. And Matt (Moore) came out of retirement and played really good football for us in that Minnesota game that we won in the middle of the season. It was a big deal. We actually have two meetings scheduled with both their representatives this week as well. We’ll see how that goes, but I anticipate one of those guys being back and we’ll have to work through the dialogue with both their agents and see what makes sense for them and us.”

Henne might seem like a logical candidate to return. He’s been primary backup to Mahomes since he took over as the Chiefs’ starter, but Moore showed a lot of audacity coming out of retirement to play for this season. His risk of returning was worthwhile for both parties.

One thing is for certain, Veach and Reid still feel best having a veteran player in the quarterback room. They still have Kyle Shurmur under contract in 2020 and he should be in the mix if they decide to keep three quarterbacks. Don’t expect them to add a young and cheap quarterback to learn behind Mahomes via the draft.

Chiefs GM Brett Veach working toward bringing back DT Chris Jones

There still exist challenges ahead but Brett Veach wants Chris Jones to remain with the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Kansas City Chiefs have been consistent in their message: They want to keep pending free agent DT Chris Jones a member of the team.

General manager Brett Veach reiterated this notion to reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine on Tuesday afternoon. He also added that the franchise tag is still on the table for Jones.

“Listen, it’s certainly a priority for us,” Veach said of re-signing Jones. “Sometimes these things take some time to work through. The franchise tag is something that we have the ability to use. We certainly would like to see if we could work something out with him. I think the tandem of Chris Jones and Frank Clark is something any team would want, and we’re going to work hard and see if we can get that done.”

Obviously, the Chiefs face some obstacles in adding Jones. They’re projected with just over $16 million in salary-cap space for the 2020 season. Signing Jones on a long-term contract is the preference over the franchise tag based on Veach’s comments above. Negotiations appear to be moving along with no significant impasse at this time.

“They have been ongoing,” Veach explained of discussions with Jones’ camp. “We actually have a meeting scheduled up here in the next couple of days. We had dialogue last offseason, we had dialogue prior to the seasons start. Chris (Jones) did a great job of blocking all that out and really just tackling the season. He handled it like a true pro and know we have the opportunity once this cycle comes back around to pick up where those conversations left off. Hopefully, we can make some headway and get something done.”

Jones, who is set to become a free agent at the start of the new league year, is expected to command a big contract, possibly exceeding the top contract for a defensive tackle. Jones has expressed interest in wanting to stay in Kansas City, especially following the Super Bowl 54 win. So far both sides have laid all their cards on the table according to Veach, making for a very tenable negotiation.

“All dialogue is good dialogue,” Veach explained. “The last thing you want is for something to go awry because there just wasn’t enough communication. You can’t have enough dialogue, and like I said they’ve been very open and honest with us. We’ve handled the situation in a very similar fashion. We’re looking forward to sitting down with his agents this week and continuing to pick up.”

The NFL recently delayed the franchise tag period by a few days. We should still know within the coming weeks whether Jones will remain in Kansas City and if it’ll be via long-term deal or the franchise tag. Right now, things are looking good but how the meetings go with Jones’ representatives this week will be key.

“What transpires in the next few weeks or months is to be determined,” Veach said. “But certainly our goal and intent is to keep [Chris Jones] in Kansas City.”

6 takeaways from Chiefs GM Brett Veach’s appearance on ‘In the Trenches’ podcast

Veach joined “In the Trenches” to talk Super Bowl 54, DT Chris Jones, the 2020 NFL draft and the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis.

Kansas City Chiefs GM Brett Veach recently joined team reporter BJ Kissel on the “In the Trenches” podcast.

Veach provided Kissel with some post-Super Bowl quips, thoughts about pending free agent DT Chris Jones, the 2020 NFL draft and the upcoming NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. We’ll speak with Veach at the combine on Tuesday, but until then, this is the first we’ve heard from him since Super Bowl LIV.

You can watch the full interview at the top of the page. Below are some quick takeaways from what he spoke about on the podcast.

Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images

Chris Jones is a priority

Kissel didn’t hold back in his interview and asked if Veach could provide an update on Jones. While Veach didn’t exactly have an update to provide, the mindset is all about keeping as many players as possible.

“Chris is obviously a great player and he’s a priority,” Veach said. “We have a lot of priorities. Look, we know how hard it is to win a Super Bowl. It hadn’t been done in 50 years and we won it with the group we had last year. So I think that as we attack this offseason, first up its free agency before the draft, our goal and mindset is to do whatever we can to retain as many players as we can. And Chris (Jones) is at the top of that list because of the talent he is.”

It’s reassuring that Veach isn’t too keen on breaking the band up now that the Chiefs won a Super Bowl. He recognizes that this group of players was special (including Jones). He also wants to get them right back to Super Bowl LV next season.

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What does Super Bowl LIV win mean for Chiefs’ approach to free agency?

Some thoughts on how the Chiefs and Brett Veach will approach the 2020 free agency period.

The 2020 NFL free agency period is set to look a lot different for the Kansas City Chiefs this season. They’re Super Bowl champions for the first time in 50 years and with that success will come some changes to how the team approaches free agency. Below you’ll find some thoughts on what those changes might look like for Kansas City.

Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images

How do we sustain success?

Every offseason since 1970, the Chiefs decision-makers have come away asking themselves, “How do we get better?”

Why did they ask the question? Because they didn’t win the Super Bowl for 50 long painstaking years. This season, they finally get to ask themselves, “How do we sustain this success?”

Luckily, Brett Veach and Andy Reid already have some idea of what sustained success looks like. 2019 was their fourth consecutive season building an AFC West winner out of the Chiefs and their second consecutive season playing in the AFC title game. A lot of that success comes from the consistency with the coaching staff, a consistent flow of incoming talent on the offensive and defensive side of the ball, and it doesn’t hurt having the best player in football in QB Patrick Mahomes.

For 2020, there’s going to be a challenge with the talent part. The Chiefs have several key free agents, specifically on the defensive side of the ball. It’s looking, once again, like they’ll have to manufacture a bit of a defensive rebuild in Kansas City. They’ll also likely look to keep the offense loaded up with weapons, specifically at the WR position because the team loves running 11 personnel.

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