2 days ago
Chiefs' front office entering busy time ahead of regular season
In late July — just before departing for their training camp at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph — the Kansas City Chiefs made some front-office personnel moves, including promoting Chris Shea and Mike Bradway to become assistant general managers. They replace previous assistant GM Mike Borgonzi, who is now general manager of the Tennessee Titans.
Shea was previously the team's senior vice president of football operations and strategy, while Bradway had served as the Chiefs' senior director of player personnel. Both understudies to general manager Brett Veach spoke after Tuesday's practice, during a frantic time for any NFL front office.
While fans are largely ready to put the preseason behind them and get to the games that matter, exhibition games are crucial for scouting over 1,000 players who will become available later this month, when NFL rosters are trimmed from 90 to 53 players. Evaluations will continue past the Chiefs' preseason finale against the Chicago Bears on August 22.
'Our guys,' explained Bradway, 'from the first preseason game — the Hall of Fame game — throughout the preseason, each have a handful of teams that they're watching. They're probably watching 25 [or] 30 guys per team — mostly younger players, [but] maybe some young vets that they feel may be on the bubble that could potentially help maybe our 53, but also could be practice squad guys down the road.
'So they're tagging those guys in our system. Those are the guys that get funneled to myself, Chris, Veach and [director of player personnel] Tim Terry. Then we'll get together around the Bears game. We'll meet for a couple of days and kind of condense that list. Maybe there's only four or five guys that legitimately we might target.'
But acquiring those four or five players may prove difficult, because after playing in Super Bowl LIX, the Chiefs are ranked 31st on the league's waiver wire. This means that 30 other teams have the option to pick up a just-waived player before Kansas City can. While a lower waivers position is the envy of other teams, Bradway acknowledges that the Chiefs may need to be aggressive.
'Right now, we're talking to every team in the league,' he said. 'Myself and all our contacts, we're just gathering information now. Whether that would mean potentially trading for a guy — doing a player-for-player swap — [or] maybe there could be a guy that you think might be available to claim, we're going to be active.
'We're going to watch as much tape as possible. Maybe it just doesn't work out, but we're going to identify certain players that we think could help us down the road, and we'll see where it goes.'
Of course, not every move will be made after the roster cuts. In Saturday's preseason opener, the Chiefs lost safety Deon Bush and defensive end Janarius Robinson to serious injuries. After placing both on the Reserve/Injured list, the team signed defensive end Nate Matlack and running back Michael Wiley.
Shea spoke of the process for evaluating injury replacements.
'We're communicating with our pro department and just getting a quick list together of street for agents — maybe three, four, five guys that we'll bring him for a workout pretty quickly,' he explained. 'Just get them on a plane, get them here, work them out and hopefully sign one of them. So it's kind of a group effort just identifying certain street free agents. They could be guys that just got cut [or] guys that maybe been in the UFL. So, there's certainly a process to kind of get those names together.'
Many Chiefs fans, however, have their eyes on a bigger offseason question: will the Chiefs agree to a contract extension with star cornerback Trent McDuffie before the season starts? For his part, McDuffie appeared unconcerned, striking an optimistic tone during a training camp interview with Kay Adams on Monday.
While Shea would not comment on negotiations with McDuffie, he is happy that the team has been able to get new deals for right guard Trey Smith and defensive end George Karlaftis.
'We were very excited to be able to get both of those contracts done,' he said. 'Zooming out to the big picture, one of the core operating principles we have that Veach has adopted as the general manager here — and it goes all the way up to ownership — is that we want to draft well and retain our own players to the maximum extent possible that's feasible within our constraints. We were very happy to get both of those guys done as important starters on both offense and defense.'
Whether a McDuffie contract is feasible within those constraints will depend on the team's financial situation in 2025, but also in the seasons to come.
'We always try to keep a three-year glimpse into the future,' said Shea, 'as to how all different moving parts affect our available resources, so that as we have individual transactions with a player (or a negotiation with an individual player and agent), those have to fit into the bigger picture. We're trying to manage our resources, be [they] draft picks or money — both cash and cap money — to best sustain our championship roster.
'It's not always easy, but having that three-year perspective — and sometimes it's really a two-year perspective because three years can be a blank canvas — is very important to our decisions.'
