There has been a lot of speculation about Branden Albert moving to guard or right tackle since he was given the franchise tag. Since the Kansas City Chiefs have their choice of left tackles in the 2013 NFL draft, it would make some sense to move Albert to another position.

There are problems with moving Albert—namely his resistance to any move—that may foil the Chiefs’ plans. Albert either knows he’s a good left tackle or he knows that his earning power will be significantly reduced if he changes positions—especially if the Chiefs don’t offer him a long-term contract.

What the Chiefs end up doing with the No. 1 overall pick, Albert, and the rest offensive line boils down to one question: Is Branden Albert really an NFL left tackle?

What we are really asking here is if he’s a good NFL left tackle. If Albert is a good left tackle, the Chiefs would have no reason to draft one. If Albert isn’t a good left tackle, the Chiefs' plans to draft one wouldn’t be hindered, although they probably shouldn’t have put the franchise tag on him.

Read More »9

The Kansas City Chiefs announced the release of one of their biggest free-agent acquisitions of 2012 on Thursday. Right tackle Eric Winston started all 16 games for the Chiefs and made national news for scolding Chiefs fans who cheered when Matt Cassel was knocked from a game with a concussion.

While Winston may not have endeared himself to fans, he was a very good right tackle that the Chiefs may struggle to replace. John Dorsey and Andy Reid have made a flurry of moves recently, but the release of Winston leaves us with more questions than answers—especially when it comes to the construct of the offensive line.

The release of Winston is also the first time the Chiefs have subtracted from the roster. You would have figured Cassel would have been the first player released, but he remains on the roster for the time being. Perhaps the Chiefs are intentionally trying to mislead in hopes of trading down in the draft, because releasing Winston does not make a ton of sense.

Winston was not overly expensive and he was plenty productive last season. ProFootballFocus graded Winston as the second-best offensive player on the team last season and ninth-best right tackle in the league. Winston graded out equally well run-blocking and pass-blocking. The Chiefs averaged 5.1 yards per carry off right tackle and Winston allowed just four sacks.

Read More »16

The NFL doesn’t have guaranteed contracts, which is why every year teams rip them up to avoid paying too much for a player. Players understand the NFL is a business, but they don’t always like being the ones losing money. Who would?

According to Vic Lombardi of KCNC-TV in Denver, the Denver Broncos are asking Elvis Dumervil to take a pay cut. It’s not really a request; it’s an ultimatum. Take a pay cut or be cut because you aren’t worth what you are being paid. That seems harsh, which is why it can be so hard for players to agree to a reduced salary.

Many free agents find out the hard way that they really weren’t worth what their former team was paying them. If the Broncos were to release Dumervil because he refused a pay cut, he’d soon find that he isn’t nearly worth $12 million he will make in 2013.

Read More »43

The Kansas City Chiefs are one of the more unique teams in the league this year. Not only do the Chiefs have the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, but they also don’t have the glaring needs that you would expect a 2-14 team to have. The obvious needs had been quarterback, wide receiver, left tackle and defensive end, based on which players were guaranteed to be on the roster and not at risk of being cap casualties.

Even before the start of the new league year, the Chiefs have taken care of those issues to varying degrees. They traded for Alex Smith, re-signed Dwayne Bowe, franchise tagged Branden Albert and now have restructured Tyson Jackson’s contract.

Jackson’s new contract is worth “up to $5.2 million,” and he’s still a free agent in 2014, according to Bill Williamson’s report for ESPN. Put simply, Jackson agreed to take a pay cut that saves the Chiefs $12.27 million against the salary cap.

Whereas trading for Smith solved one big issue, re-signing Bowe solved half an issue and tagging Albert may or may not have solved anything, Jackson’s pay cut has solved multiple issues.

Read More »13

Rex Ryan famously guaranteed a Super Bowl in 2011, but the New York Jets stumbled to 8-8 and didn’t make the playoffs. Ryan Kalil said the Carolina Panthers would win Super Bowl XLVII and the team didn’t even qualify for the playoffs.

Making a Super Bowl guarantee dates back to Joe Namath, who guaranteed a victory in Super Bowl III three days before the game—the Jets won.

We all know that making a guarantee really isn’t a guarantee at all. Super Bowl promises are usually made by overconfident players and coaches. It’s also usually foolish to predict a victory because it’s so hard to win one. Rarely has a guarantee been made by a player on one of the best teams in the league.

So when Von Miller took to Twitter to make a guarantee that the Denver Broncos would win Super Bowl XLVIII, it would be easy to label him as foolish and overconfident. He's actually quite the opposite. Miller just voiced what every player on the team and fan that follows the team already expects.

Read More »13

The Oakland Raiders restructured the contract of right guard Mike Brisiel, according to Steve Corkran of the Bay Area News Group. Brisiel lowered his base salary from $4.35 million to $1.35 million, which gives the Raiders an additional $3 million in salary cap savings in 2013.

Brisiel saved the Raiders about the same amount of money by restructuring as he would have if the team had just released him. In return, Brisiel probably got some form of a guarantee.  After Richard Seymour’s deal voided, McKenzie started by restructured his biggest free-agent acquisition from a year ago, but there is still plenty of work to be done.

The Raiders are reportedly $1.5 million under the salary cap of $123 million salary cap after Brisiel’s restructuring. This is the first significant move the Raiders have made this offseason, and starts Year 2 of the great purge. In Reggie McKenzie’s first season as general manager he dumped Stanford Routt, Chris Johnson and Kamerion Wimbley for salary cap purposes.

The Raiders can gain additional cap space by releasing or restructuring the contracts of Carson Palmer, Tommy Kelly and Darrius Heyward-Bey. The Raiders could save $16.1 million by just releasing those players per spotrac.com figures, but should try to reduce their cap numbers with the goal of keeping them on a roster.

Read More »84

The Kansas City Chiefs were facing tough decisions following the 2012 NFL season, highlighted by the quarterback, left tackle and No. 1 wide receiver positions.

All three have now been resolved. 

The Chiefs traded for Alex Smith, agreed to a five-year contract extension with Dwayne Bowe and placed the franchise tag on Branden Albert, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN. They also re-signed Dustin Colquitt and made him the highest-paid punter in the league.

At least from the standpoint of personnel, the Chiefs are basically the same team they were in 2012 plus Alex Smith. In many ways, maintaining the talent on a roster is just as important as actually adding impact players. If you are constantly losing talent, you have to replace it.

Read More »53

A franchise left tackle used to be vitally important to building a good football team. Maybe that’s still true, but you wouldn’t know it from looking at the number of good left tackles hitting free agency this year.

Sam Baker, Branden Albert, Jermon Bushrod and Jake Long will all be free agents. Some of these players didn’t have a great year, but have in the past. Bryant McKinnie will also be a free agent as well as several good right tackles. The obvious question must be asked: Are franchise tackles as vital to success as they used to be, and should you pay top dollar to make sure you have one?

Considering the flood of left tackles to the market, you have to also wonder if the Broncos may want to re-think giving Ryan Clady the franchise tag. This is especially true since the quarterback for the next couple years will be Peyton Manning, who has thrived without a franchise left tackle for most of his career.

It seems like an easy decision to franchise Clady and try to sign him to a long-term deal to bring his cap number down. He’s one of the best left tackles in football, he had a great year and he’s fully healthy. He’s also going to cost a lot of money. If he doesn’t sign the most lucrative contract of all the free-agent tackles, it will be a surprise.

Read More »13