'Green, Red and Black' - Chiefs Week 1 Free Agency Recap | Defending The Kingdom

Voice of the Chiefs, Mitch Holthus and senior team reporter, Matt McMullen recap the moves made by Kansas City in Week 1 of NFL Free Agency.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The NCAA has trademark on the term march madness or
March Mayhem, but there has to be something to describe
the maniacal march that the NFL has with free agent frenzy.
That's where we're going today because it's either green, red
or black, who's gained to the chiefs, who have been

(00:23):
lost by the chiefs, and who has been kept by
the chiefs. And that's where we go on this edition
of Defending the Kingdom keeps it on an RPO at
the five, it's a lead plot. He goes into the
hands on his side, chucks down chunesa sitting how everyone,
I'm a tolda's voice of the Chiefs. This, of course
brought to you by Ticketmaster, your friend, for twelve months

(00:45):
for every event that you can find and need tickets for.
And I'm joined by senior team reporter Matt McMullen. Okay,
the so called and get I just start chuckling when
I heard the legally tampering Monday and Tuesday before the
league year begins. And by the way, happy New Year,
because as we tape this, it is New Year's Day

(01:06):
of the new National Football League year. All right, So
the two days prior to that, you can kind of
start free agency, but there's some rules there. But wait
a minute, I didn't know Sunday open the gates for
like twenty major things to happen even before the legal
tampering started.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
It's also confusing. The way it used to be was
the new league year started, and nothing can technically take
place until the league year turns over. So when you
see like Schefter and Rapaport and all these people tweeting
about moves, well, technically nothing can actually happen until the
league year begins. And it used to be when the
league year began, like the first minute of it, all

(01:45):
these deals were done and then they created the legal
tampering period. But now the way it works, even though
Wednesday is the day the league year begins, now Monday
when the legal tampering period begins, within like two minutes,
everyone has a deal signed. So I don't know if
ever a solution to it. It's difficult for us because
all these things are happening and we can't technically talk
about it or react to it. And that's the funny

(02:07):
thing with this. We're shooting this on Wednesday. I'm sure
a major thing will happen between now and whenever this posts.
But yeah, it's the life that we live.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
And Sunday, literally two dozen things happen Sunday. It's crazy
and it's like, wait a minute, when did Sunday start everything?
And it is just pretty it's nuts with free agency,
but that's the National Football League world. Can't wait some
agents posting something and then that gets everybody going, or
an insider takes the word of an agent and puts

(02:37):
something out there even though you can't officially comment on it.

Speaker 2 (02:41):
But and there's scary stuff with it too, like this
doesn't happen that often, but occasionally something gets reported and
then the player changes their mind or they fail a physical,
or something happens where there's a reason teams can't actually
talk about things until they're official, because before they're official,
they haven't happened yet. There's a couple times over the
last several years where it gets reported a deal is

(03:03):
going to happen, everyone gets excited, and then all of
a sudden, it doesn't happen.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
But it's been crazy ever since, really even prior to Sunday,
but starting with Sunday, it has been nuts up until
this point and will remain so, and we're going to
go around the world. We're going to do that too,
because even free agent frenziness doesn't stop us getting in
the space station and going around the Earth. But one
thing is I've noticed too, and this is a trend

(03:30):
of the last couple of years, but especially with the
salary cap increasing and increasing more than maybe anticipated by some,
the fact that the attempt in the ability to keep
players has had more priority than ever before. And football
is a sport like that. It's why I get concerned
about NIL and collegiate football and then those players that

(03:52):
are coming out of that space that come into the
NFL space, because football is one that is not instant
oatmeal some position since kind of. But really, when you
look at the trenches, offensive lineman, defense, we talk about
how complicated SPAGS is a defensive system is we know
that the offense has over eight hundred plays in this system.
The fact that it is complicated, it takes time. I

(04:15):
can't just walk right in and have everything all figured out.
And so we have seen teams that have invested now
in players, time, coaching, and some money in some instances
want to keep those players. And we've seen it with
the Chiefs. We'll get into that here in a second,
but I do think that's a phenomenon of our current
state because the cap has moved up, and that space

(04:37):
in the cap moving up has really led to retention
and more players than before.

Speaker 2 (04:42):
Yeah, and thank goodness for that, because I'm in a
couple of years ago, I think we had this offseason
circle saying there's no way we can keep Nick Bolton,
Tray Smith and Creed Humphrey. There's no way, right, Really,
the three cornerstones from the twenty twenty one draft class, Well,
what do you know, the cap goes up, you move
some things around, and all three players are staying here
in Kansas City. A similar question will if the tackle

(05:03):
next offseason with a twenty twenty two draft class. I mean,
a draft class that was transformative for this franchise in
so many ways, so many impact players in that class.
That's for another day to worry and to talk about that.
But yeah, I mean the cap going up is a
great thing, and I think for the front office, you
always project it to be at a certain level and

(05:23):
you're kind of modest with that. You don't expect too much,
and then when it goes up, even higher than you expected.
It's a bonus and it leads to more transactions and
the ability to do more things, and in this case,
the ability to retain players that maybe you thought you
might lose and now they're coming back.

Speaker 1 (05:38):
And really for the league, it's good, not just the Chiefs,
but the other thirty one teams. The more you can
retain of people that are core players, I think the league.
It's better for the league, it's better for the fan
bases of all thirty one teams. And so yeah, we
all kind of get all fired up about free agency
and players moving around. We've even seen at the collegiate
ranks those who are able to keep some continuity in

(05:59):
the crazy world live NAL or the teams right now
that are the best in college basketball or had the
success during college football season. That being said, and before
we get into the Green, red, Black, let's jump in
the space station and go around the globe.

Speaker 2 (06:13):
Before we do. Speaking of college basketball, have you forgiven
me yet for wearing the Arizona State shirt to the
Big Twelve Tournament in the k State game. Yes, are
we going to tell the story here?

Speaker 1 (06:22):
Because trust is a big thing in the National Football League.

Speaker 2 (06:26):
We know that we talk about it all the time.

Speaker 1 (06:27):
It's part of the culture here in the Chiefs Kingdom's
why we've been able to win for twelve years. Primarily
I talk about it publicly when I speak really across
the country, and that is the respect level that goes
top to bottom and the side to side. But human
nature and the desire to sell.

Speaker 2 (06:42):
Out, oh, can't affect everyone.

Speaker 1 (06:46):
So when someone sells out on you, like, okay, I'll
try to deal with it. So but we have things
in place here. We have the counseling and I can
defend myself here.

Speaker 2 (06:54):
Our social media director, Alex Mary shout out to Alex
is an Arizona State Sun Devil and she wanted to
go to the Big Twelve Tournament. I think it's hilarious that, like,
Arizona State is now a Big twelve school. Didn't think
I'd ever say that, but they are, and they're playing
in the Big twelve Tournament here in Kansas City. They're
not very good, but she was going to go alone
to the game. Told me this a couple of weeks ago,

(07:14):
and I'm like, I'll go with you. And she's like,
what if I buy you a shirt? Will you wear
the shirt. I'm like, yeah, and I'll get super into it.
Didn't expect to be playing Case State in the first round,
and I mean I support Case State. I root for
Case State. It felt weird.

Speaker 1 (07:26):
Some of your best friends are case Staters, even going
all the way back to high school.

Speaker 2 (07:28):
Oh yeah, and shout out Tim Bouchet. But yeah, I
went to the game with a bunch of case Staters
and then just me and Alex wearing ASU gear. I
felt gross doing it. He was in a suite just
looking at me. Thumbs down, hand forkstone. Yeah yeah, k
State one.

Speaker 1 (07:42):
I mean, unless you send Arizona State. So I think
of Dan Sally MoU as some other Arizona State chiefs
back in the day. Yeah, sure, but if you send us,
I shouldn't even say this might be tampering.

Speaker 2 (07:52):
Send us Cam scatter Bow.

Speaker 1 (07:54):
I'm good with it all, Draff Pick, It's all good.

Speaker 2 (07:56):
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (07:57):
And so if we get Cam, who's a monster, by
the way, he can just take games over, like my
game game over. Uh then no yah? Yeah that and
you can even wear the shirt in case I haven't
burned it by them, But that's okay forks down. Arizona
State loses, Yeah, and you and you notice that the

(08:17):
throng of Arizona State fans are at the game.

Speaker 2 (08:19):
Well, there was three of them. There was Alex, me
and then one other.

Speaker 1 (08:22):
Guy when the guy I saw the one guy on
the big board.

Speaker 2 (08:24):
I was expecting to be on the big board just
you know, doing this.

Speaker 1 (08:26):
You know what I didn't expect were so many people
coming up and going, Matt mcgollan, okay, and a fork's
up shirt like he's an Arizona State sun devil. I go,
he's you know, we all have her price. Yeah, and
your wife, bless her heart, was neutral, right.

Speaker 2 (08:39):
She's neutral. Yeah, she just wore like just like black,
just neutral. But she was written for Case State.

Speaker 3 (08:44):
She loves KSE State too well anyway, that support Case
State that night, that being said, you're fine, that being said, yes,
chiefs Kingdom, folks, because we all know the allegiances of
colleges that are vast and varied.

Speaker 1 (08:58):
Who are one watching listening to this episode, And yes,
we're proud of all of our colleges, no matter the level,
just not Arizona State.

Speaker 2 (09:06):
But that's okay, a thousand miles away.

Speaker 1 (09:08):
Let's let's steak in a thousand miles away. Let's go
ten thousand miles away and let's get into the stratosphere
and fly around the globe.

Speaker 2 (09:14):
Let's do it just for today. So shout out to
Bobby at High Ve. Ran into Bobby when I was
checking out over the weekend.

Speaker 1 (09:21):
Bobby's awesome. I don't Bobby. Yeah, that's way cool. Yeah
you met Bobby before? Oh yeah, okay, many times. He's
a mission hive. He knows, he knows stuff. Yeah, when
you know, some fans will go, hey, what about blah blah.
You're like, no, that really doesn't know. He'll like know,
like have you been talking to the beach. So, yeah,
Bobby's and he moves around a lot. He's like the
utility player at that High Ve. Okay, yeah, he'll be

(09:41):
in center field one day, then he's at short stuff
and Bobby's catching.

Speaker 2 (09:45):
Well. Yeah, we had a nice little football chat. It
was fund Shout out to Susie in Wichita. Can't remember
if we talked about my Wichita trip on here that
I went on a few weeks ago. But I went
to witch To a few weeks ago. I loved it.
I'd never really spent a lot of time there, but
there was a lot to do, bounced around to us
some restaurants and breweries, went to the Tanganika Wildlife Park,
which is awesome. So I had a great time in Wichitas.

(10:07):
So shout out to you, Susie. And what was the animal?
You had? Time? With? A kapy barra? I had like
an animal encounter with a kapy barra. It was awesome.
It was so much fun.

Speaker 1 (10:15):
Are you thinking about having a kapy bar as a pet? Now?

Speaker 2 (10:17):
I think that's against the law. Oh but that's matter.
If I could, that'd be great. And until then I'll
just do it. What would Pip think of the Pip
would not be happy about the kapy bar Pip we
even talked about getting another dog, and we we've twitter
around with that idea, and we wondered, does want any
someone taking away the attention? I don't think so. I
don't know. Pippy war in Arizona State T shirt, so

(10:39):
who knows? It's true? I guess I'll sell out.

Speaker 1 (10:41):
Stay stay close, stay close to La Pip.

Speaker 2 (10:45):
You never know. Bruce is in Cookson, Oklahoma? You know
where that is? No?

Speaker 1 (10:49):
I do not, Okay, neither do I. Somebody to find
that out here we come, there'll be ten thousand people don't.

Speaker 2 (10:56):
Oh my gosh, you guys are idiots. Then lastly, I
heard from in New London, Missouri.

Speaker 1 (11:02):
New London. I know that. No, whe's New London, Missouri.
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (11:05):
Look it up more homework.

Speaker 1 (11:06):
Okay, there we go.

Speaker 2 (11:07):
Well, I met Julie and her husband Dan at the
pro Shop before the Super Bowl, and then she reached
out again. So shout out to you both. It was
great talkings and football with you. We'll find out where
New London is. But anyway, it's all I got today.

Speaker 1 (11:18):
If you look up New London, I'm gonna look up Cookson, Oklahoma. Okay,
because this is this is scintillating. Uh, we have to know, well,
we do have to know, and it's you know, this
is such great podcast material.

Speaker 2 (11:31):
Okay, New London is. Uh let's see, it's part of
the Hannibal micropolitan Okay, statistical area.

Speaker 1 (11:40):
So it's Highway thirty six, Quincy, Hannibal.

Speaker 2 (11:43):
It's like north of Saint Louis.

Speaker 1 (11:44):
Yeah, it's up there the Mississippi River. Okay, that's a
beautiful country. Actually, Highway thirty six, which goes through Smith Center,
my hometown. Now Cookson looks like it is in the
uh Okay, it's in the Lake region of Oklahoma. Okay,
near tell's.

Speaker 2 (12:01):
What's the population? Does it say? Uh no, But we're
gonna look that up. Population of New London is ninety
three Wikipedia. You'd love it.

Speaker 1 (12:08):
I got you eight twenty six for cooks and oh
you have me beat?

Speaker 2 (12:11):
All right, yep, all right, we'll go on the road.
We'll check out New London.

Speaker 1 (12:14):
We'll be out of Telequah and check out.

Speaker 2 (12:18):
Yeah. Now we know, all right, I haven't been sleeping
a whole lot with this free agency news if you
can't tell, but here we go. It's nuts. Literally, it
blows you.

Speaker 1 (12:27):
Even while if we're at the game, stuff was blowing
up like the phone just with the Ravens. So one
thing that Matt and I do is try to track
this as close as we can. And things are color coded.
H and if you know me well enough, you know,
like my whole life is color coded. But there is green, red,

(12:47):
and black. Now green is who you gain keep track
of all thirty two teams, and red is who you lose.
Although I love the color red, in this instance it's
and then black is who you keep. So it's it's
through the off season is this player of green, red
or black? And for the all thirty two teams do this,
we chart them all and in your spreadsheet. By the

(13:10):
time you like power off your computer, it's like coutdated.
It's five things, just yeah, and you've got it updated.
You're like, all right, all right, it's updated.

Speaker 2 (13:18):
And then.

Speaker 1 (13:20):
It's like, oh my gosh, I have to spend another
half hour updating it.

Speaker 2 (13:23):
It's nuts. Yeah, it is. I mean, just trying to
keep track of all this stuff. It's the great thing
about the league and the way it's designed is this
time of year for every single team, like Hope does
truly spring eternal, where if you're a team that didn't
win a lot of games last year, this time of
year is like the best because you're seeing the different
players that might help you win. I look at the Patriots,

(13:44):
for example, had a bad year last year, but they're
on like a spending frenzy. And if you're a Patriots fan,
it's exciting right now because you can project how the
team's going to look next year with some new pieces.
For the Chiefs, we know that there's some areas that
this team could get better. And still a bad taste
in our mouth from the Super Bowl. Well, how do
you respond to that? We win a lot here, we

(14:05):
all know that, but how can you be even better
next year? And we're going to talk about the moves
that we've made. But I'm pretty excited about this offseason.
It's not getting a lot of buzz nationally because these
guys aren't like signing one hundred million dollar contracts, But
in terms of the players that we've acquired and the
players that we've kept in a lot of ways, I
think we're in great shape for the draft to take
truly the best players available. You never want to go

(14:26):
into the draft saying we have to take so and
so in the first round. It's not a good strategy.
And the Chiefs, because of what they've done in free
agency so far, I think we're in a really good
spot right now to truly attack the draft and just
take the best players that fall to us. And I'm
going to call an audible.

Speaker 1 (14:40):
Usually we go in the green, red, black sequence, but
let's start with the black because your point, excuse me,
brings up a good point here of who we've been
able to keep. Sure, of course, if it everly knows, Trey
Smith got the non exclusive franchise tag that means twenty
three point four million as it stands now against the
cap in twenty twenty five. That's guaranteed, but they does

(15:01):
open up the opportunity to make a long term deal. Basically,
it's the one trump card a team has where someone
wants to take your cards and you can lay down
like an UNO the draw four card or a skip
card and you put it down and they can't touch
that player. And Trey Smith is that player currently for
the Kansas City Chiefs. I think it's a big move

(15:24):
because we also know disciples have left this building and
or we can think of three teams where they're right
there at Carolina Panthers being one, right, and also the
Tennessee Titans and the Chicago Bears, and all three of them.
When we were at the Super Bowl, ask all kinds
of questions, and you were there, we were in radio

(15:45):
row and then questioning, hey, what do you think about
the game, and it's not you. I don't have a
chance to answer, and then they go what do you
think about Tray Smith? And so he had all this interest.
You knew somebody was going to come. Trey Smith wants
to stay here. He is such a big piece of
this team more than what he does on the field.
He's only twenty five, gonna be twenty six right in there.

(16:05):
This move was protection to keep Tray Smith in the
building and to be a chief and to have his
career move on with this franchise.

Speaker 2 (16:14):
And it gets back to what you were saying earlier
that you make an investment in Trey Smith. And I
mean in so many ways, he might have been like
the steal of the twenty twenty one draft getting a
guy like that in the sixth round, and now as
it stands, with this franchise tag, he's the highest paid
per year basis guard in NFL history. You take a
player like that, you develop them, you want to keep

(16:34):
him around, and we'll see how these negotiations go. But
Trey has just been like the perfect guy to have
in this system where he just buys in fully. He's
an amazing teammate, awesome guy off the field, and a
really good player on the field. At the same time,
I remember when I was going out of town to
Colorado to go visit Ellie's family during around the OTAs,

(16:57):
and at that point Kyle Long was going to be
our right guy and we love Kyle. Kyle's an awesome
guy and he stays kind of in tune with the
Chiefs Kingdom. But you called me and you said, Kyle
Long got hurt, and you're like, we're going to see
what Tray Smith has And wow, I mean think about that.
Four years ago, had no idea that this guy was
going to develop into a Pro Bowl, all Pro caliber
right guard. And yeah, hopefully we can keep him here

(17:17):
in Kansas City, and using the franchise tag on him,
said a lot about what this front office thinks of him,
because the way the franchise tag works, it's not just
the guards who you're looking at their salaries and coming
to an average, it's offensive linemen and that includes tackles
who are making a ton of money. So yeah, I
said a lot about what this front office thinks of
Trey Smith and hopefully we keep him around for a

(17:38):
long time.

Speaker 1 (17:38):
And that's a flaw in the system to me A
little bit is a fact that. But especially a linebacker,
right because edge guys are thrown in sometimes a linebacker
I just called an edge guy aligned.

Speaker 2 (17:48):
Mica Parsons, Yeah he is a linebacker.

Speaker 1 (17:51):
Come on, dud, But yes, it's a flaw in the
system where it needs to be the way we look
at the draft now where we break that down even further.
But going back to Trey Smith, people have said because
the tackles, obviously, particularly left tackle premium position, but in
this offense, those interior three positions are highly important. They're
asked to do everything. This team runs a lot of

(18:13):
power O stuff, meaning it's pulling from guard to guard,
inside pulls, the fact of timing and set up on screens.
It's not just drive ahead blocking on leads or ISOs.
They're asked a zone block in side zone, outside zone
timing on screens.

Speaker 2 (18:30):
He's very athletic.

Speaker 1 (18:31):
Trey Smith is more athletic than he's given credit for,
and I think that the league knows, but I think
from a fandom standpoint to go, well, he was a
six round draft pick and another pet peeve of mine.
It does not matter where you were drafted or even
drafted at all. It's what you've shown in your career.
And we have seen enough all pro level from Tray
Smith to know that it's not just being a leader

(18:53):
and a great guy in the locker room. This is
a highly skilled offensive lineman who fits this offense.

Speaker 2 (18:58):
And what's Brett Vich always say quickst way to the
quarterback is straight ahead. And when you have the best
quarterback in the league and Patrick Mahomes, you want to
make sure that he is protected across the offensive line.
We're going to talk about the offensive tackle position here
in a minute. But keeping a guy like Trey Smith
who's one of the best in the business at his craft,
and he's young. How old is he twenty five? Twenty five?
I mean a whole career ahead of him, only going
to get better. I mean, those are the kind of

(19:19):
players you want to keep in town, for sure.

Speaker 1 (19:21):
No question. The other one is Nick Bolton and getting
to stay and you and I had a lot of
discussions between the two of us, and when you watch
things happen, it kind of man, this is I don't
know if this is going to work or is if
Nick Bolton can be resigned, but to get him back
and what the Chiefs have done here one again, there's

(19:42):
more than meets the eye for Trey Smith. There's more
than meets the eye in the way that that right
guard position is so vital to this offense. Because it's
not something we watch a lot when we're watching a
game unless you review the video after a game. For
Nick Bolton, we know how skilled he is amassing all
these tackles. He's a great tackler, but the fact that
he's the green dot and the valedictorian of this defense

(20:03):
in many ways, you can't necessarily easily replace that guy,
especially in Steve Spagnolo's system.

Speaker 2 (20:10):
So you and I love stats. We love stats. I've
made it like my whole career. But Nick Bolton's the
kind of player that the stats just don't tell the
full story. And the one thing I keep thinking about
with Nick, and I'm so glad that he's back, is
how he's the quarterback of this defense. And we have
examples of this about how it makes a difference. And
we had Trent McDuffie on this podcast during the season

(20:31):
and he gave an awesome example because Trent in Super
Bowl fifty eight, if you go back to that game,
it's kind of a forgotten play, which it shouldn't be
because it saved the game. But the Niners are facing
like third and five driving, they're in a field goal
range already, and it's right before the two minute warning,
and Trent comes on a quarterback Blitz brought Party's pass.

(20:51):
It's knocked down by Trent because he was in the
perfect spot. The Niners kicked the field goal. We know
what happened. Next, Mahomes goes down the field, ties the game.
We went in overtime already completed that pass. Or if
they get a first down, the Niners are going to
win the game because they're going to milk the clock
all the way down to one second, kick a field goal,
I guess unless Moody missed it, but they're going to
kick field goal, probably win. And we're going to look

(21:11):
back at that and say, wow, we lost the Super Bowl.
We want it because of that play and many others,
but that play in particular, and Trent told us Nick
Bolton called that play. We called time out right beforehand.
Nick Bolton saw something and he called that play, and
Steve Bagnolo trusted him. Without Nick Bolton, who knows what
happens on that play, who knows what happens in that
Super Bowl. We have a ring on our finger because

(21:32):
of that play in so many ways, and Nick Bolton
is the reason that happened. So there's a bunch of
examples of things like that that we don't know about
that We never learn about because we just see the
end result of a play. But Nick Bolton is so
vialable to this defense because he is an extension of
Steve Bagnolo on the field, and you cannot quantify that
such an excellent point.

Speaker 1 (21:51):
We see the physical skills of a Trey Smith or
a Nick Bolton, but what is not easily apparent or
those inside stories of what they mean in every facet
of this football team on and off the field. So
to get and go into twenty twenty five with Nick
Bolton and Trey Smith on this team is a big deal.
The other one is Hollywood Brown. The rocket never left

(22:12):
this launching pad. We saw it in Saint Joseph. You
and I were so excited about, Oh my gosh, a
triumvirent of Hollywood Brown and Xavier Worthy and Rashie Rice
never saw it, and the rocket never took off. And
Hollywood Brown gets hurt in Jacksonville in the first preseason
game basically in his first touch, and only nine catches
in the very end of the regular season, thirteen targets

(22:35):
and five catches in the playoffs. That's it. So we
were both thinking, are we not even going to see this. Ever,
it's like having a Hey, a great movie is going
to be shown to me, and they leave the theater
before you even get there. So I'm excited to see
what Hollywood Brown can do a year into the system,
already having a training camp and his ability to team up.

(22:55):
We'll see what goes on with Rashie Rice, his recovery
and everything else. But the fact that Xavier Worthy and
Hollywood Brown can be together should get all the Chiefs
Kingdom fired up.

Speaker 2 (23:05):
I'm such a Hollywood Brown fan, and I was devastated
when he got hurt in the preseason. But for him
to come back and really change everything on offense, he
changed everything. The offense had a whole different vibe when
he was out there late in the year, specifically against
Houston and against Pittsburgh. Just the offense had more juice
to it, I felt like, and just more options. It
was more diversified. A couple of plays that come to mind.

(23:27):
How about the fourth down conversion against the Texans in
the regular season game that was his first catch as
a member of the Chiefs and just a little underneath
shallow crosser, but Hollywood Brown, his quickness underneath his playmaking ability.
He can make that play when maybe others can't. Another
one was against the Steelers on Christmas. So it was
a six point game, I think, and it was early

(23:48):
in the third quarter. We just gotten called for holding,
I think. So it's like second and seventeen. It's like, oh, man,
here we go. We're gonna have to punt and Steelers
will go down and make it a game. Well, Mahomes
found Hollywood on a underneath crosser again, like twenty yards
first down, and it's like, oh, well, there we go,
fresh set of downs. Hollywood is so good underneath because
of his quickness and his agility and also as a

(24:10):
deep threat. Saw that against I think the Texans later
in the year in the playoff game. He couldn't hang on,
but it was right there. He's a dynamic player who
can do so much in this offense and cannot wait
till finally after more than a year of waiting to
see him and Rashi and Xavier on the field at
the same time.

Speaker 1 (24:25):
And what we saw in those two crossing routes you
alluded to, and I remember seeing it in real time
and then going back and reviewing the video. His ability
to be a precise route runner.

Speaker 2 (24:34):
Precise, Yeah, and to.

Speaker 1 (24:35):
Run crossers, to run post, to run the push fade.
That's a big part of this offense. The slice route
that I love that Xavier Worthy got down later in
the year.

Speaker 2 (24:45):
It is a.

Speaker 1 (24:45):
Testimony to the precision the steps you have to make.
So those of you like to dance, I mean there's
steps one, two, three, four, five, six, that's the same
it is with the receiver. And when you can do
it without thinking and you know the depth of your
route and where to run it, especially where the defense
is playing you, it's again something that is a learn trait,

(25:05):
even for the most skilled of players. And the fact
that Hollywood Brown is such a precise route runner just
excites me to see where he can go from here.

Speaker 2 (25:13):
Because both of those plays, if you go back and
watch him, Kelse is the reason they opened up.

Speaker 1 (25:18):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (25:18):
But if Hollywood was too fast out of his break,
or wasn't fast enough, or just didn't time it correctly,
neither play works. And especially the one against the Steelers,
you see him time it just perfectly in the zone defense.
So yeah, we could talk for hours about Hollywood, but
so excited that he's back and happy for him. Too,
because he wants to be a part of this. He
signed here for a reason, wanted to come here and
have a big year of Patrick Mahomes. It was taken

(25:40):
away from him. It's a testament to him that he
fought back and was able to play late in the year.
But he deserves a full season in this offense and
we're going to get it.

Speaker 1 (25:48):
Hopefully the rocket launches, because it really never left the
pad last year. So black, if you're looking at the Raiders,
it is not a good color for the Chiefs Kingdom,
but for us in way that we look at the
off season and where we categories categorize these players, black
can be a very good color in March, April, and May,
and so we like, that's where we're starting instead of

(26:10):
making third in the sequence. So let's jump out out
of green. Green means go and green means gain. So
who did you gain so far? And we'll start and
do this in order Jalen Moore to get him from
the forty nine ers. Interesting selection. The left tackle market
and free agency not vast. When you look at the draft,
it's like almost every year where you get okay who's

(26:33):
ready to start at left tackle, which is a premium spot.
And even if you start at the tackle position in
this league, look at the Chargers, what Rashaun Slater had
to go through or Joe Altz, there's still a steep
learning curve for the most penny. So well, these guys,
there's still it's not instant they're going to go out
there and become Anthony Munhos right away. All right. All
that being said, for the Chiefs to get Jalen Moore

(26:55):
from the forty nine Ers was a significant move and
work to be done, but you get the basically the
backup left tackle for the forty nine ers. Oh, by
the way, he backed up one of the best left
tackles to play in recent years.

Speaker 2 (27:08):
I've been thinking about this, and you make a good
point about how even when you take a guy in
the top ten, there's always a learning curve. What are
the two ways to find a left tackle in the NFL?
Generally speaking, it's be really bad and picking the top
ten and find a guy like Rashaun Slater or Joe
Wall or to be lucky and to have one of
the best left tackles in the league, hit free agency,

(27:29):
which rarely happens, and then to pay that guy a
ton of money, which is difficult, especially when you're a
team like the Chiefs that has a lot of good
players that are making a lot of money. It's hard
to find that guy because those are the two main
ways to do it, and the Chiefs are rarely in
a position to do either. You like Moneyball the movie,
I'm okay with it.

Speaker 1 (27:46):
I think it's overrated, really, yeah, only because the A's
didn't really do anything. They had a long winning streak
and then, oh my god, Moneyball is such a genius.
Where's the championships?

Speaker 2 (27:55):
Well, they lost in the divisional round.

Speaker 1 (27:56):
Yeah, they lost in the divisional round. They didn't even
get to they didn't want to.

Speaker 2 (28:00):
Pennant and then they the twentieth game that they wanted
to row against, which is hilarious.

Speaker 1 (28:06):
The movie's funny. I mean, so there's the Royals, right,
the old unis.

Speaker 2 (28:10):
Exactly Jason Grimsley. And yeah, anyway, I think the movie
makes some great points though, and I read the book.
I love the book. It's all about market inefficiencies and
taking advantage of those. And even though the A's didn't
win the World Series, they still found a way to
compete with teams like the Yankees, who were paying teams
a lot more money. Well, I look at this situation,
what's a market inefficiency that we can target to try

(28:31):
to find a left tackle for this team? And this
might be a way to do it, because, like you said,
jillen Moore was Trent Williams backup in San Francisco. Trent
Williams is one of the greatest left tackles of all time,
so he learned from Trent Williams. Uh And also when
he was put into action, he played pretty well. So
looking that last year specifically, he had five starts when
Williams was hurt, only allowed nine pressures and one sack,

(28:54):
one hundred and forty four pass blocking snaps in those
five starts, and he played against some good teams in
those games, teams like the Rams, the Bills, and the Packers.
So where's the market inefficiency in this Well, Jillen Moore
was not going to get an opportunity to be the
full time starter at left tackle in San Francisco because
they have Trent Williams on their team. So he's not
getting a ton of attention nationally because he's not playing

(29:15):
a whole lot. But when he played, he played well.
Played well in their system, and I think this is
kind of a savvy move by the Chiefs to identify
a player like that, to say, hey, this guy played
really well. He was blocked in San Francisco because Trent
Williams was there but had an opportunity to learn from
this player. Let's give him an opportunity here and see
if he can build on that progress, build him that success.
And he's still young, so I like the move for

(29:36):
those reasons. He is to come here and prove it
and earn that spot, But at least so far, I
think this is pretty savvy by the Chiefs to do this,
rather than maybe paying a guy a ton of money
elsewhere who is okay but not great. You kind of
know what he is. We don't necessarily know what Jyllen
Moore is. But there's a lot of upside there, a
lot of potential there, so I'm excited about it.

Speaker 1 (29:56):
I don't think the Chiefs are done there as well.
I think there could be more that could have and
at that position or even along the offensive line.

Speaker 2 (30:04):
Not a lot of snaps.

Speaker 1 (30:05):
Eight hundred and twenty seven snaps in four years, so
it's basically three games a year. You mentioned thrust into
the battle last year with with Trent William's injury. To me,
this is a and I know he's a guard, but
to me, the comp here is Nick Allegretty. Nick Callagretti
was a starting caliber player who couldn't start for the
Kansaity Chiefs, but the Chiefs used him a lot of

(30:27):
tackle over tackle. You go six offensive linemen which are
seeing more and more that she used a lot against
the Chiefs then, and that's you know, that's what he
did for the forty nine ers. He was some tackle
over tackle, just like Nick Callagretti did. But when Nick
had the opportunity, moves on.

Speaker 2 (30:43):
Nick.

Speaker 1 (30:44):
Proud of you, buddy. And the Commanders look like an
up and coming team. But Nick became a starter, a
leader on that team. So here we go with Jalen
Moore and the chance where okay, maybe he's a Nick
Callagretty here getting his shot.

Speaker 2 (31:00):
He's played behind elite.

Speaker 1 (31:01):
Player getting a chance to be a part of an
offense in a group. And again, Andy Heck is a
great teacher. There's this classroom session starts like right away, yeah,
as quickly as you can. Man. It's like, Jalen, you're
going to class. I know everybody else is on vacation.
You're going to be as long as the NFLPA will
allow it. At the earliest boom, you're dude, get your

(31:23):
iPad open. And then Corey Mattai. People don't know about
Corey as much, but he works with the tackles a lot,
and he's the understudy working with Andy. Heck a lot
of work to be done there, but there's upside. I
think the most exciting thing is there could be incredible
upside here.

Speaker 2 (31:38):
There really could be. And the Allegarty komp is a
good one because I think about the playoffs a couple
of years ago, Joe Toney tears his pack against the Bills.
I mean, for how many teams would that just doom everything?
You have to go play the Ravens and the forty
nine ers and those defensive interiors without Joe Toney. Well,
Al Gretty steps in and played really well and was
a big reason that we won the Super Bowl that year.

(31:59):
Kind Of a similar deal for Jalen Moore, not in
the playoffs, but in an instance where he had to
step in for one of the greatest left tackles of
all time, and he played really well and he took
advantage of his opportunity. Okay, that's great. Now you're here.
Keep building on that. And you have a great opportunity
here in Kansas City. How can you grow into an
even better player than you were in San Francisco. He's

(32:19):
going to have a shot here to show us what
he can do.

Speaker 1 (32:21):
We'll do these then sequentially, because next would be Elijah Mitchell.
And excuse me, we've played the forty nine ers a lot.
We've talked about that, and so there's more of a
study here of Elijah Mitchell than a normal NFC team.
And Elijah Mitchell win healthy was explosive and I remember
getting ready for the forty nine Ers looking at Elijah

(32:42):
Mitchell and his game going, oh, this guy could be
something else. Nine touchdowns rushing in twenty seven games. Get
your opinion or get your attention. Also a touchdown receiving.
When he came out of the University of Louisiana, it
was was a sixth round pick, but then all of
a sudden, he started to make a splash flash. It's

(33:04):
just a matter of staying healthy. He has had knee issues.
He had Liz frank in college foot injury. We had
the hamstring last year that took him out of the
twenty twenty fourth season, and then the arrival of Christian
McCaffrey also changed Elijah Mitchell's life again. I think it's
very similar here to our discussion about Jalen Moore. Is

(33:24):
their's upside and when healthy, Elijah Mitchell is an explosive.

Speaker 2 (33:28):
Running back And in some ways it's not quite apples
to apples here, but it reminds me of when we
signed Jack McKinnon. Now, they're not quite the same kind
of player, ironically, both from the Niners, but Jeric was
like an awesome player with the Vikings and then got
hurt and never really had a chance to show what
he could do in San Francisco. Came here, and I mean,
I don't think we had the success that we did
over the last several years without Jack McKinnon while he

(33:50):
was here. Well, Elijah's going to have a similar opportunity now.
And yeah, I mean in twenty twenty one, he was awesome.
He had over one thousand yards from scrimmage in twenty
twenty one. Think only Javante Williams and somebody else. Najie
Harris had more scrimmage yards among rookie running backs in
twenty twenty one, So he was right up there with
those guys, and I'll tag you.

Speaker 1 (34:10):
He set a forty nine ers franchise record that year
for rookies with his rushing total of nine sixty three. Now, yeah,
but so think of who the forty nine ers have
had his rookies when rupt you pot, you're right, it
gives you an idea of when he's healthy, what can happen.

Speaker 2 (34:25):
Yeah, and you know, even when he's been hurt, if
you take out the twenty twenty one season and the
years since, when he's been on the field, he's averaged
four point seven yards per carry. He's been really effective,
And in twenty twenty three only had seventy five carries
in that season, but broke off seven runs of double
digit yardage. When he's been on the field and when
he's been given opportunities, he's been a productive player. Go

(34:47):
look at his runs against the Giants back in twenty
twenty three, just big explosive runs. So I'm excited about
what he can do. I think running backs in area
that we were kind of hoping we could add some
juice to it. So add some explosion this year and
we'll see what happens in the draft. A lot of
good running backs in this year's draft, but getting Elijah
Mitchell had to come here and to try to kind
of spark some life into his career a little bit.

(35:08):
Now that he's healthy, this is a great place to
do it, and I'm excited about it.

Speaker 1 (35:11):
Yeah, just get healthy, Stay healthy, Elijah, and you can thrive.
Ten touchdowns in twenty seven games is a pretty good ratio.

Speaker 2 (35:18):
Catches your attention very much like a Jerke McKinnon.

Speaker 1 (35:21):
And then, thirdly, Kristin Fulton, the corner of the Chargers
last year. Prior to that the Titans now don't forget
he was a second round draft pick coming out and
played at LSU and actually was interesting. He went to
the same high school as Jamar Chase, so his senior
year of high school I think was Jamar Chase's sophomore year.

(35:41):
I can't wait to talk to him about that. In
those practices awesome. Now, you may remember Fulton last year
for En Ignominio's play for the Chiefs Kingdom because he
had the interception that Rashie Rice loses his season on.
I went back and looked at it like ten times
it's a play over the top, Fulton playing over the
top right kind of playing clemb as cloud coverage, gets

(36:04):
the pick and then Rashi's trying to tackle him and
gets hitting the knee.

Speaker 2 (36:08):
Pat.

Speaker 1 (36:10):
But anyway, yeah, you get that play.

Speaker 2 (36:13):
But Christian will make up for it this year.

Speaker 1 (36:15):
He'll make up for it, and he'll be ready to
and you'll see Pat first thing and be like, hey,
excited about him for a lot of reasons. One, you're
getting a veteran five interceptions, a willing tackler. Excuse me,
but the fact that you look at his forty two
solo tackles and Matt and I've talked about this over
and over and over. One thing to not overlook here

(36:35):
is with Spags, he needs corners who can tackle. Fulton
is a willing tackler, he even was with the Titans,
and so the fact that he's there, he's got a
veteran presence and it allows you to maybe gives some
fluid and some spagness with Trent McDuffie, because now you're
moving back into the slot. Some we're going to see

(36:56):
this experimented. But Fulton gives you that chance because this
is a veteran corner who's played a lot of football
in this division for one year, but with the Titans.

Speaker 2 (37:06):
He played a lot of great wide receivers.

Speaker 1 (37:08):
You're getting a veterans, veteran presence who's been productive and
I'm excited about this pick.

Speaker 2 (37:13):
He provides so much flexibility in the scheme, which is
a big, big deal, and there's ripple effects of this,
So yeah, you alluded to it. Think about Nickel. You
could have Trip McDuffie back on the slot now on
occasion in Nickel if you have Jalen Watson and now
Christian Fulton both on the outside. And Fulton has been
a boundary corner throughout his career. I broke down the numbers.

(37:35):
He's played at least six hundred and forty snaps and
each of the last four seasons, every year he's been
outside as a boundary corner eighty six percent of the
time or more. So, this is a guy who's not
going to be in the slot a whole lot. He's
going to be a boundary corner on the outside. Think
of like a Jalen Watson kind of type of corner.
And now you have another one of those. You have
Jaalen Watson, You Christian Fulton and Trip McDuffie, who is

(37:56):
one of the best corners in football, can do a
little bit of everything. If you move Trent back into
the slot, now you can have Jamari Connor maybe playing
more of a traditional safety role. I thought Jamuri did
a pretty good job in the slot last season and
it was difficult trying to fill in for what Trent
did the previous year, but particularly losing Justin Reid. Now
if you have the ability to move Trent McDuffie back
on the slot, now you have Jamarry Connor can play

(38:18):
more safety over the top with Jayden Hicks and Brian Cook,
there's more flexibility in the scheme. And also, just think
about when Jalen Watson got hurt last season, it impacted
this defense. We had some inexperience at the other outside
corner spot in Nickel. Well, now you don't have that.
Christian Fulton is a veteran who has had a lot
of success in this league and was really good last
year for the Chargers. So I'm pumped about this move.

Speaker 1 (38:40):
Yeah, you could see Jamari Connor roll go get into
the Justin Reid role, Yeah, real easily because he's a
very good run defender. He can play in the box,
but he also can cover, and so the Fulton pick.

Speaker 2 (38:52):
I love what you said.

Speaker 1 (38:53):
It's a ripple effect and being a boundary corner so
many times you're the short side of the field. And
in football, whoever invent football as a genius, because it's
always odd numbers seven points, eleven players and a field
corner is going to play to the wide side a lot.
But that means that's where your six guys are, your
boundary corners, where you have five defenders and the sideliners
your guy. So many times you're out there with not

(39:15):
always a lot of help, and so it takes some
courage and let's go and a tickle against the run
or what we've seen the Chiefs do better than any
team I've seen, the bubble screens, the tunnel screens, and
a part of that is Nick Bolton getting out there
and a linebacker's having speed. The other part of that
are the corners being fearless because if they're not there,
they're like the edge defender on a running play. And

(39:35):
so Fulton, I see that. I'm excited about him. I
think you can flourish in the system.

Speaker 2 (39:39):
I've been talking about him all day, like with our
social team, they're asking about him, and I was like,
I think this might be the move I'm most excited about,
just because of the flexibility it adds. And again, you
look at this scheme defensively with Steve Spagnello. Adding a
player like this if his caliber, just gives you so
many options and the flexibility within what you're already doing.
So yeah, this is the kind of move. These are

(39:59):
the things that Brett Veach does so well. And it
reminds me of when we signed Drew Trenkle a couple
of years ago. Didn't really see it coming, but it
happens and it's like, oh man, that might be a
big deal at some point during the year. So fired
up about this.

Speaker 1 (40:12):
And fired up. So the last category is read who
you lose? It's a fact of life in the National
Football League. It is not easy, Matt, and I am
I'm going to put something on social I was going
to earlier than this, and I just can't get.

Speaker 2 (40:24):
Ready to type it.

Speaker 1 (40:25):
I just yeah, because we develop relationships with these guys,
these are special.

Speaker 2 (40:29):
Guys who are moving on.

Speaker 1 (40:31):
We have won rings with these guys, multiple rings with
most of them, and so it's super hard.

Speaker 2 (40:40):
We get to know these guys and their families, like
at the Super Bowl parties, and you get to know them.
And we talk about this every year that it's it's
difficult because it's a business. We get that, and we're
excited for a lot of these dudes because they're getting
a lot of money, like Joshuan Wharton comes to mind.
I love it. But at the same time, they've been
a part of our lives and kind of a part
of our family in a lot of ways for a
long time. We've reached the mountaintop with him, and it's

(41:02):
difficult to say goodbye to him, at least for now.

Speaker 1 (41:05):
And neither one of us are going to apologize for that.
And one of the reasons this franchise wins we've talked
about it is the fact that the relationships that are
built to get you through the difficult times, and these
guys all that way. What would Joe Toney, of course
traded the Bears a four time Super Bowl champ. We
know he saved the season by going out and playing
left tackle.

Speaker 2 (41:24):
He's the MVP based on the Player Awards. Is the
Derek Thomas MVP for this year has voted on by.

Speaker 1 (41:29):
The locker, our guard slash tackle like it's just incredible,
and being a first team All Pro twice tells you everything.
Justin Watson and I remember those first and Pats own
OTAs before Ota starts like, who's this guy from the
Buccaneers who played like a pen?

Speaker 2 (41:48):
Uh huh, Like he's fast, he has four to four.

Speaker 1 (41:51):
We saw him do so many big things at the
right time, nine touchdowns. But for Justin Watson, it was
making big catches at critical time in the playoff run,
two point conversions and kind of when you needed something
like what's even and there would be Justin Watson to
make a play. Fearless dude, great dude. Wishing the best

(42:11):
with the Texans until we play him, we play them
this year. But this is one we'll just start with
these two. Let's just start with Tuny and Watson. Moving
on and how these hurt. Let's just be honest, they hurt.
We'll figure it out. You got to move on. It's
the way the NFL is. But you give these guys
their respect.

Speaker 2 (42:26):
Tony is just the ultimate pro. Think about the twenty
twenty one offseason. It was all about rebuilding the offensive line,
and we give twenty a huge deal, and a lot
of times free agent deals you look back at it
you're like, oh, that was okay, that was an alright investment.
I mean, that might be one of the greatest free
agent signings in Chief's history, just considering how he helped

(42:46):
stabilize everything on the offensive line. If you look at
Pro football focused numbers, he was like the best or
the second or third best at worst every year he
was here at his position, and then he had a
bounce outside at left tackle the final however, many games
of the season this year really did save the season
in so many ways, and he's a primary reason we
got to the Super Bowl considering the situation we were

(43:07):
in last season. So Joe's the best, and I'm happy
for him to go to Chicago and hopefully have a
lot of success there. It's difficult to say goodbye to
a player like that, but he helped us win and
you know, flags fly forever. I always say that, So
I'm so glad Joe was able to help us win.
And for Justin Watson, just an amazing story. Originally came
here with nothing promised or guaranteed. It was just a

(43:30):
matter of, hey, you're going to be out there with
fifty other guys and they're all vying for a spot too,
and we'll see what you got. And he not only
made this team, but he helped this team win, help
his team win playoff games and get to the Super
Bowl and win the Super Bowl. We had a chance
to meet his family several times. They listened to DTK,
which is always cool, and his family's awesome, and we
had him on our show during the season. He had

(43:53):
some really inspirational things to say about his brother. Just
an amazing, amazing guy and happy for him that he's
getting now another contract in the NFL and he's sticking
around and going to help the Texans win some games.
So both those guys were awesome and wish them all
the best. And unless we're playing them obviously.

Speaker 1 (44:08):
Yeah, and mentioned you know Tuney again. To play guard
in this system, is it a zone run scheme, No,
it can be. We do that inside zone, outside zone.
Got to be able to pull obviously, pass protect. There's
a lot on the table for these guards who play
for the Kansas City Chiefs. And Joe did it terrific
and Justin watched in so many great moments. Turk Wharton

(44:28):
is a hard one to walk out the door.

Speaker 2 (44:30):
Yeah, I remember.

Speaker 1 (44:31):
So it's COVID.

Speaker 2 (44:32):
It's twenty twenty.

Speaker 1 (44:34):
You and I are watching otsh we're watching camp, and
we're watching it from two hundred yards away. Basically, we're
two hundred yards away, set up on a stage in
the corner where we're I think we're properly distanced because
so far we're even the same.

Speaker 2 (44:49):
The shout if I want to talk to you, Marrit.

Speaker 1 (44:51):
Code and yet and we're like, oh, he's a free
agent from Missouri s and T. Missouri s and T
and urala Missouri is a phenomenal university. If you look
at its academic record, it's impeccable. If you look at
the average income of a Missouri s and T graduate,
it's like top ten in the country going up now too,
And oh boy, yeah, for sure nice. But they've had

(45:15):
one NFL player in the history of Missouri s and
T formerly Missouri Minds, and that is Turk Wharton. And
I remember Luke Benna was shooting then and he could
get closer. He had a mask on, but we were
watching through our binoculars trying to like, oh my gosh,
Turk Wharton's not bad. He's pretty good. Then we start

(45:35):
to look him up like in the Great Lakes Conference,
like Division two, Like, okay, is he an engineer? Is
he an architect? Okay, well I don't know what do you?
And then we heard what Luke Benna had heard from
Frank Clark. Oh yeah, that's right, remember, and Frank Clark
was going uh huh, like Frank Clark had given Turk
Wharton his seal of approval long before the Chiefs Kingdom

(45:58):
even knew who Turk Wharton was.

Speaker 2 (46:00):
Man.

Speaker 1 (46:00):
And look what has happened over the last several years.
Three postseason sacks, his postseason play. He has made giant,
impactful plays, and his ACL injury really set him back.
Athletic quickness, toughness, Carolina, you're getting a great player and

(46:21):
a person in Turk Wharton. This one hurts the same
go out the door.

Speaker 2 (46:24):
Yeah it does. I remember you texted me asking when
Turk was going to get fitted for his gold jacket
back in twenty twenty. You're like, this guy's like really
really good and just watching him. He had some ludicrous
stats at Missouri s and T like truly ridiculous stats,
but he went to a small school and the competition
was so so, and just didn't get a lot of
attention in the draft process. And he was a little

(46:45):
bit shorter, right, so he didn't like hit these measurables
that sometimes NFL scouts looked for. What did he say
to that, I don't care. I'm gonna go out there
and ball out and be the best player I can be.
He helped his team win year after year, had a
lot of success, never planed, always just did his role
towards ACL like you said, and just fought back to
now get a big contract from the Panthers. This is

(47:07):
what the NFL is all about in the end. It's
guys like this who are not given much of a
shot to find success. They get one opportunity and they
make the most of it and they turn it into
generational wealth for him and a long NFL career, I mean,
just really really cool. So I think we kind of
felt the same way about Nick Alaghretty last year, where

(47:28):
a player that you're like, he probably is going to
go somewhere else and find a lot of success because
he played way better than anybody could have anticipated. And
we were happy for Nick, and we're happy for Tshawn
because he deserves it.

Speaker 1 (47:40):
Justin Reid going to the Saints. He'll join now the
New Orleans former Chiefs. They need to change their nickname
from the Saints to the FCS.

Speaker 2 (47:48):
Let's go over it. So so Tana Pasiks, Tirem Matthew,
Colin Saunders, Dan Sowarson. Isn't there anymore? Right? No, he's not. Okay,
whom I forget? Willy Gaju and really Gay Junior. That's
that's right.

Speaker 1 (48:00):
There's four. There's another one if you go on offense.
Clyde is there still Clyde? There's the fifth? And now six?

Speaker 2 (48:06):
Yes, yeah, I mean that's hilarious.

Speaker 1 (48:07):
So if they've got I don't know, ninety man roster.
Six of them are former Chiefs and a lot of
them have Louisiana ties, which is cool, including Justin Reid.
Boys said Justin Reid might be President of the United
States someday. His family. I remember a conversation I had
with his family, his dad, his uncle, his cousins. This
was the most impressive group of humans. And it was

(48:30):
in Baltimore, I think, prior of the AFC Championship Game
in the twenty three season. But I remember seeing Justin
after that and I'm going, you're like the ninth smartest
guy in your family, right, toughness. You look at what
he did in winning two rings with this franchise, and
not just to handle the complexities of this defense, to

(48:52):
make everybody around him better again, a fearless player, seventy
solo tackles, and so this one hurts too. We were
expecting it, and I still see an image. I'll see
it all as Lord as the longest Lord gives me
oxygen on the earth. At the end of Super Bowl
fifty nine, you saw him turn. It's hug guys and

(49:12):
the rest of the secondary.

Speaker 2 (49:13):
Yeah, they just kind of know.

Speaker 1 (49:14):
They know, Yeah, they know. And I thought, Okay, this
will be one that see him go out the door.
But I wish nothing but the best for Justin Reid.
We'll see him at reunions. We'll probably see him at
some political rally, you know.

Speaker 2 (49:28):
But a guy that's.

Speaker 1 (49:30):
Incredibly intelligent, incredibly tough, a great football player, and I'm
glad he's in the NFC, So go get him, Justin and.

Speaker 2 (49:38):
A great leader too. We talk about the twenty twenty
two draft class and its impact and the Fab five
Fab five being Trip McDuffie, Joshua Williams, Jalen Watson, Nazi Johnson,
and Brian Cook. I mean, you get five defensive backs
who are all playing either on defense or on special
teams for you over the last several years. But those
guys were all rookies back in twenty twenty two. Justin

(50:00):
Reid I remember it clear as day, him being this
amazing mentor for those guys, in such a role model
for them and just helping them along. And I don't
know if the twenty twenty two draft class develops into
what it is now without Justin Reid being the leader
that he was for this secondary and also just a
really good player on the field at the same time.

(50:20):
And yeah, I'm with you, it's difficult to see guys
like this go. I should have mentioned it with Turk.
We talk about how happy we are for him, and
it's like, well, what are we going to do now
with Turk? There's a lot of depth of defensive tackle
in this year's draft. I'm excited to see what happens
with that With Justin Reid. This is a great opportunity
for Jaden Hicks, Brian Cook and Shamari Connor and you
draft and develop players for situations like this. Jaden Hicks

(50:44):
might have been one of the steals of the twenty
twenty four draft. Just a really good player that showed
us some things last year. He's going to have a
chance to maybe start on this team in twenty twenty five.
We know what Brian Cook can do. And then Chamari again,
the ripple effects of signing Christian Fulton allowed Chamari to
maybe be more of a safety than just having to
be that nickel corner. Ye. Uh so we have depth there.

(51:05):
We have young players there that I'm excited to see
what they can do with their opportunity. Really difficult to
see a player like Justin Reid leave, but I think
he left this place better than he found it, and
in a lot of ways, he left it prepared for
his departure because he helped a lot of young players
along and helped a lot of young players kind of
discover what kind of players they could be.

Speaker 1 (51:22):
Great person, great player, great family. So Justin h go
get him. And then finally some I J P Rid Okay,
I'm sorry this one.

Speaker 2 (51:31):
This one, really, I know it's it's taking he loves
the ride. Well.

Speaker 1 (51:36):
I just remember when Veitch said, hey, we got him,
and I thought we're gonna win games. He won games
for this team. Now he's going back to the Bengals.
Wish you the best, just not against us. We don't
play him this year in the regular season, so maybe.

Speaker 2 (51:48):
Which is crazy. We play him every year every year, but.

Speaker 1 (51:51):
We've got the old regulars, the Bills and the and
the Ravens and yeah, uh, but his play that sealed
the AF Championship Game in a thirty two to twenty
nine win over the Bills to make NFL history because
the Chiefs again didn't win at Super Bowl fifty nine,
but we were the only team to win back to
back and make it for a shot. We all know that.

(52:12):
But p Ryan that the two plays, that one will
be there as long as the Lord gives me oxygen
on the earth. And yes, I poured water on my
head when I found out we got him. The water
had moved down my face when I heard it he
went to the Bengals. I'll just be transparent. Yeah, but
his blitz pickup of Derwin James. You said something a

(52:33):
long time ago in this podcast about the quickest route
to the quarterback is up the middle. Derwin James was
coming free up the middle to destroy Patrick Mahomes. In
a split second, his head gets turned, he gets jacked
up by Sama jp Ryan on one of the best

(52:53):
bit blitz pickups by running back I've seen in my
brief thirty one years in this league.

Speaker 2 (52:58):
Being a third down back is one of the most
thankless yet critical jobs in football because you have so
many responsibilities that no one really talks about, things like
past protection. You have Derwin James bearing down. You're the
only guy in between Derwin James and Patrick Mahomes and
Samaj made that play and the Chiefs win that game
in part because of Samaj p Ryan and obviously also

(53:19):
what he could do in the screen game. We loved
that he had the awesome play against Pittsburgh where he
was on the ground and catches Mahomes.

Speaker 1 (53:26):
On the whip. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (53:28):
Yeah. He had the big play against Houston and the
regular season near the end of the first half, then
obviously sent us to the Super Bowl with his catch
against the Bills. A lot of good memories of Samaj
p Ryan. This is one of those areas where the
Chiefs had got to find a third down back and
it's hard to find him. Samaj was really good at it.
But I remember what gives me comfort is I remember

(53:48):
talking with you at a restaurant in the Crossroads in
like July of last year. We're like, who's the third
down back going to be? Because we were trying to
replace Jerick McKinnon. He was also really good as a
third down back, and we ended up with some p Ryan.
So Brett Miech will figure it out. We'll find a
good player to handle that role. But that's kind of
one of the storylines I think of the draft of
OTAs of camp is finding who's going to be that

(54:10):
third down back with samaj no longer in town.

Speaker 1 (54:12):
If you're a really good Kingdom defender, you binge on
these and make sure that you reference these two past
episodes because in this time you're going to go, well,
wait a minute, Mitch is like, so destroy go back
and listen to the previous one, because that's what triggered
the thought you talk about veach my trust is in
veach infrastructure. That was the biggest part of that that

(54:36):
episode was infrastructure, and that infrastructure is in place to
handle the cap to continue to fill in the holes.
You say goodbye to guys you love, You'll see them
at a reunion. You got to fill in the gaps
and hope that you can continue to win. And that's
where we're at. But not easy. I don't know what
the NCAA has on all of the copyrights of March Madness,

(54:59):
May Mania, whatever, but there's got to be one in
the NFL for what March is now.

Speaker 2 (55:05):
In free agency, yeah, there's got to be And you know,
the Chiefs made obviously that we've talked about a couple
of big moves here in the first week of free agency,
but Brettviach does his best work in the week's following
free agency. We see it every year and what we've
talked about over the last hour is a great example
of that. Because when Justin Watson first signed here, it
was not the front page of ESPN. When Tshaum Wharton

(55:28):
joined that chief as an undrafted free agent, it was
not the front page of every newspaper in the country.
But those players helped us win and we are currently
mourning their departure. So Brett Veach is going to keep
finding these players that maybe we don't know their names
right now, or they're not considered a huge deal nationally,
but Brettveach and his staff are so good at finding
players that come in here. They buy into this culture,

(55:50):
they buy into this system, They improve, and they help
us win. And I'm excited over the next several weeks
to see who those free agents that come in here are.
The reserve futures guys are always fun to break down
that already signed here months ago, and of course the
draft and the undrafted free agents. This team got better
this week, I think, and they're going to continue to
get better here over the next several months. The team

(56:10):
building aspect is always so much fun to follow, and
this team is a chip on their shoulder right now.
I mean, you win all the games we did last year,
but you end it in a way you didn't want to.
This team's fired up, I think, and ready to get
after this season, and we're gonna get some guys here
that maybe you aren't a big deal right now nationally, but
I think when it's all said and done, might be
a big deal in the end.

Speaker 1 (56:30):
So Matt, a lot of you in the NFL get
excited as free agency. Wow, we gotta have something, man,
we gotta have something to give us juice. For Matt
and me, we go through every emotion, excitement, disappointment, sadness,
But every year we do it because it's either green, red,
or black.