Chiefs GM Brett Veach’s Cap Management Skills Put to the ULTIMATE Test!

Chiefs GM Brett Veach’s Cap Management Skills Put to the ULTIMATE Test!

trace smith’s going to be back in otaas and i think he’s going to have a contract we’ll tell you why coming up next from the land of the free and the home of the chiefs this is the locked on chiefs podcast welcome back folks it’s a monday and we are excited because we’re one step closer to mandatory mini camp next week and then that short break it feels like a shorter every year before training camp we’re going to run it down for you today thanks for making us your first listen here on the lockdown podcast network that’s your team every single day and we do that for the locos and for all of you our everydayers we treasure you and we want to make sure that you guys are getting everything that you can so you can subscribe here on the youtube channel you can subscribe on the audio platforms pretty much anyone that you can dream of you can find us and you can even get on the text line at 816 3578781 that’s direct communication from us to you so check that out we very much appreciate your patience and your resilience and working through another disappointing post super bowl but it’s a new season it’s a new look and for those of you that have been kind of checked out since the draft and you’re starting to to move around and and get ready because there’s a lot of news we’re going to go over some of it there are some moves that they can make some things that i think they should be definitely turnurning over the film and the looks at other rosters that’s coming up later in the show we need to take another look at where the cap space is and what’s a possibility and what is too farfetched to be reality but we got to start with the guy that is the start and that is trey smith so for chris clark my partner over at casey chief’s corner i’m ryan tracy the founder of rogue analytics and performance consulting you can find my work in nfl 33 and rgr football we appreciate you guys checking out those as well so from your point of view i don’t think we see trey before mandatory but i’m not really surprised are you i’m not surprised and i was chuckling in case people were wondering i was chuckling because you say coming back down from a super bowl loss and i’m sitting here going they’ve been to five super bowls in seven years like i get it it’s not what you want but 31 teams uh do not even do not win the super bowl every year and the chiefs have been in five and seven so uh it’s it’s just kind of funny to me when i look at this i i don’t think that he’s going to be there for ot otaas this week it doesn’t make sense uh for him to really show up and do otaas i he knows the offense he knows what he’s doing he knows all of that um there’s probably a little bit of a a question about uh if he shows up and does something in otaas is it going to mess up his contract uh so i i’m guessing that that that’s part of it um yeah you could sign a waiver but you can’t really guarantee what you’re what you’d be getting anyway so at this point it’s one of those things uh so to me it kind of makes sense that he’s not been there and it wouldn’t surprise me that he’s not there uh if he doesn’t show up for mandatory which he could choose not to uh that’s some pretty decent finds but it’s possible see that happen uh that seems a little farfetched i i agree i don’t expect to see him this week but i think for mandatory he’ll show up because like you said there’s no there’s no reason at that point you’re you’re the tag is signed there’s no reason to incur fines maybe what i think is is the more likely possibility is that he shows up for mandatory and that resp-sparks the conversation now i don’t know i don’t have it confirmed that they whether they’ve been speaking the last couple months or not but usually from the draft on it’s a little bit quiet and given where they were i think both sides want to get a long-term deal done because chiefs need a little bit more cap relief they need to stretch it out i think trey wants to be secure for the future and i really don’t think despite probably what was a good gap on what they feel the compensation value was i think they probably still want to get it done so it feels to me like mandatory is kind of that kickoff point where we know july 15 is it right so mandatory starts what 17th finishes the 19th so you’re under four weeks before the deadline of july 15 to get that deal done yeah it’s funny because every single year it’s deals are not going to get done deals are not going to get done and then all of a sudden right before the deadline deals get done um i don’t think and i could be completely wrong on this but i don’t think trey smith wants to go into the season without having a long-term deal uh 21 $23 million he’s guaranteed i understand that um congratulations to him he could go get an insurance policy to to get uh something in case he has some kind of lifealtering injury or or something uh that is out there so he could do that but i don’t think he wants to do that i think he wants to get a deal done i think he wants to be in kansas city long term i think he wants to play next to create humphrey and with patrick mahomes so i do expect that a deal is going to get done but it’s not going to shock me if it’s if we’re still talking about this you know the week leading up to that deadline and trey smith isn’t signed yet okay so let’s do this if you had to put a guess on it um or a time frame on it is it before the 4th of july or after the 4th of july it’s going to be after the 4th of july okay i agree i i do think this starts the conversation 14th do okay that’s probably the way that i’m leaning too but it all starts i think by we start talking about trey now the team’s interested they want to know what’s going on next week i expect him to be at mandatories and then the ball starts rolling i think especially once the juices get flowing if you’re the player you don’t want you don’t want to miss out on this season you’ve put in so much work to this point like i could understand otaas or otaas but you don’t want to put yourself behind and can’t not that anybody can come take his job but like that urge to be part of the process and part of the five like i i think that takes over yeah and i think that there’s going to be some of that but the other side of it and i will argue this the other side of it and in a way this actually works and actually benefits kansas city because if trey was there he’s running first string and nobody’s stepping in i don’t think at this point they’ve got to rotate guys through because they’ve got to see you know how’s this guy look doing this how you know does he understand what he’s doing and all of that and while he’s not going to take trey’s position whoever it is that they’re rotating through it’s important to get those those snaps it’s important to get that time and to understand can this person do what we’re looking for and yes you’re not hitting people so technique really isn’t a big deal but there’s still some technique things and you know are their feet working the way you expect them to are they you know how quickly are they getting off the ball all those little small types of things that add up as you’re a professional football player and coaches are always looking for any kind of edge they can get with everybody yeah absolutely and there’s other competitions going on too i i’ve been in a lot of airports over the last uh six or eight weeks and i keep running into players that are doing various things guys that i recognize that have you know pass rush clinics uh the summit you know the whole nine yards everybody’s still preparing for what they need to do come season and i don’t think that changes in the end if he were to play on the tag which i don’t feel is is likely i don’t think that it changes anything in terms of the likelihood of them to be successful this season do you no but if he doesn’t get a deal done i wonder if he shows up to training camp on time like i there’s fines and i get that but is he going to is he going to drag his feet a little bit i i don’t know i i he seems like the team player type he seems like he wants to be there and and all that i just don’t know if the deal doesn’t get done what does that mean because we’ve never seen this type of scenario with trey smith and really have no idea you know how he’s looking at it um he’s in a position where he should be one of the highest paid guards in the nfl based on uh the franchise tag and based on what kansas city has done so at this point um if it doesn’t get done what does that mean for him honestly if it doesn’t get done i don’t think there’s any way he misses any camp time because it does him no good all it does is sour him for potential free agent prospects down the line right because you can’t negotiate anymore you’re past the deadline by the time training camp opens you have nothing to gain other than your reputation with other teams that you might get back to free agency right so i think it would be a bad move if he if he were to do that or if he got advised to do that so but they’re not going to be able to get anything done without cap space and without the trey smith contract you’re not going to get a whole lot of relief so where are we what can they do next did you ever open your bank account and wonder where did all my money go between uh dining out online shopping entertainment it’s easy to lose track and that’s where monarch money comes in it’s your personal cfo giving you full visibility control over your finances monarch money isn’t just a budgeting app it’s a complete financial command center you can track all of your accounts investments spending all in one place so that you can stop managing your money and start building your wealth everything is in one spot it’s super convenient you don’t have to do multiple apps you can go one place and get everything done that you need to know for your finances take control of those finances with monarch money use our code locked onn at monarchmoney.com for 50% off of your first year that’s monarchmoney.com code locked on nfl all one word for half off your first year i know people out there are like “what is this mythical cap you keep talking about?” yes i know it’s not uh it’s not it’s not the wall the king of the north is not like standing behind it like it used to seem like there are ways around it there there are gaps in it but overall the way the chiefs operate and what they have how do you view the cap space and the possibilities now well right now they’re sitting at uh just under 11 million in cap space so they have room uh they can do different things they can make moves they can bring in players um they’re not going to be able to bring in big players they may be able to bring in uh you know a veteran that is on a vet deal um there’s some some of those types of moves that they can make but the reality is is if they don’t get something done they’re going to hamstring themselves for this season and maybe even the future because i guarantee you they were expecting a deal to get done with trey smith and that 23 million to go down to maybe 11 or 12 by itself yeah that makes a huge impact tomorrow we’re going to be talking about a player who’s going to be impacted by whether or not there’s cap space and what the next evolution of the defensive side of the ball is going to be so don’t miss tomorrow but for right now in terms of maneuverability so to speak uh i believe all the draft picks are under contract at this point am i wrong uh no i think you’re right okay i’ll check that so that 11 means that this is your your functional bank account from here on um i don’t think that’s terribly low with if the draft class is signed i feel like that’s that’s good maneuverability you could make a pickup if you need to um let’s hope that they don’t go down the road of last year where there was enough injuries that you felt like you had to go out and make trades and make acquisitions uh but if they needed to they could and that reserve i think is what’s going to be uh really strategic about what we do see i think there are a couple of positions we’re going to talk about that coming up next that are going to need some attention between mandatory mini camp and cut down day and camp and i know that’s that’s a long gap but there are several phases that could happen we’ll talk about that in a little bit but that cap space could get eaten away a little bit between now and week one of the regular season yeah it could and it’s going to just based on going from top 51 which they are right now that’s how they account for the cap right now uh to their normal where you have to have all the players on the roster plus all your practice squad players are going to count against the salary cap so that is going to change the math and there’s not really a great way to know what that number is going to be uh because the reality is is that there’s probably some guys that are on the top 100 or top 51 right now that maybe maybe don’t make the roster um just going to throw a name out there skyore is one of them i mean that’s a guy that has a $ 1.5 cap number or sorry a $2 million cap number uh and so you wonder is you know is he going to make the roster is he going to be somebody that is uh going to be here we’ll see um i i just don’t know they don’t have a ton of space that they can make the only thing that they could really do to make space to make a decent amount of space would be restructure jawan taylor i don’t think they want to do that because next year is the out on his contract um he’s already guaranteed money this year so i don’t see that changing any anytime soon so the reality is i think you’re kind of stuck where you are the only thing you can really do is extend a guy like trey smith and i know we’re talking trey smith i know we’re talking salary cap but the reality is and we’ll talk about this a little bit more tomorrow the reality is if you don’t extend trey smith good luck getting anything done with trent mcduffy or george carlus who are two of the guys that you probably want to try to get extensions done with this off season if you can and maybe even a guy like leo chanel yeah there’s a number there and we will talk about that class coming up tomorrow but in order to get that done you got to get past what this current gap is with trey and i agree with you i don’t i don’t think they should touch joan taylor i do think that they’re going to look uh unless something drastic changes that they should be looking uh at that out given the investment we’ve seen in three acquisitions since jawan taylor at the tackle position right or left and quite frankly i think all of those guys in in moore and uh kingsley and simmons can play multiple positions i think simmons and moore in particular are not locked in to left or right so i think that there’s enough variability there that contract is probably one that needs to be allowed to expire and take that out is there anything else that you would be looking to try to massage or or whether it’s an extension or a restructure with with a veteran that might need to come into play not really i mean you could maybe i the only person that you would really have that’s there that you could maybe look at extending would be travis kelce but i don’t think that that’s going to be something that they’re going to be looking at doing i i think that he’s probably done after this season uh and the only other guy on the roster that i think would maybe fit in that would be i don’t know maybe maybe hollywood brown maybe uh charles minhughue but those guys would have to take small deals and i don’t think that they’re going to want to take small deals considering both of them are probably a lot closer to the end of their careers than they are getting another big deal so um especially with what you look like or especially if you look at like what rashad baitman got in baltimore um you know those types of contracts are really going to inflate the the wide receiver market so i can’t see them making another move and and really making an adjustment elsewhere yeah that makes it hard and is the wide receiver market in particular along with the guards and the way that they’re they continually are and now i think about i don’t i don’t think they could do anything with brown now that i think about it because he just signed this offseason so i think they’re kind of stuck with it yeah so they’re stuck on i was thinking he signed a two-year deal but he did not so think they’re kind of stuck with that contract i mean he would be the only other one that i would really see that they could probably do something with and i don’t know that they would go down that that path because pass rusher is one of the most expensive positions out there well i don’t i don’t have a solution i don’t think they do either we we’ll have to look at one possible scenario when we talk about defense tomorrow so don’t miss us there folks but there are other things that they need to do well whether they have the catchphase or not at the moment we’re going to set that aside but where should they be searching right now next now a week or two makes a difference if you guys want to know all the differences that are made check out casey chief’s corner check us out on rgr football and nfl 33 as well because there are other points of view uh particularly on this team and the rest of the league that we try to share as well we appreciate your support i think that a couple of weeks of otaas shouldn’t be earthshattering positive or negative but sometimes it does tick the needle in one direction or another so just comfort level right now i’m not like surprised but i’m slightly more comfortable at running back than i was two weeks ago i still think they should be searching for another option whether it’s uh a postjune one uh anybody who you know in otaas gets to mandatory and they and they decide to cut them loose early some teams will do that like the chiefs have in the past and obviously a cut down days i i still think that’s a major target could be uh the problem is is if you do that where are you going to where you going to cut because you have three guys that you feel like can probably play in elijah mitchell who you just signed this year uh kareem hunt and isaiah pacheco so are you going to cut a rookie that you just drafted to do that i mean you can no like where where you going to go are you going to cut elijah mitchell you going to cut hunt i think they’re the two most likely candidates until i see something that really solidifies something you’re not going to cut pops and you’re not going to cut the rookie yeah i just think they should be looking for an upgrade that’s i i suppose that’s possible i just don’t know that they’re going to really go and do that until they actually see some of them in training camp um they can see what they can do they can see what they can move how they move in otaas but until they actually get on the field and have to cut and you know try to move and try to you know lower the pads and get through holes and all that i don’t think that that really they don’t have enough information at that position probably to feel like they could go out and get somebody and the other issue is is who could they get that’s going to be better that’s not going to cost them more than what they’re spending yeah that’s the thing like i said i think it something you have to be monitoring and watching for because there will be changes i don’t think there’s anybody out there right now that i would go near yeah you know i i still think defensive tackle is a position that they may look for um i don’t know i would love to say that they could get something done before camp i don’t expect it before camp but i do think it’s going to be something they’re going to be looking for before the season starts i have to agree i like that they’re trying to bump up the volume and if you all have not been keeping up um with our reports and matt’s reports from otaas the volume that they’re feeding rookie omar normalot is is specific i think in order to work on uh capacity work capacity for a defensive tackle is a variable thing always and the chiefs do try to rotate i think steve spelon kind of defended himself a little bit like hey it’s all right that he you know never played more than 300 snaps in a season in college because i’m going to rotate these guys anyway that’s what we do okay well that’s fair but turk horton played 700 snaps for you last year so whether you rotate or not you still need a number two and i don’t know that they have it yet well and they may not and i don’t know that they’re going to be able to find one i definitely don’t think that they’re going to be able to find one unless they make a trade of some sort uh before training camp but the problem with making a trade is generally speaking you’re going to be paying a lot either in capital or in money and they don’t have really either right now so i mean they have draft capital sure but they’re not going to want to give up what they have and when it comes to the money side of it they don’t have they don’t have a ton of money to be able to give up and when you’re talking about a number two defensive tackle you’re probably talking about a guy that should be making six seven eight nine $10 million a year some somewhere in there yeah i mean for a decent one i’m not talking about like another chris jonesesque type uh you know superstar defensive tackle but even just a good defensive tackle that should be a starter is going to cost you at least 7 million a year i would think yeah i have to think so and and again this is this is about cuts from rosters currently whether it’s now or whether it’s during training camp cut down which with the minutia of how you get to the 53 does make it a little bit more difficult because as i look now there’s there’s nobody out here again that i’m willing to go after and try to give a chance to it’s got to come from an active roster where somebody else right now currently tonight feels that they have a defensive tackle on their roster that’s worth it and if they change their mind in the next six weeks that’s when i have to pounce because that cut down day is going to be tough and it’s gonna be a flood and then you’re back on i think what is an unsustainable track to try to find a defensive tackle that can give you snaps after camp cut downs like legitimate 53 cuts i i think you’re right but i think what you can do is you can probably wait until like the third week of training camp uh when the first preseason games are kicking off and i think that’s when you’re going to know whether or not players are going to be on the move from other teams because they’re going to actually have finally gotten to training camp they’re going to be seeing the technique they’re going to be seeing how they they practice they’re going to be seeing how they fit in their defense but more importantly they’re going to be seeing all the other players that they have is somebody else stepping up that they think can step into the role that whoever we’re talking about is is filling right now uh for cheaper or somebody that they want to make sure gets on the field more than the guy that uh is costing them a little bit more money so i think that maybe you’re not looking for somebody at the at the cut down day or looking for somebody after maybe the first week of the preseason games or the second week of the preseason games and you get them an extra week or two before the actual cuts it makes sense i don’t know i feel like there’s enough bodies um we talked a lot about dbs last week folks if you missed uh thursday and friday go back check those shows out because we covered a lot of the defensive backs like what we think could be constructive uh and who might be on the outside looking in but i do feel overall the volume that they have on the roster now for both otaas and training camp like they’re going to have enough options i don’t think they have to go looking for secondary pieces do you i don’t think they have to look for secondary pieces i think that they’re probably pretty good there especially you know at the corner position i think that they have to feel very good about the corner position uh the question would be do they feel good about who they have as their starting safeties i think that they probably do but that’s a question that that we’re only going to know once you know the pads come on and and we start seeing how those safeties are moving together without justin reed back there so i think the db room is probably pretty good uh we’ve talked a lot about the linebackers too as well i think that they’re probably pretty good it’s just a matter of okay can you get somebody that is maybe more of a veteran that can step in and you feel better taking the place of the front three maybe but you going to pay him more and i don’t think you really want to go down that path with the linebackers i think that they’re probably going to go with what what they already have so i i think when you look at this roster i do think for the most part it’s pretty set is there there’s always opportunities there if if somebody pops on their you know pops up that they didn’t expect to be available is there somebody out there that can come in and and give you something that you don’t already have on the roster and i don’t have a great example of that right now but what i would say is can you get somebody that would maybe make your fourth and fifth wide receiver spot better can you get somebody that’s going to make uh you know your depth offensive line better if you can do that then maybe those are the types of moves you make but they still probably feel pretty good about who they have it’s just a question of does somebody else pop up that they didn’t expect to be available agreed this is a long way to get to this point and it is because i’ve been getting some questions lately i do not think the chiefs are going to be in on the dolphins attempt to trade jaylen ramsey i don’t think that’s a position that they have to have an injection of talent especially veteran talent and i don’t think that that’s a personality that i want to see try to come into this locker room especially given how young it is and that you have an in-house leader but there are going to be other trades so could they be in on some of these it is possible the cap is obviously a restriction but we’ve seen brett beach do things before so i would say keep your head on a swivel for the next eight weeks yeah i mean and all of this is subject to the thought process that we’re looking at the roster as a whole right now with the way that is is structured right now and not knowing any injuries that are coming so yeah injuries are the big are the big uh you know are the thing that are going to really determine if they make moves at different at some of the other positions if they have injuries then maybe they have to make a move we hope that’s not the case but i really think that when you look at the roster overall your top three wide receivers you got to feel pretty good about i would think even your top four probably you feel pretty good about and i could make an argument that maybe you’d even feel good about your top five because if jaylen royals is in your top five then you have four guys that you feel really good about because you already know what they’re going to be bringing to the table plus a rookie to develop and i think that’s where you want to be at that position so it’s really just going to be a question of is there any other position that they feel like they can you know go out and bring somebody qb i think you feel pretty good running back i think they feel decently good unless somebody just pops up that they didn’t expect to be available uh tight end what are you going to do there i they’re trying to figure out because they are feeding those guys like it’s going out of style everybody’s getting a day basically right and i but but i guess my point is is you have travis kelce no gray you know are going to be on the roster jared wy you think is going to be on the roster and as long as he doesn’t have a setback will be on the roster this year inactive for them so there’s three if britney stool is your fourth you’re not going to keep a fifth so you’re kind of stuck there and then we’ve already talked about offensive line a ton we talked about dbs a ton uh really it comes down to and we’ve talked about the linebackers the only real thing that maybe is is outside the the thought process that that maybe could happen in my mind is uh and they have a they’ve talked about competition there is there a kick returner or a punt returner that comes available that they didn’t expect to be available and then it brings a whole new roster question to you yeah and it makes it that much harder to answer as well yep we’re going to answer more questions tomorrow make sure that you were with us to do that make sure you’re subscribed on the youtube channel on the audio platforms all of it george carlos trent mcduffy the rest of that class what does it look like what has to happen and what are our expectations that’s tomorrow do not miss it i’m excited about it thanks for listening to us today we’ll talk to you tomorrow

Will Trey Smith ink a long-term deal with the Kansas City Chiefs before July 15th? Ryan Tracy and Chris Clark analyze the Chiefs’ offseason strategy, focusing on Smith’s contract negotiations and the team’s $11 million cap space. The hosts break down potential roster adjustments, including running back depth and defensive tackle needs. They explore the secondary’s strength, wide receiver depth, and shut down Jalen Ramsey trade rumors. Can the Chiefs navigate their cap constraints while building a Super Bowl-caliber roster? Tune in for expert insights on the defending champions’ crucial offseason decisions.

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