Arrowhead Pride
Welcome back to the Arrowhead Pride Mailbag! Each week, watch for your opportunity to submit your Kansas City Chiefs questions in The Feed, which is found on AP’s home page.
After blanking an opponent for the first time since the 2015 postseason with Sunday’s 31-0 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders, let’s see what is on our readers’ minds.
Will the Chiefs make a trade adding to the defensive line this week? Defensive tackle was a huge need before. With Omarr-Norman-Lott going down, it’s now s pretty much a certainty.
After the rookie defensive tackle suffered his season-ending ACL tear on Sunday, there were many questions about his position. It was already (arguably) the spot with the least depth. Defensive tackle should now top the Chiefs’ wish list.
Presumably, Kansas City will call up one of its three defensive tackles from the practice squad for Monday. Veteran Marlon Tuipulotu drew the elevation in the two games Norman-Lott previously missed (Weeks 1 and 5). I suspect the Chiefs will use his third and final elevation on Monday. Whether he plays significantly more than the six defensive snaps he saw in his last appearance may reveal if he has a shot at a permanent spot on the 53-man roster.
As for the other in-house options, the Chiefs should want to see what they have in Zacch Pickens and Brodrick Martin — the 64th and 96th overall selections of the 2023 NFL Draft, respectively.
As this writing, Kansas City has not made a defensive line trade — though playing “Monday Night Football” in Week 8 provides an extra day to make moves before the practice week begins. I suspect an addition will be made, but the trade deadline is still almost two weeks away — and the league’s parity means few teams are yet in position to be definite sellers.
While I’ll refrain from speculating on specific players, I do expect Kansas City will acquire an older player from a disappointing team who is on an expiring contract. I would be surprised if the Chiefs took on significant salary before next offseason.
Everyone wants this or that defensive lineman, running back or maybe cornerback. But here’s the real question: how are the Chiefs going to handle the cap issues staring them in the face for next year? What can they realistically do to put themselves in a position to continue the success they’ve enjoyed?
Right now, the salary cap stands in the way of any roster upgrade. After moving Norman-Lott to injured reserve and signing cornerback Kevin Knowles, we now estimate the Chiefs have $3.5 million in cap space. The team’s best options for creating more room would be to restructure tackle Jawaan Taylor’s contract or add void years to Travis Kelce’s. Either move would push money into the 2026 salary cap. As it stands, Kansas City will begin next offseason roughly $30 million over the limit with only 35 players under contract....
