2011 Free Agents: Kansas City Chiefs

Although the Kansas City Chiefs are a team that was built relatively quickly, mostly through the draft, they somehow managed to have a number of very important players that are up for free agency this offseason. Here are some of the more notable players who could be wearing a new jersey in 2011:

Offense

Brodie Croyle, QB
Leonard Pope, TE
Ryan O'Callaghan, RT
Rudy Niswanger, C

Defense

Ron Edwards, NT
Shaun Smith, NT
Tamba Hali, OLB
Mike Vrabel, OLB
Corey Mays, ILB
Brandon Carr, CB

Obviously, the Chiefs are going to try hard to retain some of their younger starting players (O'Callaghan, Niswanger, Smith, Hali, Mays, Carr) to build on the success of 2010. However, they cannot put the Franchise tag on all of them and each of them will get looks from other teams around the league. My best guess says that all of those guys return, with the possible exception of Mays and maybe Carr.

I'd put money on Mike Vrabel retiring, because he hasn't been much of anything in the past few seasons. I also wouldn't be surprised if the Chiefs decided to let Edwards walk, since I believe Smith took that NT starting spot from him last season, and tried to replace him through the draft.