Wave 2 and Beyond - How the Chiefs have used the rest of Free Agency under Veach

Making the most of the rest to build out Super Bowl winning rosters

The first wave of NFL Free Agency garners the biggest headlines, and for good reason. Teams spend hundreds of millions of dollars every single year just to lose to the Kansas City Chiefs try to keep up with the rest of the league. Giant contracts are thrown around that can make – or break – organizations for years to come. Handing out the wrong money to the wrong player can get general managers and front office staffers fired from a select few jobs available to them in the NFL. It's no wonder the magnifying glass has been placed so heavily on the first week of free agency.

Brett Veach is not afraid to play in that first wave of free agency. He'll throw big contracts around, most of which have worked out in his favor. However, Veach has gotten exceptionally good at the next wave of additions after all the big free agent dollars have been spent.

Today we'll dive into Veach’s “next wave” of additions during his tenure as Chiefs’ general manager to see the impact players he was able to find and why there may still be moves made this year that will have major ramifications on the 2024 roster.

2019

Veach took over after the 2018 draft and barely had a full year to acclimate to his new position as general manager of the Chiefs. It was a very important offseason after watching the Chiefs lose to the New England Patriots in overtime of the AFC Championship Game during Patrick Mahomes’ first year as a starting quarterback. The team needed to maximize the rookie deal, which saw big moves immediately in free agency with the signings of Tyrann Mathieu, Alex Okafor, Bashaud Breeland and Damien Wilson. These four players were the first strikes of a new general manager, and all played significant roles in a Super Bowl winning team.