The Kansas City Chiefs have an idea of what the free agent edge rusher market will look like now after the Tennessee Titans signed OLB Harold Landry to a long-term extension ahead of the free agency period.
Landry and the Titans agreed upon a five-year deal worth $87.5 million, with $52.5 million guaranteed. The deal will pay Landry $17.5 million annually. Estimations from Spotrac had Landry’s market value at $17.1 million per year annually. So his deal doesn’t appear to be too far off from those projections.
How does this all impact the Chiefs and their pursuit of an edge rusher, though?
If you take a look at the other projected market values over at Spotrac, no other edge rusher in this class was projected to receive more money in per year average. The only player who even comes close is Haason Reddick who comes in at $15.3 million and he is hardly a scheme fit for Kansas City.
Both Chandler Jones and Von Miller, the players expected to be the cream of the crop in this free agent class, their projections come in at $14.5 million and $10.5 million, respectively. That might have something to do with the fact that both players are aging veterans and Landry is just entering his prime. Now, both players could use Landry’s contract as a negotiating tool to boost their value. Jones, in particular, had nearly as many sacks as Landry had last season. Still, it’s hard to see those projections being too far off unless a team is willing to vastly overpay for production.
Assuming no star players are released and added to the free agent market, it looks like Landry’s deal could be the top deal handed out during this free agency period. It doesn’t look like the Chiefs will need to hand out a contract that exceeds that one in order to land a productive edge rusher. They could be looking at a lot of the players whose market ranges anywhere from $8 million to $15 million per year annually.
