Kansas City Chiefs should sign recently released Mike Daniels

Many teams will undoubtedly be interested, but the Kansas City Chiefs should be making the recently released Mike Daniels a free agent priority.

What a shocker! On Wednesday, Mike Garafolo of NFL Network reported that the Green Bay Packers have released defensive lineman Mike Daniels. There will undoubtedly be many teams interested in bringing Daniels on board, but the Kansas City Chiefs stand out to me as the team who should make him an immediate priority.

Daniels was a fourth-round pick by the Packers in the 2012 NFL Draft and was an immediate contributor for the team as an interior defensive lineman. Playing five-technique defensive end in their base 3-4 and rushing inside on passing downs, Daniels’ combination of elite strength and impressive quickness has allowed him to have an extremely successful NFL career.

He has never put up huge numbers, but his 29 career sacks and 47 career tackles for loss in 102 games is not something that we should ignore. When healthy, Daniels is an extremely disruptive defender who can impact the game as a fantastic run defender and strong interior pass rusher.

Unfortunately, health was a major issue for Daniels last season, as he missed the Packers’ final six games of the season with a foot injury. However, if that foot injury is behind him, there is no reason to think that Daniels cannot get back to his disruptive ways in 2019 and beyond. He has been around for a while, but at only 30-years-old, this guy still has plenty of productive football ahead of him.

We all know about the Chiefs’ defensive struggles last season. Their defense was dragged to the AFC Championship game by Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs’ offense and were only a play or two away from playing in the Super Bowl. Kansas City did a nice job of remaking their defense this offseason, but they are far from a perfect unit. Daniels may just be the guy who can take them over the top.

If the Chiefs can bring Daniels into the mix, he would start alongside Chris Jones on the inside, forming arguably the best defensive tackle duo in the entire NFL. With Frank Clark wreaking havoc on the edge, the Chiefs’ defensive line could immediately become a major strength on this team.

When it comes down to it, Daniels would be a major upgrade over current starting defensive tackle Derrick Nnadi. Also, with over $25 million in cap space to work with, Kansas City could easily fit Daniels on the books for 2019. If they can get him in on a one-year deal, this move would be a no-brainer. Even a two-year contract should not hurt them too much.

The Kansas City Chiefs are one of the premier Super Bowl contenders in 2019. They have the pieces in place to dethrone the New England Patriots in the AFC and win a Lombardi Trophy, but what would it hurt to get even better? Signing Mike Daniels may be the move that would take them over the top.