3 Kansas City Chiefs who need a Super Bowl win to avoid the cut line

2. Justin Reid, S

Okay, Chiefs fans -- don't come after me just yet. Let me explain this just a bit.

Yes, Justin Reid came to Kansas City as ostensibly a Tyrann Mathieu replacement and he got off to a great start as the former Houston Texan proved to be more than adequate in that regard. Put simply, he continued to be the promising young player he was with the Texans prior to hitting free agency.

On the stat sheet, Reid continued and, in some ways, was even better in his second year with the Chiefs. Despite playing one fewer game, he recorded 12 more total tackles than in the previous season while matching his total of seven pass defenses from 2022 and notching his first interception with his new team. But that doesn't tell the entire story.

When you dig a little deeper, some of those stats were more empty-calorie numbers than actual impact on the KC defense. In fact, PFF ($) graded him out as only the 76th-best safety in the NFL this past season, which was out of just 95 qualified players at the position. Even worse, he was only 84th in terms of coverage grade, which is crucial on the back end of Steve Spagnuolo's defense.

Now we get to the real crux of this argument. The Chiefs don't have a ton of areas in which they can create financial flexibility this offseason in order to improve the roster, re-sign Chris Jones or whatever else. But cutting Reid would net Kansas City $10.75 million in cap savings with only $3.5 million in dead money. That could be more helpful than paying him that money to be the player he was in the 2023 season.

Of course, a Super Bowl win and Reid playing well could change that math quite a bit. However, he may need that to justify keeping him beyond this past season.