After spending four productive seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs, defensive end Mike Danna hit free agency for the first time this offseason, giving him a chance to cash in after completing his rookie contract. However, the busiest days of NFL free agency have come and gone, and Danna remains unsigned and, at least publicly, not connected to any serious offers or pursuits from other teams. Why has Danna’s market failed to materialize, and could he end up back in Kansas City?
Danna appeared in 59 regular-season games and 13 playoff games with the Chiefs after being drafted in the fifth round out of Michigan (after starting at Central Michigan) in the 2020 NFL Draft. Danna’s role consistently grew with the Chiefs, as did his share of defensive snaps. He played 745 of KC’s regular-season defensive snaps in 2023, second among defensive linemen, behind only George Karlaftis’s 755. In terms of how Danna was used, he provided outside-inside flexibility on defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s defensive line, with the ability to spend most of his time on the edge while also having the ability to hold his own on the interior when the Chiefs wanted to bring more speed to the edge, or to allow defensive lineman Chris Jones to move inside-out to hunt for matchups against offensive tackles.
In short: Danna got better consistently through his four years in Kansas City, he played a huge role in 2023, and he can do unique things that the Chiefs’ defensive coaching staff values. …So why is he still a free agent?
Danna, at 26 years old, was ranked as free agent No. 103 by Pro Football Focus with a projected contract of three years, $24.75 million, with $14.75 million guaranteed, averaging $8.25 million per year. Essentially, a two-year deal worth something like $15 million, all guaranteed. Danna isn’t a top-level difference-maker who can demand elite money, but he’s better (and younger) than the usual type of pass-rushers who routinely take one-year “prove-it deals” to jump from team to team. Perhaps that puts him in a strange middle class for teams looking for help at defensive end, but it should bode well for the Chiefs’ chances to retain Danna now.
The other reason a reunion makes a lot of sense: Quietly, the Chiefs desperately need another defensive end.
Behind Karlaftis, the Chiefs have nothing but questions on the edge. Charles Omenihu will be coming off a torn ACL suffered in the AFC Championship Game, making his path to playing in Week 1 a difficult one. The Chiefs spent a first-round pick on Felix Anudike-Uzomah in 2023, but he saw the field very sparingly in his rookie season. Last year’s fifth-round pick, BJ Thompson, only played in KC’s season finale where backups took most of the work. Malik Herring, who got playing time over Anudike-Uzomah late last year, remains on the roster.
Despite Anudike-Uzomah’s first-round label and Thompson’s year of development time with defensive line coach Joe Cullen, it’s foolish to double-down on either player taking a massive jump in year two. The Chiefs will need at least three reliable defensive ends, and right now, they have only one (Karlaftis) who projects to be a known commodity and healthy for Week 1. They could draft a more pro-ready EDGE in the 2024 NFL Draft or they could go another route in the veteran market, perhaps bringing back former Chief Emmanuel Ogbah, but Danna is still the most obvious candidate to stabilize KC’s defensive end group. The depth chart changes completely with Danna penciled in starting opposite of Karlaftis, allowing Anudike-Uzomah a chance to be the team’s third EDGE until Omenihu returns, then giving the Chiefs another look at the Karlaftis-Omenihu-Danna top trio down the stretch.
Seth Keysor wrote about Danna’s market and why he’d bring him back to KC on March 18 in The Chief in the North Newsletter:
The market I thought would materialize for Danna has not. While he’s not a high-level 1×1 winner, he’s solid against the run on early downs and is a motor/power guy who can slide inside and provide you some wins from the interior on obvious passing downs. He was a valuable part of the Chiefs’ rotation last season even as Omenihu arrived and Karlaftis surpassed Danna as a pass rusher.
There are a number of decent options in free agency at defensive end, though not all of them fit the typical Spags mold: Danna, Emmanuel Ogbah, Calais Campbell, Romeo Okwara, and a few others. Regardless of who they look to specifically, I’d feel significantly more comfortable with the Chiefs’ defensive roster (and being able to run back a high-level defense) with another competent body on the edge.
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