Interior Defensive Line Free Agents

With the NFL owners’ lockout coming to an end, one of the first things that will get done on the agenda for the 2011 season is the free agent signing period.

Compressed into a week to 10 days rather than several months, the run to free agency will be fast and frantic. It will come after a two or three-day window where teams will have an exclusive shot at re-signing their own free agents.

As one of the NFL teams that must spend a lot of money in the 2011 season to reach the minimum level of spending under the salary cap, the Chiefs figure to be a buyer in this postponed free agency period. Knowing how the front office under GM Scott Pioli works, they will approach the free-agent market with very specific plans; the chance the Chiefs spend willy-nilly on free agents is very low.

Due to the lack of off-season preparation time, teams figure to be more likely to spend the money necessary to keep their own free agents. That’s especially true for the Chiefs as they speak often of the culture they are trying to create and the type of personalities that fit into that team picture.

One spot that will require their attention will be the defensive line, specifically interior players for the nose tackle and defensive tackle positions.

The primary players at that spot in the 2010 Chiefs are free agents – Ron Edwards and Shaun Smith. Both players are not considered upper echelon talents; Edwards is average, while Smith is coming off the best season of his career, with contributions not only on the nose, but at defensive end.

At the start of free agency way back in late February-early March, there were two prime-time nose tackles that were scheduled to be unrestricted free agents – the Baltimore Ravens Haloti Ngata and Paul Soliai of the Miami Dolphins. Ngata is 6-4, 350 pounds and just 27 years old. Soliai is 6-4, 355 pounds and also 27 years old.

But alas, both Ngata and Soliai were slapped with the franchise player tag. Both players signed their $12.5 million tender offers for the 2011 season. That’s the storyline of free agency in the NFL – teams have learned to keep their own players, rather than spending large sums of money on players they don’t know.

The decision Pioli and folks must make is how much they can expect out of Edwards and Smith and how far they are going to dive into what is a shallow pool of free agents. A true nose tackle is one of the hardest positions to find in the NFL. While teams using the 3-4 defense have grown in number, they are all searching for that big man in the middle. They want someone between 6-2 and 6-5, anywhere from 325-360 pounds, with foot quickness and great strength. Those types of guys don’t just fall out of the football personnel trees, and thank goodness for that because they could hurt somebody.

Here’s the unofficial list of unrestricted free agents at DT/NT, plus a few guys who have played DE, but can move inside. We are working under the proviso that free agency will come to players who have played four years or more. Some players may be added to the list once teams can move players on and off their rosters.

The list has been broken down, creating categories based on talent, age and production. Included on the list are last year’s stats plus the ranking of the player’s defense in yards allowed against the run and pass during the ’10 season. Players marked with an * spent most of last season on the injured list.

And it all starts with Edwards and Smith.

Group A – The Best Available