Could Phillip Lindsay Be With Another AFC West Team in 2021?

Monday’s beginning of the NFL’s version of March Madness (legal tampering and free agency) brought new GM George Paton‘s first free agency on the job for the Denver Broncos. All in all, it was an eventful first day. One significant move Paton made was to place an original round tender on running back Phillip Lindsay.

This original-round tender means that the Broncos will have an opportunity to match any offer given to Phillip Lindsay, but will not receive any compensation if they opt to not match. Therefore, this does not mean the door is entirely closed on Phillip Lindsay returning to the team in 2021. However, it just does not feel entirely likely at this point.

Overall, Broncos Country is taking the news pretty hard, especially those who feel that Lindsay’s struggles of late are an effect of Pat Shurmur’s underutilization of the back who broke the 1000 yard threshold the first two years of his career, the first time that’s been done by an undrafted free rookie.

However, if it’s time to say goodbye to Phil, let’s talk about where he could land next season. While there are multiple teams who could add a guy like Lindsay to their backfield, an interesting landing spot was mentioned by Cecil Lammey of The Fan on Tuesday. However, Broncos Country won’t like it.

“I talk to enough people around the NFL to know that Phillip Lindsay is going to get plenty of attention now that he’s tendered original round RFA. One person told me today #Chiefs would ‘welcome Lindsay with open arms’ and ‘know what to do w/him'” Lammey tweeted on Tuesday evening (via Cecil Lammey).

While the thought of Phillip Lindsay as a Kansas City Chief may sting Broncos Country in a big way, the fit does make sense. The Chiefs’ highly touted offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy has managed one of the best NFL offenses over the past few seasons, and has kept a successful backfield, with multiple backs receiving carries. Of course, the Chiefs’ primary back in 2020 was rookie Clyde Edwards-Helaire, who fell just short of 1000 yards in his rookie campaign after missing some time.

A potential pairing of Lindsay and the Chiefs would make even more sense with the Tuesday news that the Chiefs were releasing Damien Williams. However, they also signed Darrel Williams to a one year deal, and adding Lindsay to the mix would make for three runningbacks to divide carries between.

One must admit that a 1-2 punch consisting of Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Phillip Lindsay is intriguing, though.

Overall, until it happens, this is purely speculation. With Darrel Williams just receiving a new contract, this move feels unlikely, but not impossible. As Lammey said, Phillip Lindsay will be an attractive option for many teams, and some of those teams may be AFC West opponents, especially the Chiefs.

How can the Denver Broncos prevent a divisional rival like the Chiefs from getting Lindsay? Well, that’s simple–match their offer, and keep him in-division, but in orange and blue.