Jaye Howard or Sean Smith
 

Which would you sign.

For the sake of argument, let's assume the following contracts (without getting into the details too much):

Sean Smith gets a 5 year, 52.5 million deal (10.5 per). First year cap hit is 6.6 m to fit cap constraints. Roughly on par with Byron Maxwell's deal (5th highest for a CB).

Jaye Howard gets a 4 year, 36 million deal (9.0 per). First year cap hit is 6.6 m to fit cap constraints. Roughly on par with Derek Wolfe's and Jurrell Casey's deals (6th and 7th highest for 3-4 DE).

Sign Trumaine Johnson instead of Smith.

If you've got the money, then pay Howard.

I'm not saying Smith isn't a good starting CB. It's just right now there are so many other players on defense who need contracts as well, and I'd rather have those guys.

Sean Smith

Probably Howard. Pass rush helps secondary more than the other way around.

Good grief. If some team offers Smith a $52 million dollar deal? He's gone.

LMAO

Is that team Tennessee or Jacksonville or Washington DC or New Orleans?

That's a bad contract.

If we're keeping Sutton, and playing man-to-man coverage, Smith is the more valuable of the two. It would be nice if lightning struck twice, and another Peters-caliber CB fell into our laps in the draft, but I just don't see that happening.

Gaines isn't a guy that can step in and fill that role effectively.

I'd take Howard in that case.

9 million for Howard is the FA steal of the century if you get him do that before he hits the market.

I'm willing to bet Dorsey offered that to him in the middle of the season and he turned it down.

Did the Chiefs in 2013 say, "We need a new CB. Go find the best guy on the market"? No, they did not. They said, "Let's get Sean Smith."

We found a free agent who was ascending, fairly close to being a good player, and was the type of CB that Sutton was looking for in his defense.

There's no reason why we can't do the same thing here with Trumaine Johnson.

Tough choice, but I went with Howard.

Sean Smith will be 29 in July.

A team looking to sign him will not only take into consideration his age (and Revise is certainly a driver) but his status with the league and his suspensions.

If a team offers him more than 3 years, $21 million, it's because they believe they're "a cornerback away".

Otherwise, some team is going to get burned by giving him a Byron Maxwell-esque deal.

All of these are good points, and I'll take your word on Trumaine Johnson for I know nothing about him. However, I just love the idea of Smith, Peters, and Gaines as our corners next year. I also believe having a solid, established corner that works well within your system is more valuable than an up and coming DE/DT in a 3-4 scheme (and that's not to cheapen Howard's potential. If they end up keeping him over Smith I won't exactly be pissed).

It's not a popular opinion, but I tend to think Smith is overrated and I would pay Howard instead 10 times out of 10.

Howard at $9 million easy.