Chiefs Free Agency Primer
The Chiefs Free Agents Headed into the Off-Season
The Kansas City Chiefs have a lot of free agents this off-season and have a lot of decisions to make as to who they should bring back. It’s time to dive into their free agents and whether or not I think that they will bring them back for 2022. I’m going to break these down into different groups of players.
Before we get to that if you haven’t already checked out my article on the Chiefs salary cap space you can take a look at it here. One small update to make. Since I wrote about their space last week they have signed some reserve future players and their cap space has dropped about 10 million dollars. This was an expected move and an amount that makes sense considering adding all the contracts they did for the 2022 off-season.
ERFA - Exclusive Rights Free Agents
The Chiefs have several of these players that they will need to make decisions on. Exclusive Rights Free Agents (EFRA’s) are free agents that have less than three accrued seasons in the NFL. They are the exclusive right of the team that they’ve been playing on and generally are originally undrafted free agents. These players had to have either been on the roster (not practice squad), injured reserve or PUP for at least six games to earn an accrued season.
Jody Fortson and Derrick Gore are both EFRA’s and will be Chiefs in 2022. They were both undrafted coming out of college and the team will retain their rights and neither player can try to sign with another team as long as the Chiefs submit a qualifying offer to each.
Deandre Baker is a little bit of a different situation for the simple fact that he was drafted. Because he was cut by the New York Giants and signed a deal with Kansas City before he had three accrued seasons he is another EFRA.
All of the Chiefs EFRA’s are most likely returning to the Chiefs in 2022. Jody Fortson and Derrick Gore should have one accrued season after the 2021 season so they will get a one-year deal for a league minimum for one year of experience which will be $825,000. Deandre Baker will have two years of experience so will get a one-year deal for the league minimum which will be $895,000.
RFA’s - Restricted Free Agents
Restricted Free Agents are going to be players that have only three accrued seasons on an NFL roster. This is just like an ERFA when it comes to qualifying for an accrued season. The only difference is the additional year they have been in the NFL.
The Chiefs only have one player that would fit in this category going into 2022. Chris Lammons is a special teams ace and is likely going to receive a qualifying offer from the Chiefs. There are three different types of offers that players can receive from teams. A First round offer, a second-round offer, and an offer with right of first refusal. These offers allow the team offering the player a contract the ability to receive compensation of either a first-round pick, second-round pick, or just the ability to match a competing offer. Unlike EFRA’s, RFA’s can negotiate with other teams.
In 2022 the different offers will cost teams the following: First round - $5,562,000, Second round - $3,986,000, Right of first refusal - $2,433,000. I expect the Chiefs will off Lammons a Right of first refusal contract. There is an outside chance they give him a longer-term deal but considering his injury from this previous season I would expect they just go with a one-year deal.
UFA’s - Unrestricted free agents
Now here is where the fun starts. I’m going to break these down into further categories for what I think the team will do.
Players that Likely Aren’t Back
Kyle Long, Mike Remmers, Jarran Reed, Demarcus Robinson, Austin Blythe, Dorian O’Daniel, and Armani Watts are all big question marks for one reason or another. Injuries derailed Long and Remmers so it’s hard to see them back. Blythe is behind Creed Humphrey and I think they could look for a cheaper backup. O’Daniel never fit the system in KC once Spags took over the defense.
You could make a case for Watts to be back and maybe he will but it will be in a special team’s role at most and I think they like what they have in Anderson and Key. That brings us to Reed who at times played well but never seemed to take off like was expected. Robinson is a guy that keeps getting brought back but I just can’t see it again this year. I think Veach attacks the draft and free agency to upgrade the WR position.
Possibly Back with KC
There are a lot of players I could see in this category and likely somes names fans won’t want to see return. Daniel Sorensen, Ben Niemann, Blake Bell, Alex Okafor, are the four that I see that probably fit that description the best. All of them have their roles and we will see whether or not the Chiefs feel the need to bring any of them back. I would think that all of them could be waiting until after free agency to be brought back if they are.
Players the Chiefs Want Back
Tyrann Mathieu, Charvarius Ward, Mike Hughes, Byron Pringle, Chad Henne, Darrel Williams, Jerick McKinnon, Michael Burton, Derrick Nnadi, Andrew Wylie, James Winchester, and Marcus Kemp I could see them all on the roster in 2022. The likelihood is some of them won’t be back but the cost is going to be the determining factor with all these players.
Chad Henne is probably the biggest question mark in this bunch and I wouldn’t be shocked if he isn’t back. He provides a veteran for Patrick to have in the locker room and to learn from so I expect if he wants to play he’ll be in KC. I expect Winchester, Kemp, Hughes, and Burton are all guys the team would like to have back and I’d think the cost wouldn’t be an issue.
Darrel Williams, Byron Pringle, Derrick Nnadi, Andrew Wylie and McKinnon are all possibly going to get better deals elsewhere. They all provide the ability to start at their positions and will likely get pretty decent offers in free agency. I could see the team trying to get them all back but if I were to guess McKinnon and Nnadi could be the hardest contracts to beat elsewhere.
Charvarius Ward is a player that in my opinion doesn’t get enough credit for how good he has played. Originally an undrafted free agent that the Chiefs traded for from the Cowboys he has become a quality starter. At 25 years old he is about to get paid this offseason and the question is will it be in Kansas City or not. I’m sure the Chiefs would like him back but he may be too pricey because of his position.
Tyrann Mathieu has been the leader of the defense since he arrived in Kansas City. I’m sure the Chiefs mean what they say when they have discussed wanting him back in 2022. The question is what does Tyrann want? This is likely his last big contract and if he wants to be paid like the best in the game I think he is playing somewhere else in 2022.
Franchise Tag - Orlando Brown, Jr.
Brown can be a sore spot for some Chiefs fans because he is not the quickest LT and has allowed pressure to beat him around the corner. I get the concern but the Chiefs aren’t going to give up the compensation they did last year to let the guy walk this year. He also consistently got better throughout the season and Patrick began to also get a feel for where players would be going against Brown.
I think the Chiefs would like to get a long-term deal done with Brown but I don’t expect it to be done before the franchise tag period opens up on February 15th. They have until March 8th to place the tag on Brown and I expect it will happen as the Chiefs want him here for the future and at 25 years old he is still getting better.
The franchise tag amount for OL is $16,698,000 which in this case is likely to be a bargain for what I expect the contract that Brown will eventually get from the Chiefs.
There you have it. A summary of all of the Chiefs' free agents and their different designations for 2022. There is a lot more to come this offseason. Let me know if you have any specific Chiefs cap questions and I can touch on that in the future!