Chiefs To Meet With DE Arden Key
Former Raiders and 49ers defensive end Arden Key has generated extensive interest this offseason. He is set to make the Chiefs his latest visit, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets.
The Chiefs and Key will huddle up Friday. Kansas City has a need opposite Frank Clark, who has not lived up to expectations since the Chiefs’ 2019 trade, and the team might face the prospect of its top defensive end being suspended in connection with his two gun-related arrests last year.
[RELATED: Chiefs, Clark Agree On Reworked Deal]
Once a first-round prospect, Key fell to Round 3 in 2018 and did not produce consistently for the Raiders. With the 49ers, however, the LSU product delivered an interesting contract year. He finished with 6.5 sacks and 17 quarterback hits — far and away career-high marks — and that has led to offseason interest. The Lions, Ravens and Jaguars have met with Key since free agency opened last week. The 49ers brought back Kerry Hyder, who played a similar role to Key for their 2020 team, providing an indication Key will soon commit to another team.
Kansas City traded for Melvin Ingram and saw the ex-Charger Pro Bowler do well to stabilize its pass rush, allowing the team to end its misbegotten Chris Jones-at-defensive end experiment. Ingram’s supplementary impact aside, the Chiefs still ranked 29th in sacks last season. Ingram is a free agent. Given Clark’s inconsistency and potential availability issues, the team certainly needs help on the edge.
Chiefs Sign WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling
Barely a day after they traded Tyreek Hill to the Dolphins, the Chiefs will sign one of the top wide receivers remaining on the market. Marquez Valdes-Scantling is committing to Kansas City on a three-year deal, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets. The Chiefs have since announced the move.
The former Packers deep threat agreed to terms on a three-year pact worth $30MM. The Packers still had hopes of re-signing MVS, but the four-year veteran will head to Missouri. Valdes-Scantling will receive $18MM guaranteed on a deal that can be worth up to $36MM. The Chiefs will save quite a bit of money with this receiver commitment, compared to what they would have paid Hill.
Kansas City offered Hill a contract that would have made him one of the league’s highest-paid receivers, but the sides did not progress. The difference in the Chiefs and Dolphins’ offers was notable, Drew Rosenhaus said (via the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson, on Twitter). The Dolphins gave Hill a four-year, $120MM extension, one that is closer to three-year, $75MM deal.
Valdes-Scantling visited Kansas City on Wednesday, shortly after the news broke Hill was being granted permission to seek a trade. The former fifth-round pick will join a reconstructed Chiefs receiving corps, which houses JuJu Smith-Schuster as well. The Chiefs still have Mecole Hardman under contract but have dealt Hill and seen Byron Pringle and Demarcus Robinson find new teams in free agency.
The Packers hoped they could convince MVS to stay, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com notes, but multiple suitors emerged. As a result, Valdes-Scantling will shift to another MVP quarterback. Despite entering the league two years later, Valdes-Scantling is only a few months younger than Hill. The 27-year-old wideout also struggled with drops during his time in Wisconsin, but he showed considerable deep capabilities with Aaron Rodgers. It is fairly easy to see why the Chiefs targeted him, given Hill’s long-range importance in their Patrick Mahomes-keyed attack.
Valdes-Scantling led the NFL with 20.9 yards per catch in 2020, catching six touchdown passes that season. Last year, a hamstring injury and a COVID-19 contraction led to the South Florida alum missing seven games. He finished the season with just 26 receptions for 430 yards. Valdes-Scantling does not have a 1,000-yard season on his resume at the pro or college level, but the Chiefs are confident he will fill part of the void created by Hill’s sudden departure. The Packers, meanwhile, will continue to search for difference-makers for a receiving corps that looks like one of the NFL’s thinnest post-Davante Adams.
Chiefs Bring Back Austin Reiter, Blake Bell
In the aftermath of their sizeable trade yesterday, the Chiefs have confirmed a number of signings, reuniting the team with some familiar faces. Among those is center Austin Reiter and tight end Blake Bell. 
[RELATED: Chiefs Trade Hill To Dolphins]
Reiter, 30, departed Kanas City last offseason after three years with the team, as part of their mass overhaul of the offensive line. He signed with the Saints in September, but only dressed for one game in New Orleans. He played six games with the Dolphins, starting five of those contests.
By re-joining the Chiefs, Reiter will be returning to the team with which he won the Super Bowl. He will not be reclaiming the starting role he had during that time, though, as rookie center Creed Humphrey was among the best in the position last season. Still, the former Brown will represent experienced depth for the o-line.
As for Bell, re-signing means he will be extending his second stint with the Chiefs. The former fourth rounder began his career with the 49ers in 2015, then spent individual years with Minnesota and Jacksonville. That was followed by a move to Kansas City, then another change of scenery in 2020, this time to Dallas.
However, he returned to the Chiefs last offseason, where he served as an effective backup to Travis Kelce. The blocking ability he has become known for was on display, while he brought his receiving totals (between the two seasons in Kansas City) to 17 catches for 154 yards.
Suddenly flush with cap space after the Tyreek Hill trade, the Chiefs likely won’t have used much of their available funds to bring back these two veterans. They should still be able to make other, more sizeable moves, but they will at a minimum have two familiar faces back in the fold on offense.
Chiefs Trade Tyreek Hill To Dolphins
6:54pm: Like Adams’ Raiders contract, Hill’s deal being backloaded inflated the AAV. A nonguaranteed $43.9MM salary in 2026 bumped this contract over $30MM per year, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk notes. Hill’s Miami extension is closer to a three-year deal worth $75MM. The Dolphins are giving Hill $52.5MM fully guaranteed at signing, and another $19.7MM — his 2024 base salary — will be guaranteed in March 2023. Like his lofty 2026 salary, Hill’s 2025 base ($21.8MM) is nonguaranteed. Even at $25MM per year, Hill’s contract compares favorably to Adams and Hopkins’ pacts for short-term value.
11:37am: It’s happening. On Wednesday, the Chiefs agreed to trade Tyreek Hill to the Dolphins (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). The deal will send a first-round pick and more to Kansas City, bringing one of the league’s most dynamic playmakers to Miami. 
The Dolphins will send a 2022 first-round pick, 2022 second-round pick, 2022 fourth-round pick, 2023 fourth-round pick, and a 2023 sixth-round pick to Kansas City in the deal (Twitter link via PFT). It’s a haul that’s somewhat similar to the trade that moved Davante Adams to the Raiders.
Hill will also ink a contract extension that will position him as the NFL’s highest-paid wide receiver, ahead of Adams, as agent Drew Rosenhaus tells Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Once finalized, it’ll be a four-year, $120MM megadeal with $72.2MM guaranteed (Twitter link). SI’s Albert Breer adds (on Twitter) that extension talks between Hill and the Chiefs broke down because he wanted to top Adams’ deal, something that Kansas City “balked at”.
The ink has barely dried on Adams’ contract, a five-year, $140MM whopper that gave him $28MM/year, $22.75MM guaranteed at signing, and $42.9MM in effective guarantees. DeAndre Hopkins previously held the mantle at $27MM/year, Adams topped Hopkins at $28MM, and Hill is now the king of the mountain with $30MM per annum.
The Dolphins are now armed with Hill, Jaylen Waddle, Cedrick Wilson, Devante Parker, and Trent Sherfield at wide receiver, giving them one of the most talented WR units in the NFL. That should be plenty to keep defenses honest against quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and open up more running opportunities for Chase Edmonds, Raheem Mostert, and Myles Gaskin.
The Jets were also in talks to acquire Hill this week, and they were willing to give up the No. 10 overall pick in a package for him (Twitter link via Ralph Vacchiano of SNY). The Jets were also willing to give Hill a top-level extension, but, ultimately, the Dolphins had the winning bid. Schefter adds that New York made an offer of picks 35, 38 and 69 in exchange for Hill and No. 103 (Twitter link). He also states that the Chiefs were willing to accept it, had New York been Hill’s preferred destinaiton.
Kansas City, meanwhile, now has a massive hole to fill in their offense. Without the speed of Hill to serve as a compliment to Travis Kelce, their wide receiver room is in need of an addition. To that end, they already signed JuJu Smith-Schuster earlier in free agency, but his skillset is much different than Hill’s. Expected to target a wideout in this April’s draft as early as the first round (where the Chiefs now hold the 29th and 30th overall selections) before this trade, Kansas City now faces even more pressure to do so if they are to maintain their highly-productive passing game.
Chiefs Host WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling, RB Ronald Jones
Following the sudden trade of Tyreek Hill, the Chiefs are eyeing some offensive reinforcement. NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reports (via Twitter) that the Chiefs hosted wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling. The reporter cautions that a deal is not imminent.
[RELATED: Chiefs Trade Tyreek Hill To Dolphins]
Meanwhile, Aaron Wilson of ProFootballNetwork.com writes that running back Ronald Jones also visited Kansas City today.
Valdes-Scantling was a fifth-round pick by the Packers in 2018, and he didn’t miss a single regular season game during his first three seasons in the NFL, culminating in a 2020 campaign where he finished with a career-high 703 yards from scrimmage and a league-leading 20.9 yards per reception. The receiver had a stint on the IR in 2021 that limited him to only 11 games, and he finished the season with 430 receiving yards and three touchdowns.
Jones was also a 2018 draft pick, with the second-round RB getting selected by the Buccaneers. Jones saw an inconsistent role during his first four seasons in the NFL; he had more than 1,000 yards from scrimmage in both 2019 and 2020, but he was limited to only 492 yards from scrimmage in 2021 while playing second fiddle to Leonard Fournette.
Chiefs To Trade Tyreek Hill?
The Chiefs have given Tyreek Hill permission to seek a trade (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero). Already, the Jets and Dolphins are engaged in “serious talks” to acquire the star wide receiver, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com hears (Twitter link). 
Hill, who turned 28 this week, was previously in extension talks with the Chiefs. As of this writing, he still has one more year to go on his three-year, $54MM deal. His next contract could very well come from another team. Multiple clubs have chatted with the Chiefs, Schefter hears (Twitter link), but the Dolphins and Jets currently stand as the frontrunners.
Clearly, the two sides had a bridge to gap in extension talks, but few expected Hill to be on the block. It’s yet another stunner in what has been a chaotic offseason. We’re hardly past the midway point in March, but Deshaun Watson, Russell Wilson, Davante Adams, Khalil Mack, Matt Ryan, Carson Wentz, Amari Cooper, and Yannick Ngakoue have all been traded. Depending on how things shake out, Hill could be the next superstar on the move.
The speedy wideout has teamed with Travis Kelce to form a top-end receiving duo for Patrick Mahomes. Teams limited Hill on deep routes this past year, dropping his yards-per-catch figure to 11.2, but he still managed career-high 111 receptions with 1,239 yards.
Beyond those two, the Chiefs haven’t gotten tremendous production out of their other targets. They’ve taken some steps to revamp their unit, including the recent additions of JuJu Smith-Schuster and Corey Coleman. Still, if you subtract Hill from the group, the Chiefs’ WR depth chart consists of Smith-Schuster, Mecole Hardman, Josh Gordon, Justin Watson, Cornell Powell, Dieter Gehrig, and Corey Coleman. If the Chiefs trade Hill, they’ll likely aim for a difference maker in the draft.
Despite his off-the-field controversies, Hill has been absolutely outstanding over the course of his career. Over the last six seasons, Hill has 479 catches, 6,630 receiving yards, and 56 touchdowns to his credit.
Chiefs To Sign Deon Bush
The Chiefs have agreed to sign safety Deon Bush, according to agents Drew Rosenhaus and Robert Bailey (Twitter link via Adam Schefter of ESPN.com). Financial terms are not yet known, but it’ll be a one-year deal for the former Bear.
[RELATED: Chiefs To Sign Coleman]
Bush, 29 in August, came into the league as a fourth-round pick of the Bears in 2016. Up until now, he spent all six years of his career in Chicago, serving mostly as a special teams specialist. Last year, however, Bush saw more defensive action, suiting up for 14 games (four starts) while notching two interceptions and five passes defensed. The Chiefs may use Bush for occasional support at free safety or slot coverage, but he’s likely to see more time on special teams.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the ball, the Chiefs have retooled their wide receiver group by signing one-time Steelers standout JuJu Smith-Schuster as well as former first-round pick Corey Coleman.
Chiefs Rework OL Joe Thuney’s Contract
The Chiefs have opened a significant chunk of cap space. The team restructured the contract of offensive lineman Joe Thuney, according to ESPN’s Field Yates (on Twitter).
Specifically, the Chiefs converted $12.86MM of Thuney‘s base salary into a signing bonus. The move created $9.6MM in cap space.
Thuney spent the first five seasons of his NFL career with the Patriots, earning two Super Bowl rings and a second-team All-Pro nod.The former third-round pick ended up starting all 80 of his games during his time in New England.
The lineman inked a five-year, $80MM contract with the Chiefs last offseason, and he proceeded to see time in all 17 games for his new team, appearing in 99 percent of his team’s offensive snaps. Thuney also started all three of Kansas City’s playoff games.
Minor NFL Transactions: 3/22/22
Here are today’s minor moves around the NFL:
Chicago Bears
- Signed: FB Khari Blasingame
Cincinnati Bengals
- Waived: OT Fred Johnson
Kansas City Chiefs
- Signed: CB Luq Barcoo, OLB Elijah Lee
Minnesota Vikings
- Re-Signed: QB Sean Mannion
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Re-Signed: DT Montravius Adams
Chiefs To Sign WR Corey Coleman
Journeyman receiver Corey Coleman appears to have found his latest home. Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports that the veteran is signing with the Chiefs (Twitter link). 
[RELATED: WR Robinson To Visit Raiders]
Coleman, 27, was a first round pick of the Browns in 2016. He started 18 of 19 contests in Cleveland, totalling 789 yards and five touchdowns. Injuries were an issue however, which, coupled with underwhelming production, led to him being traded to Buffalo in August 2018.
He was cut by the Bills one month later, which began a lengthy stay on the practice squads of the Patriots and Giants. He played eight games in New York during the 2018 campaign, but he only registered five catches. The Baylor alum did spend time as the team’s kick returner, though. He stayed in the Big Apple through the following season, but a torn ACL took away his chance of cementing himself as a starting-caliber player.
He signed another one-year deal with New York in March 2020, but was once again cut before the campaign began. After spending all of 2021 away from football, he will now attempt a comeback in Kansas City. The Chiefs have already made one notable addition to their receiving corps, signing JuJu Smith-Schuster to a one-year deal. He will add an accomplished complimentary option to their passing attack, but Coleman could find a role further down the depth chart.