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Chiefs Agree To Terms With Second-Round DT Omarr Norman-Lott

July 19th, 2025 at 6:38pm CST by Adam La Rose

The Chiefs have completed each of their rookie deals. Second-round defensive tackle Omarr Norman-Lott has agreed to terms, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports.

Norman-Lott was selected with the No. 63 pick in April’s draft. Financial details have not emerged on his four-year rookie contract, but it is safe to assume it is not among those which are guaranteed in full (like a number of others for players taken at the beginning of the round). That slot saw guarantees of 52.7% and 52.5% over the past two years, Over the Cap’s Jason Fitzgerald notes.

2025 has seen a notable upward shift in terms of a higher portion of second-round contracts being guaranteed at signing. That will no doubt be the case with Norman-Lott and future players taken at that spot. With the deal in place, team and player can turn their attention to training camp. Chiefs players report on Monday.

The Chiefs lost Tershawn Wharton in free agency, leaving them with a notable vacancy along the interior. All-Pro Chris Jones is still in place of course, but Kansas City entered the draft in need of a new pass-rushing presence along the defensive front capable of handling at least a depth role early on. Given the strength of the 2025 DT class, it came as no surprise the team targeted one early in the draft.

Norman-Lott spent his first three seasons at Arizona State before transferring to Tennessee. During his two years with the Volunteers, he totaled 9.5 sacks and 10 tackles for loss. Questions were raised during the pre-draft process about his ability to anchor against the run, but Norman-Lott should at least be able to chip in as a pass-rushing contributor as a rookie. If he develops beyond that over time, the Chiefs will continue to have a strong presence along the defensive interior for years to come.

With the final rookie contract worked out, here is a final look at the Chiefs’ 2025 draft class:

AFC Staff Updates: Dolphins, Chargers, Chiefs

July 19th, 2025 at 5:53pm CST by Ely Allen

The Dolphins made a move on their offensive staff this week, promoting senior offensive assistant Chandler Henley to run game specialist, per Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports.

A Yale graduate like his head coach, Henley initially worked in sales for IBM and Google. On the side, though, he worked as a part-time researcher for NBC’s Football Night in America. He first got into coaching at Vanderbilt, stating as an offensive/recruiting graduate assistant before getting promoted to assistant quarterbacks coach. He left for the tight ends coaching job at his alma mater, leaving again three years later for an opportunity in the NFL.

Henley joined the Titans in 2018 as a quality control coach working primarily with the offensive line. In 2021, he was hired as assistant offensive line coach of the Falcons, before joining the Dolphins the following year as assistant quarterbacks coach. He was promoted to his most recent position just last year and will serve under his third title in Miami for the 2025 season.

Here are a few other staff updates from around the AFC:

  • ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported yesterday that the Chargers have hired Chuka Ndulue as their new assistant defensive line coach. Ndulue spent the 2024 season as assistant coach and defensive line coach at Colorado State. A standout defensive lineman at Oklahoma, Ndulue signed as an undrafted free agent with the Broncos in 2015. His two years in the NFL as a player also saw him with the Chargers, but he never saw game time with either team. He returned to his alma mater in 2017 to volunteer as an assistant for the defensive line. The next year, he joined Nebraska as a graduate assistant for the defensive line and got his first full defensive line coaching job with FCS Southern Illinois in 2019. After three years with the Salukis, Ndulue coached the same position group at New Mexico State for two years before landing in Fort Collins. Now, he’ll head to Los Angeles to once again make the jump from collegiate football to the NFL, this time as a coach.
  • Finally, shifting from coaching staffs to front office, the Chiefs announced some new hires as the head into camp. In analytics, Sarah Pollack was named as a football data science fellow. In the scounting department, Curtis McGhee, Brayden Nagy, and Ryan O’Connor were named player personnel interns. Nagy is the son of the team’s offensive coordinator, Matt Nagy.

Chiefs WR Rashee Rice Sentenced To 30 Days In Jail, Five Years Probation

July 17th, 2025 at 10:07pm CST by Adam La Rose

The legal situation surrounding Rashee Rice has reached a conclusion. The Chiefs receiver was sentenced on Thursday to five years probation and 30 days in jail, as first reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

The prison sentence can be served at any time within that five-year period. Schefter adds Rice also received deferred adjudication, meaning that if he completes the probation process his case will be dismissed. This development paves the way for the NFL to move forward with its own investigation and potential discipline against Rice.

“We have been closely monitoring all developments in the matter which remains under review,” an NFL spokesman said in a statement (via Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports). The Chiefs declined to comment (h/t Jones).

Rice was one of two people driving when a Lamborghini SUV and a Corvette lost control the night of March 30, 2024. He and all five other total occupants of the two vehicles fled the scene after the accident, which came about while Rice and former college teammate Theodore Knox were believed to be street racing. Rice became the subject of an arrest warrant days later and turned himself in to police. The 25-year-old faced a total of eight felony charges stemming from the incident.

As noted by the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office (via NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero), Rice entered into a plea agreement on two third-degree felonies (collision involving serious bodily injury and racing on a highway causing bodily injury). Prior to the agreement, Rice had already paid for the victims’ medical costs, totaling roughly $115K.

“Last March, I was involved in a high-speed accident in Dallas,” a statement from Rice (delivered through his attorney) reads. “There have been a lot of sleepless nights thinking about the damages that my actions caused, and I will continue working within my means to make sure that everyone impacted will be made whole. I urge everyone to mind the speed limit, drive safe and drive smart.

“Last and certainly not least, I am profoundly sorry for the physical damages to person and property. I fully apologize for the harm I caused to innocent drivers and their families.”

Without a legal resolution in place by the start of the 2024 regular season, the NFL declined to place Rice on the commissioner’s exempt list. That allowed him to play and led to the expectation a suspension would not be handed down until 2025. In Week 4, the SMU product suffered a knee injury which was initially feared to be an ACL tear; further testing revealed that was not the case.

Nevertheless, Rice’s knee surgery ended his season and left the Chiefs shorthanded at the receiver spot. Two years remain on the former second-rounder’s rookie contract, and he is slated to be healthy in time for training camp. Of course, it now remains to be seen if he will be with the team at the onset of camp or if he will use the period between now and the start of the campaign to serve his jail time. In any case, today’s update should open to door to a decision regarding a suspension being made in the near future.

Minor NFL Transactions: 7/16/25

July 16th, 2025 at 7:16pm CST by Ely Allen

With rookies starting to report for training camp, we’ve got a good number of minor moves for the first time in a while today:

Baltimore Ravens

Cleveland Browns

Detroit Lions

Kansas City Chiefs

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Smith, a former fourth-round pick out of Northern Iowa for the Giants, has decided to hang up his cleats, putting an end to an unfortunately injury-marred career at 26 years old. After opening up his rookie season on injured reserve due to a hamstring injury early in training camp, Smith played eight games as a rookie before suffering a neck injury that sent him back to IR. New York held out hope, activating him off of IR eight games into his sophomore campaign, but ultimately, Smith returned to IR after only five more games.

After the Giants waived him early in training camp in 2023, Smith found his way to the Jets’ practice squad in mid-October but was released at the turn of the month. Three weeks later he signed to the practice squad of the Raiders, with whom he would finish the season and sign a reserve/futures deal. Las Vegas, though, waived him with an injury designation before finalizing their 53-man roster for 2024. Smith rebounded once more with the Browns, and thanks to two gameday practice squad elevations, Smith played in two games last season — his first since 2022 — and signed a futures deal in Cleveland.

Injuries to his legs and neck early in his career derailed a career for Smith that was never really able to get going. Unfortunately, the former first-team FCS All-American’s playing time has come to an early end.

Ross reportedly asked for his release from the Chiefs, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network. The once promising Clemson star who totaled 1,000 yards with nine touchdowns as a freshman and 865 yards with eight touchdowns as a sophomore continues to struggle in his return to football stardom. After missing the 2020 season due to surgery addressing a congenital fusion condition of his neck and spine, Ross only amassed 524 receiving yards and three touchdowns in his final year with the Tigers before going undrafted in 2022.

Despite injuries leaving the Chiefs pretty thin at receiver at times in the past few years, Ross never was able to step up and take a spot on the offense. When his undrafted contract expired and he’d only seen action in 12 games and caught six passes totaling 53 yards, Ross signed the exclusive rights tender the team placed on him, as his only other option would’ve been to not play in 2025. Instead, he approached Kansas City with a request to be released, and the Chiefs acquiesced. The 25-year-old will go to the waiver wire, and if no teams claim him, he’ll be able to sign anywhere he wants.

Chiefs, G Trey Smith Finalize Extension

July 15th, 2025 at 9:45pm CST by Nikhil Mehta

9:45pm: Smith will see $46.75MM fully guaranteed, according to SI.com’s Albert Breer. That sits second among guards, trailing only Lindstrom’s $48.2MM number. Smith’s guarantee also checks in lower than what two franchise tags would have brought, but Kansas City was still able to finalize a deal before today’s deadline.

As the Chiefs reward the former sixth-round pick, they will use their Patrick Mahomes guarantee model. Smith secured a rolling guarantee structure, per Breer, who reports the Pro Bowl right guard’s $23.25MM 2027 base salary will become fully guaranteed on Day 3 of the 2026 league year. Smith’s $23.25MM 2028 base salary is nonguaranteed, but the 2027 structure effectively ensures he will collect three years’ worth of cash on this lucrative contract.

12:45pm: The Chiefs are finalizing a four-year extension with franchise-tagged right guard Trey Smith, according to FOX Sports’ Jordan Schultz.

The deal is worth $94MM with $70MM in guaranteed money, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, keeping Smith as the highest-paid guard in league history. His $23.5MM APY is slightly more than his one-year franchise tag and resets the position’s market by $2.5MM after the Eagles gave left guard Landon Dickerson $21MM per year last offseason. Smith’s total guarantees of $70MM will also set a new record by $7MM, per OverTheCap, beating out Falcons right guard Chris Lindstrom.

News of the agreement comes mere hours before a 3pm CT deadline for tagged players to sign a multiyear deal. With a strong desire to lower Smith’s 2025 cap hit and lock him down for the foreseeable future, the Chiefs finally accomplished their biggest goal of the offseason. This comes three years after Kansas City failed to beat the buzzer with left tackle Orlando Brown Jr., but the team had eyed a Smith payday for a bit. The March Joe Thuney trade set this in motion, as the three-time reigning AFC champions swapped out one high guard salary for another.

Smith will be under contract through 2028, as will All-Pro center and fellow 2021 draftee Creed Humphrey, who signed a four-year extension last August. Arguably the best guard-center duo on the league, Smith and Humphrey are both the highest-paid players at their position and will form the bedrock of the Kansas City’s offensive line for years to come.

While the Chiefs are coming off a humbling loss in Super Bowl LIX — a game that saw its O-line struggle — the team had done well to reconfigure its O-line following the Buccaneers’ Super Bowl LV onslaught. This came via the Brown trade, the Thuney contract (five years, $80MM) and adding Humphrey and Smith in the draft. It will be on Smith and Humphrey to lead the way back following the Eagles’ blowout win.

The Chiefs also spent this offseason acquiring potential long-term left tackles to join Smith and Humphrey on the O-line, including veteran free agent signing Jaylon Moore and first-round rookie Josh Simmons. However, the team’s future at left guard and right tackle is less certain. 2023 UDFA Mike Caliendo is the most experienced guard on the roster with just three career starts, while right tackle Jawaan Taylor has struggled to live up to his $80MM contract and has no guaranteed money on his deal after this year.

Regardless of who he plays next to, Smith figures to be one of the best blockers in the league for the foreseeable future. He fell into the sixth round of the 2021 draft due to medical concerns about blood clots in his lungs, but earned the Chiefs’ starting right guard job as a rookie and never looked back.

The 25-year-old blocker has only missed one game due to injury in his four-year NFL career and was selected to his first Pro Bowl in 2024 after giving up only one sack in 1,288 total snaps, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required). PFF has rated Smith as a top-15 guard in each of his four seasons, and ESPN’s pass block win rate has slotted him sixth in run blocking in 2024 — after placing him fourth in pass protection in ’23.

Smith’s new contract is a final leap in a guard market that has exploded over the last few offseasons. Next up will be Cowboys Pro Bowler Tyler Smith, who is entering the final year of his rookie contract. He could approach Smith’s $23.5MM APY, but other guards up for new deals are either significantly older or significantly less-proven.

Chiefs Pursuing Multi-Year Agreement With RG Trey Smith Before July 15 Deadline

July 14th, 2025 at 10:07pm CST by Nikhil Mehta

The Chiefs are hoping to reach an agreement with franchise-tagged right guard Trey Smith ahead of a July 15 deadline for him to sign a multi-year deal.

The team has been in touch with Smith’s representation in recent days, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, but negotiations are coming down to the wire. Smith already signed his non-exclusive franchise tag in March, locking in a fully guaranteed $23.4MM salary for the 2025 season if the two sides can’t come to multi-year terms before the deadline passes tomorrow.

An extension has obvious appeal for both sides. For Kansas City, it’s a chance to lock down one of their best players for the foreseeable future while reducing a 2025 cap hit that ranks third among all offensive lineman. (Chiefs right tackle Jawaan Taylor ranks second, according to PFR’s Adam La Rose.)

For Smith, an extension would mean long-term financial security and a stronger up-front cash flow. He said last week that he is focused on football and leaves the contract talks to his agents at Creative Artists Agency.

The $23.4MM tag makes Smith the highest-paid guard in the league ahead of Landon Dickerson at $21MM per year and three others with an APY above $20MM. A multi-year agreement with the Chiefs would keep Smith in the top spot, per Rapoport, but the Chiefs may not want to reset the market by $2.4MM.

A second tag in 2026 would be unlikely with a price tag of $28.08MM, but it could establish a framework for a deal. Two straight tags for Smith would pay him $51.48MM in fully guaranteed money over the next two years, outpacing the previous high of $48.2MM set by Chris Lindstrom. The Chiefs could design a contract with a similar cash flow and guarantee structure in an attempt to convince Smith to take an overall APY below $23.4MM.

Such a deal would have to come together before tomorrow’s deadline. If not, Smith will play on the tag this year to set up another round of extension negotiations after the season.

Players To Spend Season On Franchise Tag Since 2015

July 13th, 2025 at 10:07pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Chiefs and Trey Smith have just less than 48 hours to agree on a long-term extension; otherwise, the Pro Bowl guard will play on the franchise tag and negotiations will be tabled until 2026. That is 2025’s only tag situation as the July 15 deadline approaches.

Over the previous 10 offseasons, 77 players received the franchise tag. Many of those signed extensions before the midsummer deadline. Here are the players who did not and ended up playing the season for the tag price:

2015

Pierre-Paul’s infamous fireworks accident led to Giants rescinding $14.8MM tag, setting up revised agreement 

2016

2017

2018

Bell did not collect any money on his 2018 tag, being the 21st century’s lone franchise-tagged player to skip season

2019

Texans applied $15.9MM linebacker tag on Clowney, trading him to Seahawks in August 2019; edge rusher agreed to salary reduction upon being dealt

2020

Ravens, Judon agreed on compromise between defensive end, linebacker tag prices. Ngakoue agreed to salary reduction to facilitate trade from Jaguars. Vikings traded edge rusher to Ravens before 2020 deadline. Prescott received exclusive franchise tag from Cowboys.

2021

2022

2023

Raiders provided raise to Jacobs to bring him into training camp

2024

Chiefs’ Trey Smith Addresses Extension Talks

July 10th, 2025 at 9:26pm CST by Ben Levine

Time is ticking for the Chiefs and Trey Smith to agree to a multiyear extension. While both sides would benefit from some long-term security, it sounds like the offensive guard isn’t overly concerned about his current lame-duck status.

“I leave it to the hands of my agents,” Smith said during a recent appearance on Up and Adams (via NFL.com’s Nick Shook). “Obviously, the front office staff of the Chiefs are elite, and you know, at the end of the day, I just let them take care of it. I just have to focus on being the best version of myself, being the best football player and being prepared for training camp because St. Joe’s is around the corner.”

The former sixth-round pick finished his rookie contract in 2024 and was subsequently slapped with the franchise tag. That means the offensive guard is temporarily attached to a $23.4MM salary for the upcoming season, an AAV that would easily make him the highest-paid player at his position. That probably explains why Smith isn’t sweating his lack of an extension, and assuming he can stay healthy next season, he may be happy to face a similar situation next year. The two sides have until July 15th to agree to an extension. Otherwise, Smith will play the upcoming season on the tag.

Still, it seems pretty clear that Smith is destined to ink a long-term deal with Kansas City. The Chiefs moved on from fellow guard Joe Thuney this offseason, opening a potential hole on one side of the offensive line. That competition will likely come down to Mike Caliendo and Kingsley Suamataia, who have combined for five career NFL starts.

Alongside center Creed Humphrey, Smith provides some stability on the interior. Smith has only missed a single regular season game since entering the NFL, and he’s consistently finished in the top-20 in Pro Football Focus’ positional rankings. With a Pro Bowl nod and two Super Bowl rings on his resume, Smith is surely eyeing a lucrative pay day, and the Chiefs have plenty of reasons to hand him that next pact.

33 Unsigned 2025 Draft Picks Remain

July 9th, 2025 at 9:19pm CST by Ely Allen

The NFL has hit a logjam and is collectively lagging far behind where it normally is at this point in the offseason. Two years ago, the league hit its last 30 unsigned players before July. Last year, teams were signing rookies as quickly as they were drafting them, and only 10 players remained unsigned by June 17. A couple intriguing situations have caused pens to go quiet in 2025, and as a result, here are the 33 remaining unsigned rookies of the 2025 NFL Draft:

Round 1:

Round 2:

Round 4:

  • No. 107 (Jaguars): Jack Kiser (LB, Notre Dame)

In recent years, a trend has seen second-rounders lasting the longest, but what we’re seeing this year is unheard of. As rookies have been getting a bit of flexibility in negotiating structures of guarantees, getting deals done has become a waiting game of seeing what surrounding picks are getting for comparison. Last year, teams breezed through the issue, but 2025 has seen significantly increased troubles.

Texans wide receiver Jayden Higgins set the tone by signing a fully guaranteed rookie contract, the first ever for a second-round selection. The next day, the Browns were essentially forced to do the same for Carson Schwesinger, picked one slot before Higgins. Shough, the Saints rookie quarterback, is seeking the same deal, hoping that his elevated status as a passer will help convince New Orleans to continue making history. Shough’s efforts have caused every pick between him and Higgins to stand pat, waiting to see if they get to ask for full guarantees from their teams, as well. This would be a drastic development, as last year’s 40th overall pick, Cooper DeJean, received only two fully guaranteed years with only partial guarantees in Year 3.

The biggest story outside of the second round is that of the standoff between Stewart and the Bengals. Stewart has issues with what he perceives as a lack of protection in Cincinnati’s offer that causes a contract default in any year to void any guarantees in all the following years. It’s a new precedent the team is trying to set, and Stewart seems intent on preventing them from doing so.

It will be interesting to see which standoff gets settled first: Stewart’s or Shough’s. The latter standoff ending would likely set off a domino reaction of second-round deals that would help a large number of teams close out their rookie classes. To this point, only four NFL teams have done so.

Chiefs TE Travis Kelce Not Planning To Finish Career Elsewhere

July 8th, 2025 at 9:56pm CST by Ely Allen

Three weeks ago, veteran Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce was undecided on his future once his contract expires at the end of the coming season. He claimed that he couldn’t see himself “ever playing anywhere else,” but with things up in the air still, he resolved to “deal with that down the road.” In an appearance on the Bussin’ With The Boys podcast a week ago, Kelce set the record straight.

When asked by former NFL linebacker Will Compton if he could see himself in another uniform, Kelce told the crew, “At this point, no. Maybe if you would’ve asked me that maybe like a contract or two ago, I’d have been like, you know, I’d keep it open.” 

He went on, waxing poetic about his affinity for Kansas City. Highlighting the connections he’s developed within the community, his relationship with quarterback Patrick Mahomes, whom he referred to as “family,” head coach Andy Reid‘s role as a mentor in his life, Kelce told the crew how he’ll always have a home in Kansas City.

The three-time Super Bowl champion is not ignorant of what the future holds, though. Heading into a contract year during which he will turn 36 years old, Kelce seems fully aware that, at some point, a business decision will be made by the Chiefs. While Kelce still has the ability to contribute to the Kansas City offense, putting up career lows in yardage and touchdowns in 2024 — not including his single-snap rookie season — continued a trend of decreasing production from his 2023 campaign.

Regardless of his contributions in the upcoming season, the Chiefs are going to have to start thinking long-term and investing young at the position. The team recently extended Noah Gray, who picked up a good amount of slack last year, while fourth-round rookie Jared Wiley saw one target in seven games before sitting out the rest of the season with a torn ACL.

With the writing beginning to appear on the wall, Kelce’s certainly made himself no stranger to life after football. With his own New Heights podcast that he hosts with his retired brother, Jason Kelce, an appearance on Saturday Night Live, acting credits in television shows like Moonbase 8 and Grotesquerie, and a soon-to-be-seen role in the long-awaited Happy Gilmore sequel, it’s hard to imagine Kelce disappearing from the spotlight any time soon. Whatever his future holds, it seems it won’t include him sporting a helmet with anything but an arrowhead on it.

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