Chiefs Re-Sign Taco Charlton
The Chiefs are bringing back Taco Charlton. On Tuesday, the defensive end agreed to return on a one-year deal (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero).
Charlton fractured his leg in November, midway through the Chiefs’ thrilling victory over the Panthers. Up until that point, he had been playing a decent-sized role as a rotational pass-rusher. In the previous six games, he racked up two sacks, four quarterback hits, and a forced fumble.
Charlton’s NFL career started out as a highly-touted first-round pick of the Cowboys, but he quickly flamed out in Dallas. He was cut after only two-plus years with the Cowboys, then scooped up by the Dolphins. He had his best season as a pro with Miami in 2019, notching five sacks in ten games.
The 26-year-old (27 in November) was one of many Chiefs players to miss the Super Bowl. Andy Reid & Co. will hope for better health as they plot their return trip.
Chiefs To Sign Joe Thuney
One of the most high profile free agents is off the board, and the Chiefs have made a big splash. Kansas City is signing guard Joe Thuney to a five-year deal, his agent Mike McCartney announced on Twitter.
Details soon trickled in, with Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweeting that the five-year pact is worth a whopping $80MM. The first two years are fully guaranteed at $32.5MM, and while the third year is initially only guaranteed for injury it becomes fully guaranteed in year two, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network tweets. As such, he writes that $48MM of the deal is “practically guaranteed.”
Patrick Mahomes was running for his life during this past Super Bowl, and the Chiefs immediately set out to aggressively remake the offensive line. They cut both of their starting tackles, Eric Fisher and Mitchell Schwartz, and are expected to let starting center Austin Reiter walk in free agency.
At $16MM annually, Thuney is now the highest-paid guard in the league. Thuney was highly sought after, and we heard the Jets were preparing a push for the former Patriot. A third-round pick back in 2016, Thuney immediately became a starter in New England and has started all 80 possible games since entering the league.
That kind of durability must’ve been attractive to a Chiefs team that saw their O-line decimated by injuries last year. Thuney was a second-team All-Pro in 2019, and is one of the league’s best interior linemen. He has versatility, and started a couple of games at center for the Patriots in 2020.
Despite landing one of the big fishes on the market, Kansas City likely isn’t going to stop here with addressing Mahomes’ blockers. They’re also set to host the recently un-retired Kyle Long this week.
The Pats franchise tagged Thuney last offseason, but never got a long-term deal done. Minimal progress had been made right up until the point New England traded for Trent Brown, although Albert Breer of SI.com writes that “lines of communication” had recently reopened and that the Patriots had expressed interest in keeping Thuney.
Obviously nothing got done, and despite New England’s free-wheeling spending so far, Thuney got priced out of their range. It’s a big upgrade for the Chiefs.
Kyle Long To Visit Raiders, Chiefs
We heard recently that Kyle Long was planning on playing in 2021, and now we know he’s serious about it. The recently un-retired offensive lineman will visit the Raiders and then Chiefs this week, a source told Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
Schefter reports that Long will be in Las Vegas on Monday before heading to Kansas City. As he points out Long’s father, Hall of Fame defensive end Howie Long, played his entire 13-year career with the Raiders, so this would be a cool continuation of a family legacy. Long retired in January of 2020, but one season away from the game was enough to satisfy his body.
Drafted 20th overall by the Bears in 2013, Long made the Pro Bowl in each of his first three seasons before injuries quickly derailed his career. Over the past four seasons he never appeared in more than 10 games for Chicago, and played only four most recently in 2019.
Now apparently fully healthy, he’s ready to get back on the gridiron, and both of these teams make sense as potential suitors. The Raiders just traded tackle Trent Brown, and cut guards Richie Incognito and Gabe Jackson in the past couple weeks, although Incognito may return on a cheaper deal. The Chiefs have made revamping Patrick Mahomes‘ offensive line a priority this offseason, and they’ve already cut both of their starting tackles and are expected to let their starting center walk.
Long has mostly played guard in the NFL, but did make the Pro Bowl while filling in as the Bears’ right tackle in 2015. It sounds like he could have numerous options to choose from during his first taste of free agency.
RFA/ERFA Tender Decisions: 3/14/21
Teams have until March 17 to extend tender offers to their restricted free agents and exclusive rights free agents. Some teams are already making their calls in advance of March 17. We’ll keep tabs on the latest here:
RFAs
Non-Tendered:
- Chiefs: TE Deon Yelder
- Dolphins: WR Isaiah Ford
Both of these guys will now be hitting unrestricted free agency. Yelder signed with the Saints as an UDFA in 2018, and was added to the Chiefs’ practice squad later that year. He got meaningful playing time in 2020, mostly as a blocker, playing around 18 percent of the offensive snaps for Kansas City last season. He had only seven catches for 36 yards.
Ford was drafted by the Dolphins in the seventh-round back in 2017, then was traded to the Patriots this past November but quickly re-signed by Miami after New England cut him a month later. This one is mildly surprising since Ford played a real role on offense for the Dolphins the past two years, catching 51 passes for 520 yards in 18 games between 2019-20.
Latest On Patrick Mahomes' Restructure
- The Chiefs restructuring Patrick Mahomes‘ 10-year, $450MM contract saved them $17MM in cap space. Mahomes will now only count $7.43MM against Kansas City’s 2021 cap, per OverTheCap. He is only due $990K in 2021 base salary.
Chiefs Restructure Patrick Mahomes’ Deal
Less than a year after signing the NFL’s most lucrative contract, Patrick Mahomes agreed to restructure it.
The MVP quarterback will restructure his deal and create $17MM in cap space for the Chiefs, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. Language in the two-time Super Bowl starter’s deal allows the Chiefs to automatically restructure it to create cap space, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets.
The Chiefs will move much of Mahomes’ $21.7MM roster bonus into a prorated signing bonus. This comes a day after the team cut both Mahomes’ starting tackles. Kansas City has created around $35MM in cap space over the past two days.
Even after the releases of Mitchell Schwartz and Eric Fisher, the Chiefs were more than $4MM over the $182.5MM salary cap. Mahomes’ restructuring part of his 10-year, $450MM contract so soon will bring Kansas City under the cap, providing key ammo to go about adding new offensive linemen.
Chiefs C Austin Reiter Expected To Walk
The Chiefs really weren’t playing around about overhauling their offensive line. Hours after releasing both of their starting tackles, it looks like another starter on the O-line will be on the move shortly.
Center Austin Reiter will hit the open market and is expected to sign somewhere other than Kansas City, a source told Tom Pelissero of NFL Network (Twitter link). Patrick Mahomes was running for his life in the Super Bowl, and the Chiefs are clearly making upgrading his protection their priority this offseason.
Reiter started 12 games this past year (and played every snap in the Super Bowl), and all 16 the season before. A seventh-round pick of Washington back in 2015, he quickly ended up on the Browns and only had one career start under his belt when he landed in Kansas City via a waiver claim in 2018.
He turned into a nice diamond in the rough find for the Chiefs as a serviceable player, but they’re now apparently looking for a player with more upside to man the pivot. Reiter turned 29 in November.
Chiefs Release Eric Fisher, Mitchell Schwartz
The Chiefs have released left tackle Eric Fisher and right tackle Mitchell Schwartz, per a club announcement. Together, the moves will save the Chiefs upwards of $18MM. 
Both players finished the year on injured reserve and missed the team’s most recent Super Bowl. Schwartz was lost to back injury in October that ended his streak of 134 consecutive regular-season starts. He underwent back surgery just a couple of weeks ago, but should be back on the field no later than Week 1 of the 2021 season. He has never made a Pro Bowl and has just one First Team All-Pro nod to his credit, but Pro Bowl nods often elude elite right tackles. Schwartz has been one of the best right tackles in the league since he entered the NFL as a second-round pick of the Browns in 2012.
Fisher tore his Achilles in the AFC Championship Game, leaving them extra thin in the front five. Even before Schwartz’s injury, they lost interior standout Laurent Duvernay-Tardif and rookie tackle Lucas Niang to COVID opt-outs. They also lost left guard Kelechi Osemele in October — none of that has stopped the Chiefs’ world-class offense from reaching the championship game. Fisher started 113 games for the Chiefs across eight years for the Chiefs.
Even while the Chiefs were $20MM over the salary cap, GM Brett Veach was still looking for ways to keep the offensive line together.
“From the offset here, the draft looks to be really talented on the offensive line,” Veach said earlier this year. “So I think it’ll be a combination of what we have in-house and blending that in with some new talent. Potentially in free agency and potentially in the draft.”
Ultimately, the numbers crunch was too much, forcing the Chiefs to move on from their top outside protectors.
NFL Announces Compensatory Picks For 2021 Draft
The NFL has awarded compensatory draft picks for teams in the 2021 draft.
These picks are awarded to the teams that suffered the most significant free agent losses during the 2020 offseason. This year, the NFL awarded 36 comp picks. The comp pick formula assigns picks who suffered the largest net losses, so teams that signed multiple free agents have a lesser chance of receiving picks. The Cowboys top the list (shared below) with a league-high four selections.
A change to this year’s formula took place, with the NFL awarding four picks to teams who saw one of their minority staffers become a head coach or GM. The 49ers, Rams, Ravens and Saints earned third-round comp picks this year. They will receive additional third-rounders in 2022. The Rams added a third-rounder after losing college scouting director Brad Holmes (Lions GM); the Ravens lost quarterbacks coach David Culley (Texans HC); the Saints lost assistant GM Terry Fontenot (Falcons GM). In losing VP of player personnel Martin Mayhew (Washington GM) and defensive coordinator Robert Saleh (Jets HC), the 49ers will have an additional third-round pick in 2023 as well.
Here’s the full breakdown, by round and by team:
By round:
Round 3: Patriots (No. 96 overall), Chargers (97), Saints (98), Cowboys (99), Titans (100), Rams (101), 49ers (102)*, Rams (103)*, Ravens (104)*, Saints (105)*
Round 4: Cowboys (No. 139 overall), Patriots (140), Steelers (141), Rams (142), Packers (143), Vikings (144), Chiefs (145)
Round 5: Packers (No. 178 overall), Cowboys (179), Falcons (180), 49ers (181), Chiefs (182), Falcons (183), Ravens (184)
Round 6: Buccaneers (No. 217 overall), Saints (218), Falcons (219), Packers (220), Bears (221), Panthers (222), Vikings (223), Eagles (224), Eagles (225), Panthers (226), Cowboys (227), Bears (228)
By team:
- Dallas Cowboys (4)
- Atlanta Falcons (3)
- Green Bay Packers (3)
- Los Angeles Rams (3)
- New Orleans Saints (3)
- Baltimore Ravens (2)
- Carolina Panthers (2)
- Chicago Bears (2)
- Kansas City Chiefs (2)
- Minnesota Vikings (2)
- New England Patriots (2)
- Philadelphia Eagles (2)
- San Francisco 49ers (2)
- Los Angeles Chargers (1)
- Pittsburgh Steelers (1)
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1)
- Tennessee Titans (1)
* = special compensatory selection
Chiefs’ Anthony Sherman Retires From NFL
A big part of these recent Andy Reid era Chiefs teams has been fullback Anthony Sherman, but it doesn’t look like he’ll be back in Kansas City in 2021. Sherman appeared to announce his retirement in a video he posted to Twitter.
In the brief video, Sherman thanked Kansas City and said it was “on to the next chapter,” using the hashtag ‘retirement.’ A fifth-round pick of the Cardinals back in 2011, Sherman spent his first two years in Arizona before getting traded to the Chiefs prior to the 2013 season. He spent the next eight years as Kansas City’s fullback, and only missed three total games in that span.
He never played a huge role on offense, usually only getting a handful of receptions and rushing attempts per season. But he was solid as a lead blocker and played a big role on special teams, even making the Pro Bowl in 2018.
He’ll wrap up his impressive ten-year career with 66 catches for 552 yards and four touchdowns, and 28 carries for 73 yards and another score. He of course won Super Bowl LIV with the team, and all of us here at PFR wish Sherman the best in retirement.