Free agents continue to pass on signing with the Kansas City Chiefs

The Kansas City Chiefs haven’t made a huge splash in free agency despite being linked to several different players. 

Despite signing Joe Thuney and Kyle Long in the first week of free agency, the Kansas City Chiefs have mostly been quiet so far. That’s not uncommon for a team that’s over the salary cap and typically I wouldn’t have even written an article about it, but this tweet from NFL Update caught my eye.

The tweet touches on how the Chiefs have been said to be in the running for at least three key players and haven’t landed any of them. This is certainly interesting to think about because you’d think that free agents would want to join the Chiefs, a team who has made it to back-to-back Super Bowls and has the best player in the league at quarterback.

All three of the players mentioned above in the tweet would benefit from playing with Patrick Mahomes too, as JuJu Smith-Schuster and Josh Reynolds would get to catch passes from him and pad their stats while Trent Williams would be blocking for him.

So, what gives? Why are these players passing on the Kansas City Chiefs?

We know the reason why when it comes to Williams, who was always going to the highest bidder. That simply wasn’t a battle the Chiefs were going to win, despite being in the running until the end. Paying a 33-year-old tackle $20 million a year is something the Chiefs should avoid, so I was glad this contract didn’t happen.

As for the other two, however, it’s a more perplexing decision.

Smith-Schuster’s biggest offer after Pittsburgh was division rival Baltimore, but the Chiefs were in the mix too. The former USC wideout took significantly less money per Adam Schefter to return to the Steel City, signing a one-year deal worth $8 million. The Chiefs could have afforded that and they desperately need a WR2 in 2021.

Reynolds chose to sign with the Titans and be their WR2 rather than come to KC and fill the same role. The numbers of Reynolds’ contract aren’t out yet, but it’s hard not to think the Chiefs could have swung a deal for the former Ram. Reynolds would have been an ideal WR2 option for the 2021 season but chose to play in Nashville and catch passes from Ryan Tannehill instead.

Maybe these two players figured they’d be third fiddle behind Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce, but in Smith-Schuster’s case, isn’t that already what he’s dealt with in Pittsburgh? He’s behind Chase Claypool, Diontae Johnson, and sometimes even James Washington there.

Going along with this theory though, it’s been a weird offseason for the wide receiver position per Dianna Russini and many of these guys are signing just one-year deals. Putting up the kind of stats they’d like to in order to receive a huge deal next year might be something they’d find difficult to do in Kansas City, because, as mentioned above, they’d be the third-best option behind Hill and Kelce.

At the end of the day, we have no real idea as to why these players are passing on coming to play with the Chiefs. They did get embarrassed in the Super Bowl, but this team is still going to be a Super Bowl contender in 2021 and free agents know that.

Why do you think these players are passing on the Chiefs and signing elsewhere?