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UPDATE: Thursday, 10:03 a.m. Arrowhead Time
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport comes through with the contract details.
Catching up on an extension signed yesterday by the #Chiefs and C Austin Reiter: It’s a 2-year deal worth a max of $5.5M. This deal contains a $1M signing bonus, per source, for the player who started 4 games.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 6, 2018
The Kansas City Chiefs have announced they have signed backup center Austin Reiter to a contract extension.
Center Austin Reiter has signed an extension with the Chiefs. pic.twitter.com/BlSrCUmYdD
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) December 5, 2018
No contract details have yet been released.
Reiter, 27, was a seventh-round pick of the Washington Redskins in 2015. He spent a year on the Redskins practice squad and was then signed by the Cleveland Browns.
Reiter spent two seasons with the Browns, appearing in 17 games and starting just one before tearing his ACL in the game.
My guess is Austin Reiter got a deal similar to what Bryan Witzmann got a few years ago. Somewhere in the 2 year/$2M range. Wouldn't mind if Jordan Lucas, an another RFA, got that as well.
— Kent Swanson (@kent_swanson) December 5, 2018
Waived by the Browns at the end of training camp, Reiter was claimed by the Chiefs in September. He has played in seven games — including four starts in place of starting center Mitch Morse, who missed a chunk of time this season due to a concussion. Reiter has drawn praise from the coaches for his performance.
“Mitch (Morse) is working his way back in, but I will say I thought the kid Austin Reiter did a hell of a job,” Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy said back on November 29. “He stepped up. The good thing is, sometimes without any bad luck, you wouldn’t have any good luck at all. He had an opportunity to step in and play and show that he can perform at a high level when needed. That’s going to help us moving forward as we progress through the season because you never know when something may come up and he may have to step up and play.”
The move may show the Chiefs could be considering Reiter for a role other than Morse’s backup in the event of injury.
Morse will be a free agent in 2019 — just one of a number of Chiefs players whose futures with the team will have to be decided next year — and Reiter played well enough to give the Chiefs another option if they can’t re-sign Morse.