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The NFL’s annual spring meetings are generally regarded as the end of the league’s free-agency period.
But that’s not entirely true, because teams will continue to make significant moves right up until the beginning of the NFL Draft on April 28 in Las Vegas. A year ago, the Kansas City Chiefs signed defensive tackle Jarran Reed on March 28, center Austin Blythe on March 30, fullback Michael Burton on April 1 and executed their trade for left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. less than a week before the draft.
Even so, it’s possible that right now, the Chiefs will make few (if any) personnel moves before the 2022 selection meeting gets underway.
When we published a similar free agency recap on April 5 of last year, the Chiefs had 73 players under contract. At this writing, Kansas City has 75 players.
At this time a year ago, the Chiefs had eight picks coming to them in the upcoming draft. (Two of them would be given to the Baltimore Ravens in the Brown trade, leaving six as the draft began). But today, the Chiefs have 12. While it’s unlikely that Kansas City will use every one of them to select players, it stands to reason that around seven or eight will be taken in Las Vegas — and after the draft, the Chiefs will likely target about that same number of undrafted free agents.
So without releasing some players who have already been signed, Kansas City isn’t going to have room on its 90-man roster for very many more free agents.
That means that this list is still subject to change... but it’s a good time to take stock.
Roster (75)
| Positon Group | Num | Players |
| Offensive Linemen | 12 | O.Brown, C.Humphrey, T.Smith, L.Niang, J.Thuney, N.Allegretti, A.Wylie, G.Christian, A.Reiter, R.Johnson, P.Wanogho, D.Williams |
| Tight Ends | 9 | T.Kelce, B.Bell, N.Gray, J.Fortson, M.Vital, M.Bushman, N.Griffin-Stewart, J.Franks, J.Pederson |
| Fullbacks | 1 | M.Burton |
| Running Backs | 4 | C.Edwards-Helaire, R.Jones, D.Gore, B.Knox |
| Wide Receivers | 13 | M.Valdes-Scantling, M.Hardman, J.Smith-Schuster, J.Gordon, D.Fountain, M.Sexton, G.Jennings, C.Finke, O.Bayless, G.Dieter, C.Coleman, J.Watson, C.Powell |
| Quarterbacks | 3 | P.Mahomes, C.Henne, S.Buechele |
| Defensive Linemen | 13 | D.Nnadi, F.Clark, C.Jones, T.Wharton, K.Saunders, M.Danna, J.Kaindoh, L.Neal, J.Woodard, A.Edwards, C.Broughton, D.Stills, M.Herring |
| Linebackers | 6 | W.Gay, J.Carter, N.Bolton, D.Harris, E.Lee, S.Calhoun |
| Defensive Backs | 11 | J.Reid, L.Sneed, J.Thornhill, R.Fenton, D.Bush, D.Baker, D.Key, B.Dandridge, D.Bootle, L.Barcoo, Z.Anderson |
| Placekickers | 1 | H.Butker |
| Punters | 1 | T.Townsend |
| Long Snappers | 1 | J.Winchester |
| Total | 75 | - |
Cap space
Between $7.8 million and $15.2 million — probably close to $12.3 million
UPDATE at 4:20 p.m. Monday: We now know the details on wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling’s contract, which carries a 2022 cap hit of just $4.8 million. That was the biggest question mark in our estimate of the team’s cap space. We now estimate it is between $12.0 million and $15.0 million — probably close to $13.5 million.
This includes the estimated salary-cap impacts of all known signings and releases. At this time, specific contract details for Deon Bush, Austin Reiter, Blake Bell, Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Ronald Jones are unknown; their cap impacts are being estimated.
At any time, you can get the latest roster and salary cap information from our Chiefs roster page, available under the Resources tab on any Arrowhead Pride page.
Free-agent signings (11)
These free agents from other teams have been signed to the Chiefs’ roster.
- RB Ronald Jones (UFA 3/26)
- LB Jermaine Carter Jr. (UFA 3/25)
- WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling (UFA 3/24)
- C Austin Reiter (UFA 3/23)
- S Deon Bush (UFA 3/23)
- DB Luq Barcoo (UFA 3/22)
- LB Elijah Lee (UFA 3/22)
- WR Corey Coleman (UFA 3/22)
- T Geron Christian (UFA 3/20)
- WR JuJu Smith-Schuster (UFA 3/18)
- S Justin Reid (UFA 3/14)
Free-agent re-signings (9)
These free agent players were on Kansas City’s active roster in 2021 — or on the reserve list.
- TE Blake Bell (UFA 3/24)
- DT Derrick Nnadi (UFA 3/20)
- G Andrew Wylie (UFA 3/16)
- QB Chad Henne (UFA 3/16)
- RB Derrick Gore (ERFA tender 3/16)
- TE Jody Fortson (ERFA tender 3/15)
- FB Michael Burton (UFA 3/14)
- CB Deandre Baker (ERFA tender 3/10)
- T Orlando Brown Jr. (UFA franchise tag tender 3/8)
Reserve/Future signings (27)
These players — some of whom were on Kansas City’s active or practice-squad rosters in 2021 — were signed to 2022 Reserve/Future contracts before free agency began.
- DE Jonathan Woodard (3/8)
- TE Nakia Griffin-Stewart (3/8)
- TE Josh Pederson (2/11)
- DE Shilique Calhoun (2/9)
- DB Brandin Dandridge (2/7)
- WR Justin Watson (2/4)
- DB Dicaprio Bootle (2/2)
- DT Cortez Broughton (2/2)
- TE Matt Bushman (2/2)
- WR Gehrig Dieter (2/2)
- DE Austin Edwards (2/2)
- WR Daurice Fountain (2/2)
- WR Josh Gordon (2/2)
- LB Darius Harris (2/2)
- OT Roderick Johnson (2/2)
- DB Devon Key (2/2)
- WR Cornell Powell (2/2)
- TE Mark Vital Jr. (2/2)
- C Darryl Williams (2/2)
- WR Chris Finke (1/19)
- DT Darius Stills (1/11)
- WR Omar Bayless (1/11)
- WR Gary Jennings (1/11)
- WR Mathew Sexton (1/11)
- DT Lorenzo Neal Jr. (1/11)
- TE Jordan Franks (1/11)
- RB Brenden Knox (1/11)
Players traded (1)
- WR Tyreek Hill (traded to Dolphins 3/23)
Free agents signed elsewhere (7)
These former Chiefs players have been signed to other teams.
- S Daniel Sorensen (UFA signed with Saints)
- WR Demarcus Robinson (UFA signed with Raiders)
- DT Jarran Reed (UFA signed with Packers)
- CB Mike Hughes (UFA signed with Lions)
- WR Byron Pringle (UFA signed with Bears)
- CB Charvarius Ward (UFA signed with 49ers)
- C Austin Blythe (UFA signed with Seahawks)
Players released (1)
- LB Anthony Hitchens (released 2/22)
Remaining unrestricted free agents (12)
These players had Kansas City contracts that expired at the beginning of the new league year on March 16 — making them unrestricted free agents — but have not yet been signed to another team. Some of these players could easily be re-signed to the squad before the season begins.
- DB Chris Lammons (UFA)
- DE Melvin Ingram (UFA)
- WR Marcus Kemp (UFA)
- G Kyle Long (UFA)
- S Tyrann Mathieu (UFA)
- RB Jerick McKinnon (UFA)
- LB Ben Niemann (UFA)
- LB Dorian O’Daniel (UFA)
- DE Alex Okafor (UFA)
- T Mike Remmers (UFA)
- S Armani Watts (UFA)
- RB Darrel Williams (UFA)
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