Two Former Chiefs Players Rumored To Be Eying Reunion In Shocking Fashion
The Kansas City Chiefs have had a great offseason thus far, and two former players might be making a return to the roster.
Video Transcript
Let's go Chiefs Kingdom, and welcome to the Chiefs Roundtable Podcast.
I am Golden Jay.
That right there is Chico Noise.
We are from the Indiana Chiefs Fans Podcast.
And man, oh man, oh man.
You know I didn't wanna talk about it.
You know I said we just need to let it go, and we announced it a week or two ago.
Travis Kelce coming back.
Well- Yeah he actually officially signed his contract.
And let me tell you right up front, I didn't know what was going on with this thing.
you know, from initial out of the gate stuff, they just talked about a one-year deal worth $12 million with about $3 million worth of, of incentives.
So, you know, it could be up to 15.
But man, the truth comes out.
Mm-hmm.
He si- he signs a deal that's three years, and what is it?
45 million, uh- Uh- Oh, Go- four Yeah, it's 45 or 48.
Max value of 57.7.
57.
Max value of 57.
Okay.
Let me, let me just say this right up front.
If Travis comes back for another year, I would be completely and utterly surprised.
I think he wanted one more year to kinda brush off the crap season that they had last year, get Pat back and healthy, and especially, I think th- I think Travis knew he was coming back.
I don't think there was ever really any dispute in his mind.
I think he always knew.
Never a doubt.
Yeah.
He knew that he wanted to come back.
But you know, you gotta dangle that.
You gotta dangle that, that carrot out there in front of the in front of the donkey to see how far it'll go before it finally just gives up and- Right and, and they di- he did that.
He, he, he dangled, and, he said him coming back.
They cut a deal.
but I don't think he'll come back for another season after this one.
I mean, that's just my opinion.
obviously I could be 100% wrong, but s- so why don't you try to break this down for our listeners there, Chico?
I, I can't.
I can't break it down because I don't know either.
It's, what'd they call it?
They call it a poison pill.
They did.
which to me means that he's guaranteed to come back next season, but there's an opportunity to come back for two more seasons, but he doesn't necessarily have to 'cause they'll just restructure after that first season.
Right.
That's- Yeah, that is, that is the big thing to take away.
I- if he decides to come back, this whole thing will be restructured.
What's happening here is is that, what'd you say?
57 million?
Mm-hmm.
So he signs a three-year contract for 57 million, but this is This, this whole thing is, is structured to kinda stick it to the cap the way that they have built this thing.
So, yes, he's gonna get 12 million.
He's gonna get, thr- he's g- has the opportunity with three m- 3 million incentives, but actually, when you look at the way this is structured, he only takes a cap hit of just under $5 million for the, for the 2026 season.
So on paper, he's only got a $5 million hit.
Okay?
If he doesn't come back, that's dead money of about three and a half million dollars for the next two seasons because of the way this contract's structured.
But if he does come back, it essen- essentially using creative cap maneuvers such as the 50% rule and a later release date to help spread out the money owed to Kelce over the next three years, lowering the 2026 cap hit to under 5 million, while also limiting the dead money hit, they'd take on if, he were to be released or announce his retirement, where the extra money comes in, by way of 40 million poison pill, in- injection into the deal.
This essentially means that if Kelce is on the roster by June 2027, he is guaranteed $40 million.
but all this guarantees that by then Kelce will have retired or been released.
So it's, the poison pill is there if they decide they want him back under this contract, and it's 40 million, and it's gonna be a $40 million cap hit.
But I'm assuming that by, in, in by putting this in there, they already know that Travis is only gonna play one more year.
Right.
That he's already said, "Let's just, let's run back one more year and then I'm gonna call it good."
But what it does instead of a $12 million cap hit on this season, this only shows a, just a little under 5 million.
And this is Brett Veach at his best.
So are they looking at picking somebody else up for 7 million?
man, I don't know.
I mean, Noah, I haven't heard anything about Noah Gray coming back.
Have you?
I- is he still under contract?
Um- I thought he was a free agent.
so I mean, the ultimate replacementFor Travis, straight out of the gate was Noah Gray, because Noah's been studying with Travis for several years now and, and is He is a good ballplayer and he is a good tight end.
Is he Travis Kelce number worthy?
I don't know.
But I think it's somebody that Mahomes can trust to get the ball to and will make something happen.
But I don't know- Right if Noah is even under I thought he was a free agent, but I haven't heard nothing about him, in free agency at all.
So take that for what it is.
I don't know.
they're looking at a couple different tight ends in the draft.
A couple of them, and the names pass me at this point, because I, there's so many names flopping around out there that I can't keep them all, all straight.
But, as we get a little bit closer to the draft, I'm gonna have to really study what, all these people are throwing out there and, and who's gonna be best.
But, you know, we're This is the weirdest, this is the weirdest time because- Mm-hmm you know, we're not picking so late in the draft where it's irrelevant who we pick.
We're gonna, you know, at 30 or 31, you know, you pick the best player available.
And you have a lot of draft picks before that.
We're picking number nine.
Right.
And, you know, we are looking at all this.
Obviously Kansas City looked at, at, Jeremiah Love for a hot second.
Decided that they didn't think that he was gonna drop all the way down to number nine.
He, you know, I've talked about this before.
A lot of people think he's gonna end up at Tennessee, possibly New Orleans at number eight.
I think Tennessee is either four or five.
He's, he's gonna go early, and especially after his combine day.
So then it goes back to Bailey, Reese, and, oh, da, doh, da, I can't remember the third guy's name.
Bailey, Reese, and it starts with a B, I believe.
Baldwin or something like that.
Yeah, I'm not sure.
you know, it comes down to these, a couple of these, these defensive guys and, and they'll Their names have been thrown around, thrown around like crazy.
Are they gonna fall to number nine?
I mean, there's eight picks and four players, so you, you do the math.
I mean, it's a possibility.
And of course, then you have, a couple wide receivers and a couple of safeties or corners that are also on that list of, players who could possibly go.
Are they gonna draft another wide receiver with number nine?
I mean, it's a possibility.
It's not like we have a real depth in wide receiver right at the moment.
Right.
You know?
I mean, I think we have to.
I think that I mean, that's where I was at with it was- Yeah it's, we have to pick.
Yeah.
Listen, I would, I would personally, I'd go after Cam Jones.
If you want that extra defensive guy, I'd go get him, get him on a, a, a, a one-year friendly deal.
See how it goes.
You know Chris Jones wants him.
And then go get yourself a, a wide receiver right out the gate, or even, even a- Mm-hmm even a corner.
I mean, w- we are in such pain back there in that secondary at this point.
it's crazy to think about.
What do you got?
You, you got a look on your face like you just read something that, uh- Well, we're talking wide receivers.
I'm just looking at the wide receivers in the list for, for players to draft.
There's a, Where is he out of?
Texas A&M.
Okay.
His name is, KC Concepcion.
See, now that's one I haven't heard yet.
Oh my god.
Yeah.
Wide receiver out of Texas A&M.
He, I mean, he was up there for, I mean, I don't know how, how they list this.
KC Concepcion.
Yeah.
I mean, I mean, somebody's knocking at the front door, guys.
I think that, that's your guy right there.
Yeah.
I think so.
Just for the name alone.
KC Concepcion.
He'd have a number one jersey.
Number one jersey.
He'd sell the most.
Just for Concepcion.
I'd be, I would be, I'd be Yeah.
Well, KC, yeah, can, yeah.
Yeah.
And, and it's KC, the letters.
Right.
Not spelled any other way.
But I'd be interested to see what we do with our later pick, with our 29th pick and- Right are we gonna trade it away?
Are we gonna keep it?
What, what's gonna be the If we get offered something from somebody that's a couple picks next year, who knows?
No, and you're, you're absolutely right.
Or even picking up an extra pick this year.
I mean, we're going in with like, what?
A dozen picks right now or something to that effect, close to.
you know, there I was reading a report earlier about all of our fifth round, because we have three picks in the fifth round this year, this, this draft.
Right.
And it was going through the list of everybody who was drafted in the, in the fifth round, and there's some big names on there.
Dontay Hall was one of the big ones that popped out at me.
But, yeah, y- you're gonna get good players in the, in the later part of the draft.
Mm-hmm.
Which I always find interesting, you know?
We got, what, Pacheco?
We had Pacheco in the seventh round.
I mean, he was, I mean, out the gate, he was really, really good.
I mean, everybody loved Pacheco.
Yeah.
the injury kind of stalled out, and it, and it's a running back.
That's what running backs do.
They, they are the burst of energy, you know?
They come in, they burst for three, four years, and then, and then they're gone.
It's like a, it's like a Walmart TV, you know?
Once it burns out, you just throw it away and get a new one.
And- Yeah and unfortunately, and don't get me wrong, man, I loved Isaiah Pacheco.
I think, he was fun to watch, you know, 'cause he would bounce back up and be like, "Let's go again," you know?
It was like a rollercoaster ride for him, the, the tease on the teacups, and he's ready to go spin.
But-I mean, it, you can get Ryan Succop was amazing for us for a lot of years.
Mr.
Irrelevant, in his draft year was amazing.
So you can get good draft picks later in the, in the draft.
You don't always have to trade up and trade, you know who was it that did that for, Ditka did it in New Orleans years ago.
He s- he traded off everything to go and get a, a running back, by like the first or second pick.
But man, he, he leveraged the team's draft picks for one or two years to get, it was Ricky something.
Yeah.
wow.
I wanna say Anderson, but I don't think that's right.
But, yeah, I mean, you don't have to leverage everything to, to jump up.
You can find good talent throughout that entire draft.
And with three in the fifth round, man, there's gonna be some good talent left there, so.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
And Andy and Steve are going to be working hard to looking at those players that late in the, that later part of the draft.
So, did we cover the, did we cover the We kinda got off track.
Did we cover the Travis Kelce deal?
Yeah, I think we covered it enough.
I mean, it was, it's It just seems like, yeah, like you said, it's clearing the cap space for this year.
It's, it's opening up a little bit more, and odds are he's probably not gonna play three seasons.
I, honestly, I think once, once he gets through the 2026 season, no matter how far they go, I think that, I think that Travis is done.
once again, in my opinion, and once again, this time next year we're gonna be sitting here debating the, whether he's coming back or not, you know?
Yeah, it's gonna be the same story.
The pros and the cons.
But it is structured, this whole thing is structured that if he decides to come back they can renegotiate the deal, so- Yeah I mean- And that's- That, that poison pill's not gonna hit.
No.
Yeah, so.
so let's see.
Ba, ba, da, doom.
What else is going on in Chiefs Kingdom?
Pretty quiet, which is good.
I think they- I think they're just kinda preparing to get ready for this draft.
I don't know that there's a whole lot of big news going on.
Listen, man, the, it's Take it for what it is, and I'm just gonna, you know, put it up right here.
Flash whatever you want on the screen.
Rumor, rumor, rumor, rumor, rumor.
And this is a Facebook rumor, so take it for what it is.
I don't know.
And I, it, yeah.
I've been debating even talking about this, but I mean, it's something- Well- it's something that's interesting, and we're gonna kinda keep an eye out to see if this rumor's true or not, but, Jalen Watson signs with the Rams on a $51 million deal for three years, and he finds out that he's going to be in a backup role.
Which I'll tell you right now, I'm not paying some guy $51 million a year to, to play backup to anybody.
But, I mean, i- if there's the truth to that, the rumor has it is that he's reached back out to Kansas City to say, pretty much, "I wanna come home," because, I went to the the grass is apparently not greener on the other side.
He doesn't wanna be a backup.
He wants to go play, and he wants to play for a, a team that's g- gonna be a contender, so.
M- if it's a, if it's a rumor, it's a rumor.
If it's true, it would be great for us to have him back.
however, I am curious of whether he actually physically signed that contract with the Rams.
I mean, there's no getting out of that if you done signed your name.
I would assume he did.
I, I would assume he did too.
I If somebody offered me, I don't know, man.
somebody offered me 51 million to sit on the bench, I think I'd be okay with that.
Yeah.
You don't have to play.
You can sit there, relax.
Yeah.
Drink some Gatorade.
Have a water person come spray some water on you.
Yeah.
It'd be great.
It'd be great.
You just sit there on the nice warm bench- Go to practice 'cause you know those are But of course, that's rumor.
I don't know that I can say it enough.
Rumor alert.
Rumors.
Rumors.
Rumor.
'Cause I did some digging, and the only, the, as reported on this Facebook post is all that has come up.
There's nothing with, any 100% legitimate sites that say, "Hey, yeah, this happened."
It's all been via- Yeah a Facebook post, so.
Ever since you told me about it, I've looked it up.
I can't find it anywhere- Yeah besides that Facebook post.
Exactly.
But it's, it'd be interesting to see.
I don't know.
I, yeah.
I'm- Yeah kinda still just kinda even just peeking to see if I can find anything, but there's nothing.
Okay.
I, I don't think he's leaving the Rams.
I don't think he's coming back.
But it's just an interesting concept to think that you get the big money deal, and then you get over there and it's like, "Oh, well, what do you mean I'm not really gonna play?
Why would you pay me so much not to play?"
I'm lost here.
But why would I not take the money and sit the bench and- for a couple years?
Right?
Man, a competitor wants to play ball, man.
You know that.
That's true.
Yeah.
So I don't know.
Take it for what it is.
there's also did, have you heard the rumor that there's a possibility, however slim, and it's rumored, a- and you know, right now we're just full of rumors, so, and it's rumored that, we could possibly take Jawan Taylor back.
Yeah, we don't need that either.
Woo.
Woo, woo.
so Jawuan goes out into pre-agency and that pond went dry, and, there's nothing- Really?
on him.
Yeah, imagine.
Really?
Listen, I don't know that he wanted to leave Kansas City.
I mean, he still had Did he have another year on his deal and they just released him?
Or, I, I don't know.
I know that he had a $20 million cap hit, and, you would think that with all those players getting signed up, he'd be on that list of people getting, getting bought up, but apparently not.
So there's a possibility he could come back as a backup in a backup role on a lot less money.
or he could just, call it good, go home and retire, and enjoy- enjoy life.
All these teams are looking at, the, the players that are available, and they see Jawuan Taylor, and underneath his name the only record that he has says Most Penalized Player.
The last two years in the NFL.
well, it- Shredder is right next to it.
Oh, man.
Next.
I Listen, he got better.
Yeah.
He got better.
there was a couple years there where it was like every play, every flag you got thrown, you knew who it was.
Number 74.
74.
74.
74.
False start, 74.
Oh, oh.
Oh.
Yeah.
But he did get better towards, the la- the last second half of last year.
W- I mean, there was several games that I, that I wrote down, "No penalties on 74."
Illegal formation.
Chico does not like number 74.
I don't mind Jawuan Taylor as a player.
I just He needs to learn from his previous mistakes.
You don't get the same penalties four times in a game.
But I agree.
Learn.
Learn.
I, I don't disagree with you at all.
You get paid a lot of money to play this game.
Mm-hmm.
Yep.
It's true.
It is very, very true.
If I was, if I was, Kansas City, I would've tried to restructure him years ago down lower on his contract- and save some money, and maybe we wouldn't have had a such a bad season.
No, I'm just kidding.
Yeah, you can't blame that whole season on Jawuan Taylor.
there, there's always a way.
Yeah.
I'm kidding.
We know, we know who the Every Chico's throwing flags at number 74.
That's all, that's all it boils down to.
Yeah, I was actually calling in the ref saying, "Hey.
Oh, he's offside."
Yeah, yeah.
Illegal formation.
Flag, flag, flag, flag.
If we do this enough in a sh- crap season, then maybe we'll get rid of him.
they did.
He's gone.
He's gone.
We'll see if, we'll see if they take him back.
Uh- You know it's bad when the beginning of the season comes last year and, and my wife asks me, "Is Jawuan Taylor still playing for us?"
Oh.
is she l- is she looking forward to this new season or no?
I think I've burned her out on football.
Ah.
Get her back to Arrowhead and she'll- Oh, yeah she'll be loving- That's about the only- She'll be loving it again.
She's, she's always, she's always ready to go out there and watch football.
Always ready to go.
always ready to go to Arrowhead.
Yeah.
And you know, it's, it's, it's funny to see a new fan.
Not a new fan, 10 years.
She's been a fan for 10 years now.
Nice.
And st- that 10 years she hasn't seen a losing season.
Yeah.
The moment that losing season comes along, she's like, "Eh, it's just not as fun to watch."
Yeah.
Well, maybe not, but it's still the Chiefs and we're still fans, and you know, when you're a fan for 30 years it's a lot different than being a fan for 10 years.
It, absolutely.
Absolutely.
But I'm telling her right now, she cannot jump teams ever.
That's- No.
No.
She s- she is, she is here.
She is a Chiefs fan, and she better just buck up, buttercup, because here we go.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We got I mean, when you have a wall in your house dedicated to the Chiefs Just a wall?
Well, I have two walls, but- My, my podcast room's limited on I mean, there's Chiefs stuff here.
And I turn like that and, like, you can see it, but yeah.
Yeah, if you move your head.
There's stuff in here, but it's not as prominent as what yours is.
I have a l- I have a lot in just this room, but yeah, you start walking down the hallway and into the living room- It gets more?
Yeah it's everywhere.
big bottle collection, which your wife is going to drink my wine at my funeral.
Oh.
Oh, no.
Actually, I can just take all that now if you need me to.
Oh, yeah.
Maybe.
I'm running out of room.
I need to get more.
It'd look really good on this wall right here.
uh-huh.
Just line them up right through there.
Yep.
Long shelf.
yeah.
Wine bottles all around.
Yeah.
It's a beautiful thing.
Hey, we were talking about, earlier I was telling you about the fifth round.
I found this article that I was reading earlier.
I had to shut my computer down and restart as we started recording this podcast, so I lost all the pages that I had, had saved.
Jeffrey Bosa from last year, fifth round pick, he is the guy that they really thought would be taking over Drue Tranquill's space if they let Tranquill go.
And of course, I would imagine you're gonna see him on the field a lot more since, L'Joie Chenal is now gone.
He- I think he's probably gonna take over that role a little bit more also.
Right.
you know, in that linebacker, backer position.
VJ Thomas, defensive end, was another one that popped.
Noah Gray in 2021, picking number 162.Uh, like I said, talent.
Mike Danna was one.
Here's a good one.
If I tell you that we took a wide receiver from West Alabama in 2016, would you know who that was?
In the fifth round.
Wide receiver, West Alabama.
2016.
2016.
Yep.
Pick number 165.
Tyreek Hill.
Hey, good job.
Good job.
Fifth round pick, if you wanna think about that one for a minute.
Um- Yeah, but it's kinda hard, but I mean, that's 10 years for him in the league, too.
Mm-hmm.
11 years.
Yep.
Yeah, and coming off a major knee injury, which is, you know, which sucks, but D.J.
Alexander, offensive linebacker.
Offensive line- what is an OLB?
Now I'm showing that I don't like, I know football.
But what is OLB?
Did you say offensive linebacker?
Yeah.
That's what I said, and I was like, "That ain't right."
I, I mean, just OL, I mean offensive line, but I don't know.
What the B stands for?
Burger.
B- yeah, yeah.
I don't know.
That's why, that's why Andy liked him w- because he liked burgers.
d- we took- Who was it?
D.J.
Alexander.
I know the name.
Pr- he was from Oregon State.
I know the name.
I don't know.
I know it well.
we took a quarterback in 2014 by the name of Aaron Murray from Georgia.
I'm just, I'm just browsing.
There's Kendrick Lewis.
Brandon Carr.
Loved Brandon Carr- Oh, yeah.
I love Brandon Carr when he played for Kansas City.
Yep.
let's see what else we got.
There's Jordan Black.
He was in from, he was a tackle from Notre Dame.
Scott Fujita, linebacker, and that was in '02.
B- Dont Hall in 2000, wide receiver, Texas A&M.
Joe Horn, wide receiver.
And then we get back into the, like the '90s and late '80s that, some of the names just don't quite ring a bell, but I just, I- Willie Lee, there's a good one from, '76.
B- we've had great picks in the fifth round.
We've had some ones that just like I said, there's a shit ton on here that you've never heard of again.
Right.
B- Boomer Grigsby, linebacker from- Boomer Linebacker from Illinois State.
Marcus Maxey from Miami.
Colby Smith, running back from Louisville.
I mean, not all of the picks were great, but we had some good ones that came in the fifth round.
Mm-hmm.
Just saying, fifth round picks are not, not devastating.
There's a lot of talent there, and I'm excited to see what they do.
I'm seriously excited about nine and 20- 29?
Is that right?
Yes.
9 and 29.
9 and 29.
So let's get excited.
Chris Jones, Chris Jones was drafted the same year as Tyreek Hill, 2016.
Really?
Yeah.
Second round.
Oh.
Did we have our first round picks that year?
I don't know.
I have to dig into that and see if Chris Jones was a- Yeah player we took.
Website up I just pulled up that said, "Best picks from each team all time by round."
So the Chiefs, round one best pick, Patrick Mahomes, 2017.
Wow, absolutely.
Yeah, I mean, there's no, there's no doubt there.
Round two was Chris Jones at 37.
Okay.
let's see.
Round, was this, this would be Did we take Travis Kelce in round two as well?
Really?
I didn't realize he was quite that high, but 63 would be second round.
Um- 'Cause 64 would be the Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
So yeah, Travis Kelce was 63.
Pick number 63.
That's a great story if you ever get a chance to hear it, him talking about when, Andy Reid called him, you know, and just said, "Are you gonna screw this up?"
round three was Will S- Will Shields in- Wow, yes.
The great Will Shields '93.
Yep.
Also Joe Thuney in 2016.
Nice.
And to- Orlando Brown Jr., who was picked by the How does this work?
Orlan- It's got all three teams on there.
Orlando, Orlando was not a, was not picked by the Chiefs.
They picked him up.
No, he was picked by, he was picked by the, the, the, the Ravens, I think.
Oh, okay.
I think it was the Ravens.
It, that- it's a good possibility, man.
I have no idea.
None.
yeah, and then if you go s- outside the top 100 would be a bunch of randoms, so.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's pretty crazy when you start getting into that, but yeah.
The, I don't know, man.
We're at w- w- it's that time.
The e- the pre-agent frenesy, frenzy has slowed down for Kansas City.
They pretty much did everything that they wanted to do.
There's gonna be some, odds and ends stuff, and there has been some odds and ends stuff that just is, you know, it is what it is.
But, you know, we talked about it last week with the, the majors, so.
But they've slowed down really heavy this week.
but, you know, the Travis Kelce deal, which is the big, the big talk of the town right now.
And like I said, we'll hold tight and see what happens.
See if any of the Jalen Watson rumors are, there's any legitimacy to those at all.
Right.
but yeah.
Hopefully nothing.
We're gonna start trying to get into this draft a little bit, start looking at mocks and, and trying to, figure out as we're about, what, three weeks away or a month away from the draft?
Yeah, end of, end April, right?
Yeah.
End of April.
Yeah, it's your Wine Fest weekend, I think, is the draft weekend.
Fun.
Yeah.
Look for me and Chico Live draft night, Thursday night.
Um- Thursday night, draft night.
Yep.
Yeah, go to our Facebook page, Indiana Chiefs Fans, to find the River, the Riverside link.
Plus, we'll be on our Twitch at Golden Mojo Entertainment if it all works out.
We gotta test all this stuff yet.
Mm-hmm.
We're not very good.
We should do that.
We're not very good at this going live shit stuff, but we're gonna, we're gonna do better.
You used to do it all the time.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Let me know how that works out.
We'll get it.
Things have changed.
I better bring you the flag to hang up in the garage.
I know, right?
Am I going I'm gonna Am I not live from the garage?
I'm going live from right here.
Oh, you are?
Yeah.
Oh.
Right here in the- You're going live from right here?
Where Are we going live together?
Are we sitting together in a room?
Well, that's what I was thinking, but- We can do that, too.
Dang straight we can do that.
Or this is for, this is post-podcast conversations.
Yeah.
We don't know what we're doing, 'cause that's what we do.
Mm-hmm.
All right, Chico, get us out.
All right.
From our little slice of Chiefs Kingdom right here in the great state of Indiana, I only got one thing to say.
How about those- Chiefs Chiefs?
Later.
Later.
