The Kansas City Chiefs are making some big moves on defense, and one of them involved restructuring Drue Tranquill.
The Kansas City Chiefs are still filling holes and looking for more cap space, and they made a move toward the latter while possibly eyeing a former cornerback who might be worth bringing into camp for a look.
The Chiefs restructured the contract of linebacker Drue Tranquill, and he’s taken a pay cut in the process, according to Nikhil Meta of ProFootballRumors.com via Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network. Tranquil was scheduled to receive a non-guaranteed salary of $6 million, but now he’ll make a total of $3.5 million with $3 million of that amount guaranteed.
It’s a surprising cut, but Tranquill probably didn’t have much choice in the matter. He’s not that versatile, and he has value to the Chiefs mostly as a physical presence that might not translate as well to other teams.
Tranquill also has value in terms of both depth and continuity. The Chiefs are making a lot of defensive changes right now, especially in the secondary, and their linebacking corps is currently built around Nick Bolton.
They’re expected to draft an edge rusher with one of the two top picks they just got back in the Trent McDuffie trade, and the Chiefs have made a couple of other signings to compensate for the loss of their cornerback, who chose to try to reset the market with the Los Angeles Rams instead.
The other move that may affect the Chiefs is the decision by the Tennessee Titans to release cornerback L’Jarius Sneed, who was a high-profile addition when the Titans acquired him from the Chiefs at the end of the 2023 season, according to Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk.
Releasing Sneed saves the Titans a lot of money. Tennessee will save $11.4 million against the cap this season, although they will incur an $8.1 million dead cap charge, according to Simmons. Sneed was a star in Kansas City, but his downfall in Tennessee was both swift and sudden.
Whether the Chiefs want to bring Sneed into camp for a look also depends on his legal situation. Sneed was indicted by a Texas grand jury in Dallas Count for failure to report a felony from an incident that occurred back in 2024, according to Turron Davenport of ESPN. The felony involved a shooting at an auto dealership in Carrollton Texas, and Sneed is also being sued by the owner of the exotic car rental business.
Sneed may be highly motivated in rehabilitating his career and his reputation, and the Chiefs know what he can do on the field if both sides are up for a return. But Kansas City has had more than its share of off-field troublemakers lately, and the Chiefs may choose to move on from players who have this sort of thing on their NFL resumes.