Kansas City Chiefs bring back Super Bowl LIV champion to reinforce edge rusher depth before 2026 NFL season arrives
The Kansas City Chiefs are signing DE Emmanuel Ogbah on a one-year deal, reuniting the team with a familiar face and Super Bowl LIV champion.
Kansas City Chiefs fans have been asking for help at the edge rusher position, and general manager Brett Veach has finally gone out and found it.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Chiefs have signed free agent DE Emmanuel Ogbah on a one-year deal. This will mark Ogbah’s second stint with the Chiefs after Veach previously acquired him in a player swap with the Cleveland Browns for defensive back Eric Murray back in 2019.
Ogbah won Super Bowl LIV with the team, appearing in 10 games with four starts due to injury. He left to play for the Miami Dolphins in 2020. The Chiefs actually showed interest in a reunion with Ogbah once before in 2024, but he opted to return to Miami.
Ogbah spent last season with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He was a second-round draft pick by the Cleveland Browns out of Oklahoma State in the 2016 NFL Draft.
Kansas City Chiefs to reunite with veteran DE Emmanuel Ogbah
This signing shouldn’t come as a big surprise to Kansas City Chiefs fans. Beyond the clear needs, the team tends to prefer bringing back veterans with whom they are familiar. Ogbah is also the exact prototype edge rusher that the team currently lacks.
Here’s what I wrote about a potential reunion just last month.
The 6-foot-4, 260-pound defensive end is coming off a 2025 season with the Jacksonville Jaguars, in which he appeared in 13 games, started 3, and recorded just half a sack and a pair of tackles for loss. It’s unclear if he wishes to continue his playing career, but if he does, the Chiefs could still be interested in that reunion. It might look a little different this time around, with him serving as mentor to a group of younger players.
ChARLES GOLDMAN
A to Z Sports
The now 32-year-old Ogbah recorded 29.5 sacks in the five seasons prior to his down year in Jacksonville. Maybe he’s just veteran depth and a camp body while Ashton Gillotte recovers from an injury. That said, it’s entirely reasonable for the Chiefs to think they can get some production out of him during the 2026 NFL season. After all, he already has familiarity with the system. It never hurts to have another veteran mentor in the room when you’ve got some young players like Ashton Gillotte and R Mason Thomas in the fold.
