Predicting 13 players on the Kansas City Chiefs' 2025 NFL free agency wishlist, excluding the left tackle position
The 2025 NFL league year is nearly here, but first, we have the legal tampering period, which kicks off the annual free agency frenzy. The Kansas City Chiefs aren't typically active in an outsized way during this window when it's legal to negotiate with the agents of pending free agents. Last season, for instance, they continued […]
The 2025 NFL league year is nearly here, but first, we have the legal tampering period, which kicks off the annual free agency frenzy.
The Kansas City Chiefs aren't typically active in an outsized way during this window when it's legal to negotiate with the agents of pending free agents. Last season, for instance, they continued re-signing their players on the first day of legal tampering. They didn't sign their first outside free agent until Day 2 (Irv Smith Jr.), and he didn't even make the team in 2024.
Should the Chiefs go shopping for outside free agents this season, here's a look at 13 players that we expect to be on their free agency wishlist. We're leaving out the left tackle position because that's the team's most prominent and discussed need (we even recently discussed it here).
What other positions and players could Kansas City look into, though? Let's dive in. . .
Editors Note: This article was published roughly three hours before legal tampering on 3/10, so some players could still re-sign with their respective teams or sign with other teams by the end of the day.
Lions DT Levi Onwuzurike
If the Chiefs can't bring back Tershawn Wharton on a long-term deal, Onwuzurike might be the next best thing, potentially at a reasonable cost. At 6-foot-3 and 290 pounds, Onwuzurike is a versatile piece who can play edge and 3-technique. He finished the 2024 NFL season with just three sacks but had the 16th-most pressures among interior defensive linemen with 47. Wharton came in at 22nd with 42 pressures on the season. This former second-round pick in the 2021 NFL draft has 42 game appearances and 10 regular-season starts over the past four seasons. He missed the entire 2022 NFL season with a back injury.
Rams DT Bobby Brown III
A former fourth-round pick in the 2021 NFL draft, Brown is a productive young player at a position of need for Kansas City. In 2024, he started 16 games for the Rams, recording 44 combined tackles, four for loss, and one pass batted. He had a missed tackle rate of 3.3%, which ranked in the top 15 of the NFL among qualifying players. At 6-foot-4 and 332 pounds, Brown could fulfill the Chiefs' need for a big run-stuffing defensive tackle to pair with Chris Jones on early downs. Don't get it twisted, though. He's more than just a run defender, despite only having a half-sack to his career. At just 24 years old, he's still got a lot of room to grow, with his best football still in front of him.
Broncos RB Javonte Williams
The Chiefs have shown they are unafraid to poach within the division, adding Broncos RB Samaje Perine during roster cuts last season. Williams was a former second-round pick in the 2021 NFL draft and looked destined for great things in Denver before a devastating knee injury (ACL, LCL, and PLC) in 2022. He returned from injury in 2023 to lead the Broncos in rushing yards (774) on 217 carries with three scores. In 2024, he averaged 3.7 yards per carry on 139 rushes, tying his career-high mark with four rushing touchdowns. He's solid in the passing game, with 158 career receptions for nearly 1,000 yards and five scores.
Cowboys RB Rico Dowdle
Dowdle (5-foot-11, 215 pounds) is coming off what might be the quietest 1,000-yard rushing season in NFL history for a very lousy Dallas Cowboys team. Dowdle, an undrafted free agent out of South Carolina in 2020, averaged 4.6 yards per carry this season in a rudderless Cowboys offense. The 27-year-old is also surprisingly effective in the passing game, with a career yards per reception of 7.0 and five career receiving touchdowns. There's also some untapped special teams value here on the new kickoff return, as Dowdle returned kicks for Dallas in the past.
49ers LG Aaron Banks
I don't particularly see the Chiefs signing a high-priced guard in addition to Trey Smith in 2025, but it might beat overpaying for a mediocre left tackle. Banks is just 27 years old and an ascending young talent. He's allowed one sack, 25 total pressures, and five penalties in 2024 on 775 offensive snaps. He'd be a plug-and-play starter at the left guard position, but it also would tie up a lot of money in the offensive line, which was one of the reasons the team moved on from an aging Joe Thuney.
Cardinals WR Greg Dortch
An undrafted free agent out of Wake Forest in the 2019 NFL draft, Dortch is still just 26 years old and coming off a great two-year stretch with the Cardinals. Over the past two seasons, the 5-foot-7 and 175-pound receiver has appeared in 31 regular season games with seven starts. He amassed 74 receptions for 733 yards and four receiving touchdowns in that span. Dortch is probably best suited for playing in the slot on offense, along with a multi-phase special teams role.
Commanders WR Dyami Brown
A former third-round draft pick out of UNC, Brown has been underutilized and underappreciated during his first four years with the Commanders. This 25-year-old receiver is coming off a career season in Washington, where he caught 30 passes on 40 targets for 308 yards and a touchdown. He appeared in 16 games with three starts, but he really impressed during the postseason. He recorded the second-most receiving yards in the NFL during the playoffs this year (229), next to Chiefs WR Xavier Worthy (287). While he hasn't been crazy productive, it feels like there's some untapped potential here for Andy Reid and company.
Saints CB Paulson Adebo
A third-round pick out of Stanford by the New Orleans Saints in the 2021 NFL draft, Adebo is the definition of a Steve Spagnuolo outside cornerback. At 6-foot-1 and 192 pounds, the 25-year-old has the length and ability to play in Spags' press/match scheme. Over the past two seasons, Adebo has started over 20 games, recording seven interceptions and over two dozen passes defended. A reason he might be in the Chiefs' price range? Adebo suffered a broken femur in October, and just a few days ago, he was posting videos of himself doing backflips. So, it's safe to say he will be healthy and ready for the upcoming season. Kansas City will have to hope that teams are hesitant to take a chance on a player who ended the year on IR, but rumor has it that he could command a salary of over $19M.
Bears LB Jack Sanborn
The Bears are not expected to tender RFA LB Jack Sanborn, eventually making him an unrestricted free agent. Sanborn has experience playing MLB and SLB in a 4-3 defense. He's appeared in 48 games over the last three seasons with 19 career starts. During that span, he amassed 164 total tackles, 14 for loss, 4.5 sacks, one fumble recovery, five passes defended and one interception. The Chiefs have some staff and players with ties to this player. The 24-year-old played alongside Leo Chenal for three seasons at the University of Wisconsin. He also played for one season with the new Chiefs' defensive quality control coach, Chris Orr, in 2019. Orr was the Badgers' Director of Player Development in Sanborn's final season at Wisconsin (2021).
Jets LB Jamin Davis
This one screams Brett Veach because of Davis' reputation as a former first-round draft pick (2021, pick No. 19) who has yet to live up to his draft status. At 6-foot-3 and 234 pounds, Davis spent four seasons with Washington, but he was waived in 2024 and landed with the Vikings. He was waived again, landing with New York late in the season. Davis has appeared in 54 NFL games, with 36 career starts, recording 287 tackles, eight sacks, one interception, and two forced fumbles. The kicker here? There's a level of familiarity on the defensive staff. Davis played collegiate football for new Chiefs senior defensive assistant Matt House at the University of Kentucky.
Cowboys DE Chauncey Gholston
A former third-round pick in the 2021 NFL draft, Gholston is a player worth betting on the upside. After being stuck playing out of position through his first two seasons, the Cowboys finally stuck the 27-year-old at defensive end in 2023. At 6-foot-5 and 268 pounds, Gholston racked up 56 tackles, 37 pressures, and 5.5 sacks in 13 games started (17 games played) in 2024. Outside of the occasional off-balance snap, watching him set the edge in the run game is beautiful. He also once caught a two-point conversion on a fake PAT, which will appeal to someone like Chiefs special teams coordinator Dave Toub.
Patriots DE Deatrich Wise Jr.
Another player with some ties to the Chiefs coaching staff, Wise Jr., got his start under Chiefs LB coach Brendan Daly, the defensive line coach for the New England Patriots during the first two seasons of his NFL career. A former fourth-round pick out of Arkansas in the 2017 NFL draft, Wise Jr. is one of the more experienced options the Chiefs could target in free agency. The 30-year-old has appeared in 126 regular-season games with 61 career starts over eight seasons in the NFL. He has 314 total tackles, 34 for loss, 34 sacks, five forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, one defensive touchdown, and a dozen passes batted during that span. At 6-foot-5 and 280 pounds, he'd be a solid replacement option for Charles Omenihu, should he walk in free agency.
Giants S Jason Pinnock
Not many players stood out for the Giants over the past two seasons, but Pinnock was undoubtedly one of them. A former fifth-round pick out of Pitt in the 2021 NFL draft, Pinnock has started 32 consecutive games for the Giants. In that time, he notched 170 total tackles, 10 tackles for loss, five sacks, two forced fumbles, seven passes defended, and two interceptions, including a 102-yard pick-six. At 6-foot and 200 pounds, he has the range to play single-high and the toughness to step into the box as a tackler and a blitzer. His versatility really paints him as the perfect fit in Steve Spagnuolo's scheme.
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