The Kansas City Chiefs did not extend a qualifying offer to one of their three restricted free agents.
The team tendered restricted free agent P Tommy Townsend and re-signed restricted free agent DT Tershawn Wharton, but LB Darius Harris wasn’t tendered or re-signed. He has become an unrestricted free agent at the start of the league’s 2023 free agency period on Wednesday afternoon as a result.
A former undrafted free agent signing out of Middle Tennessee in 2019, Harris has become one of the team’s oft-relied-upon backup linebackers and special teamers. He sat out his first season in Kansas City due to an injury, but contributed in each of the past three seasons. During that span, he appeared in 28 games with six starts, recording 58 total tackles, three tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, two fumbled recoveries and two passes defended.
Brett Veach was very high on Harris coming out, but with five linebackers under contract (Nick Bolton, Willie Gay Jr., Leo Chenal, Jack Cochrane and Cole Christiansen), he doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to re-sign the fifth-year player. It’s possible that Harris could still return to Kansas City, but for now, he’ll have a chance to sign with another NFL team.
