A former member of the Kansas City Chiefs seems to be under the impression that the door might not be closed.
The Chiefs added former Saskatchewan Roughriders DE Jonathan Woodard on a reserve/future contract in February of 2022. He spent the majority of the offseason with Kansas City, but he was among the six players waived ahead of rookie minicamp to make room for undrafted free agents.
In a recent interview, Roughriders GM Jeremy O’Day told reporters that they’ve had discussions with Woodard and his representation about a possible return. It would seem that Woodard anticipates a potential return to the Chiefs based on comments from O’Day.
“We had discussions with Jonathan (Woodard) after he was released. There’s a strong possibility that he’s going to get re-signed with the Chiefs,” O’Day said, via 3DownNation.com. “If that doesn’t come to fruition, we do own his rights but just because we own his rights doesn’t mean that he has to come back to us. It’s his decision if he wants to play, but if he does play in the CFL, it would have to be with us. We have had discussions with him, but he’s not in a hurry to come back north just yet.”
It was a bit of a surprise when the Chiefs waived Woodard, given the uncertainty they have at the edge rusher position. Just a season ago with the Roughriders, Woodard had the second-most sacks in the CFL with 10. He also recorded 21 total tackles and two forced fumbles in 14 games played. Back in 2018, Woodard saw his only NFL regular-season action with the Dolphins, appearing in 6 games. He recorded 10 total tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack in limited action.
It’s possible that Woodard was told he’d be on the team’s call list in the event of injury when he was released. It’s also possible that they could bring him back in as early as mandatory minicamp on a tryout basis. What’s certain is that Woodard is holding out some level of hope that he’ll get an opportunity to rejoin the Chiefs and have a chance to compete. Whether that will come to fruition for the journeyman remains to be seen. If not, it sounds like he’ll have an opportunity waiting for him with the Roughriders.
