In an attempt to win the Super Bowl three times in a row, Kansas City has reinstated one of their strong defense’s numerous pending free agents.

Drue Tranquill was re-signed by the Kansas City Chiefs to a three-year, $19 million contract.On passing downs during Kansas City’s Super Bowl run, Tranquill was a huge asset.With his new contract, Tranquill might play a bigger part in the Chiefs defense going forward.

An essential defensive player has been re-signed by the Kansas City Chiefs. It’s not the one, though, that the majority of Chiefs Kingdom residents were expecting.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter claimed late on Thursday night that Kansas City and linebacker Drue Tranquill, who was instrumental in the dominant pass defense of the 2023 Super Bowl champions, had reached a three-year, $19 million deal. Jeremy Fowler of ESPN was the first to report on the expected transaction.

With this agreement, Tranquill only counts $3 million toward the 2024 salary limit, giving Chiefs general manager Brett Veach slightly over $9.6 million in available space five days before the start of the new league season.

Due to the non-exclusive franchise tag placed on cornerback L’Jarius Sneed and the fact that standout defensive lineman Chris Jones has not yet been re-signed, Kansas City is currently facing a $19.8 million cap penalty. As a result, the team will be occupied for the remainder of the offseason.

The quarterback’s Achilles injury kept him out of the game for almost the whole 39th season. For at least the 2024–2025 season, Rodgers will return.

Tranquill did well under Steve Spagnuolo’s plan.

In 2022, Tranquill’s last season with the Los Angeles Chargers, he played every down. He outperformed Bobby Wagner and Fred Warner that season by playing more than 90% of the defensive snaps for the Chargers and finishing with the 12th-highest total number of tackles in the NFL. Due to the unexpectedly slow free agent market in the previous summer, he was forced to sign a $3 million, one-year contract with Kansas City.

With Nick Bolton, Leo Chenal, and Willie Gay Jr. as his primary backups, Tranquill’s playing time significantly decreased. Still, he enjoyed his best season as a coverage player in his specialized passing-down role.

For the third consecutive season, under Spagnuolo, he maintained a Pro Football Focus “coverage in-the-box” grade of more than 70 while allowing the lowest opposing passer rating and average depth of target of his career.

Because of his performance in such a crucial role inside Spagnuolo’s scheme, GIVEMESPORT projected that Tranquill—ranked No. 8 among free agency linebackers—would make a comeback to Kansas City.

Tranquill might play a more significant part in the upcoming seasons.

Tranquill started in Nick Bolton’s place for the following four games after the latter suffered a dislocated wrist during a Week 7 victory over the Chargers.

During that time, he played in more than 95% of Kansas City’s defensive plays, maintaining his effectiveness in coverage and recording 34 tackles.

His unimpressive 12.8% missed tackle rate during that time frame was due to the fact that the first three games of the season accounted for five of his seven missed tackles for the season.

It’s possible that Tranquill’s below-league-average rate during that period was caused by his first-ever every-down job in the Chiefs defense.

His missed tackle rates in the two previous seasons as a Charger, which were 5.0% and 5.8% over the league average, show that he is a sharper tackler when he gets used to playing more often. Most likely, the four-game sample is an anomaly.

Tranquill was effectively chosen by Kansas City to stay over fellow free agent Willie Gay Jr., who Spotrac valued at $7 million annually.

Gay Jr. played 62% of the snaps and started 15 games the previous season, thus the Chiefs will have plenty of playing time available at the position through 2024.

In pursuit of a third straight Super Bowl championship, Kansas City may find Tranquill’s $6.33 million contract to be an excellent value if he can adjust to a bigger role on run-downs and maintain his superior pass defense.