Former Chicago Bears Pro Bowl guard Kyle Long, who has retired off-season, signs a one-year deal worth up to $ 5 million with the Kansas City Chiefs, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Long had visited the Las Vegas Raiders on Tuesday.
Long is the latest addition to the Chiefs’ line of attack as Kansas City seeks to overhaul a unit that could have five new starters in 2021 from last year’s season opener. The Chiefs recently agreed on contract terms with former New England Patriots warden Joe Thuney.
The Chiefs recently released both last season’s starter tackles, Mitchell Schwartz and Eric Fisher. Two other players who opened as starters last season, center Austin Reiter and guard Kelechi Osemele, are unlimited free agents.
They also expect the return of two players who signed out last season, Laurent Duvernay-Tardif and Lucas Niang.
Far from retiring with hopes of playing again in 2021 after announcing his retirement in January 2020 after seven seasons with the Bears.
Long, drafted 20th overall by the Bears in 2013, missed only one game in his first three seasons, but only played 30 regular-season games in the last four years. He was selected for three consecutive Pro Bowls in his first three NFL seasons.
Long, who is 32, suffered a horrific ankle injury in 2016 that cost him the last eight games of that year and the first two games of the 2017 season. In 2017, Long ended up missing six games with a variety of conditions, undergoing neck, shoulder, and elbow surgery in the off-season. He returned in time to start the Bears’ first seven games in 2018, before Chicago took him out again before returning in week 17 after a foot injury.
Long opened the 2019 regular season in good shape, but suffered a hip injury in practice leading up to the game against the Minnesota Vikings on Sept. 29. He was inactive for that match, but returned to the starting line-up against the Raiders in London on October. 6.
After losing to the Raiders – a game in which Long played all 56 possible snaps on fouls – the Bears decided they would be better off attacking without Long and promptly placed the veteran back in the injured reserve.
I spent a long time the 2020 season doing studio television work for CBS.
ESPN’s Adam Teicher and Jeff Dickerson contributed to this report.