The Kansas City Chiefs have a total of five players who are set to become restricted free agents in 2021.
Restricted free agents are players with at least three accrued years of service in the NFL. The Chiefs will be allowed to place one of three levels of qualifying contract tenders on these players, providing them with a non-guaranteed one-year deal. Here’s a look at the current projections for this year’s tender amounts, courtesy of OverTheCap.
| Type | Amount |
| 1st round | $4,766,000 |
| 2nd round | $3,384,000 |
| Original round | $2,133,000 |
Players are allowed to negotiate with other teams even if they’re offered a contract tender. Those other teams can sign the restricted free agent to an offer sheet, but the Chiefs have the right to match the offer. If the Chiefs don’t match the offer, depending on the tender type, they can receive draft compensation for the player.
For first and second-round tenders, it’s self-explanatory. The teams would receive first or second-round draft picks for players that are prescribed those tender amounts. With an original round tender, teams would receive draft compensation based on the round that the players were drafted in. If a player entered the league as an undrafted free agent, the team would receive no draft compensation.
Below we’ll take a look at each of the Chiefs’ five restricted free agents and predict whether they’ll be tendered a contract: