Josh Mauga was one of Brett Veach’s first calls as Chiefs GM

Josh Mauga says he always wanted to stay with the Chiefs this year and that he finally got his wish with one of Brett Veach’s first moves as GM.

Brett Veach wasn’t officially announced as the Kansas City Chiefs general manager until July 10. He wasn’t even officially introduced until two weeks after that, on July 24. However, Veach was already well in motion even before any of those dates, according to linebacker Josh Mauga. The veteran LB said that he’d been hoping to re-sign with the Chiefs at some point this offseason and that Veach was the man who made it happen, even earlier than when he was officially announced as the team’s replacement for John Dorsey.

When speaking to the media from training camp, Mauga mentioned that he’d wanted to return to the Chiefs all along after his initial three-year deal with the team expired this offseason. The Chiefs certainly looked at several other linebackers, at least when Dorsey was in power, bringing Gerald Hodges and Rey Maualuga as free agent options and taking a closer look at several draft possibilities as well. The team added Ukeme Eligwe in the fifth round, but given he’s a raw product from Georgia Southern, it wasn’t surprising to see the Chiefs add a familiar face in Mauga.

According to Mauga, he was just trying to stay in shape and wait for the opportunity to come along. What’s interesting is that the timing cited by Mauga means that Veach was already acting as GM days before he was ever announced as such.

"“I spent most of my time with my family and my kids, working out,” he explained. “Training and just waiting for the phone call. Right after the fourth (of July), I got a phone call from our new GM (Brett) Veach, and he said that he wanted to bring me back.”"

It’s interesting to consider whether or not Veach and Dorsey disagreed on this point. Mauga was out there the entire time that Dorsey was around and could have easily brought him back—even after the draft, if he was just waiting until the dust settled. Instead, Dorsey seemed okay with the players already on the roster, perhaps content to let the young players develop at the position. Yet one of Veach’s first moves was to add some familiarity and security at inside linebacker.

Mauga missed all of last season due to injury, but started 30 games in his previous two seasons with the Chiefs.