Kansas City Chiefs break the bank to sign UDFA wide receiver Jamal Custis
By Matt Conner
The Kansas City Chiefs must think very highly of Jamal Custis, because Adam Schefter says he’s making more than any undrafted wideout in years.
With Brett Veach at the helm in Kansas City, the Chiefs are likely to find one way or another to get the man in their sights. After the 2019 NFL Draft had concluded, it’s clear that man was Syracuse wide receiver Jamal Custis.
Custis sat through over 250 total picks in the draft and failed to hear his name called by 32 NFL franchises, including the Chiefs. Teams even selected punters, kickers and a long snapper during the official draft yet failed to grab Custis, a very productive receiver in 2018 from Syracuse. Yet somehow after the draft, Custis became a seriously wanted man, so much so that the Chiefs paid more than anyone else has for a rookie free agent wideout in a couple years.
Adam Schefter has the details:
Chiefs were so determined to add more WR talent that they gave undrafted Syracuse WR Jamal Custis over $100K in guaranteed money, believed to be the highest guarantee for any undrafted WR over the past two drafts, per source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) May 3, 2019
It’s an interesting play by the Chiefs here for a few reasons. The team had already traded up to grab speedster Mecole Hardman in the second round in order to stretch the field in myriad ways. Hardman was insurance against potentially losing Tyreek Hill, but he was also another lightning quick addition to work alongside him and create further mismatches even with Hill on the roster. Hardman will also likely take over all return duties as an electric special teams performer.
With any loss of Hill covered, the Chiefs clearly wanted to enhance the offense further after the loss of Chris Conley and De’Anthony Thomas (although the latter could be re-signed if healthy). Depth was becoming an issue on the bottom of the depth chart here, so as the Chiefs count on Demarcus Robinson to grow, they’ve also stocked the back with Custis plus some other interesting rookie free agents.
Custis is a big target at 6’4, 214 lbs.—slightly heavier than Marcus Kemp for the sake of comparison. Last year he caught 51 passes for 908 receiving yards and 6 touchdowns. He also ran a 40-yard dash in 4.5 seconds.
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Will Custis last on the roster? Andy Reid makes it clear that the moment players step on the field, he could care less about the initial investment. However, Custis does have a leg up on the competition as K.C. clearly wanted him to be around to compete. They believe in his talents and they paid for the rights to see them up close.