The Kansas City Chiefs have an ongoing streak of helping centers strike it rich. Austin Reiter could be next on the list.
Four years ago, the Oakland Raiders made Rodney Hudson the highest-paid center in the game with a five-year deal worth nearly $9 million annually at $44.5 million overall. Three months ago, Mitch Morse signed a contract with the Buffalo Bills for the exact same amount, less one year in its length, to inherit the title of NFL’s highest-paid center, a new annual high of just over $11 million.
The common denominator in both instances is that both Hudson and Morse were products of the Kansas City Chiefs offense. One was a second round pick out of Florida State who was on the cusp of being an annual Pro Bowl performer. The other was a second round pick out of Missouri, also seemingly on the verge of making the NFL’s version of an all-start team. Hudson had given way to Morse who will now give way to, well, a break in the chain of high level investments along the offensive interior.
Instead of using one of the team’s Day 2 selections on center to help replace the departed Morse, general manager Brett Veach had already made his biggest investment at the position months before, when he signed Austin Reiter to a two-year deal last December worth $4.5 million. Reiter, who will play for one-eighth of what Morse will make, might not come with the same second-round pedigree as his predecessors, but as the Chiefs starting center, he’s got a real chance to make real money for the first time in his career.
Reiter originally came over from the Cleveland Browns as a waiver claim before the regular season began. Reiter had showed enough promise to claim the starting center role for the Browns at one point only to lose his job due to a torn ACL in 2016. He returned in 2017 to play in all 16 games for the Browns but only in a substitute role. He was then released last September but found a home on the Chiefs as a replacement for Bryan Witzmann.
When Morse went down with a concussion during the season, Reiter stepped in with a nice four-game starting stretch with his best performances (per Pro Football Focus rating) against the Cleveland Browns and Los Angeles Rams. Morse came back to reclaim his spot, but it was clear the Chiefs had options were Morse to leave via free agency.
At this point, Reiter is penciled in as the starting center, per Laurent Duvernay-Tardif’s recent press conference, and he certainly has to talent to fend off any and all competition on the Chiefs. The team hasn’t exactly made it hard for Reiter with a number of significant investments. There is holdover prospect Jimmy Murray, an undrafted free agent from last year, to go with seventh-round choice Nick Allegretti, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see one or both of those players vying for a backup role at first, if not a practice squad spot.
For now, the Chiefs have Reiter on the cheap with a cap hit of $1.4 million this season and $2.7 next year. If Reiter is the team’s starter for both of those seasons, they will enjoy not paying the premiums currently being doled out by the Raiders and Bills for their own starting centers. However if Reiter doesn’t work out or is replaced by competition at some point, it also costs the Chiefs less than $1 million to move on either this season or next (in 2020, the dead cap hit is a mere $333K).
If that sounds cheap, it is, but this is also an ideal situation for Reiter. No offense in the NFL is going to draw more attention than the Kansas City Chiefs. Reiter can stand in the middle of the ring in front of reigning NFL MVP Patrick Mahomes and showcase what he can do. Any other player in the Andy Reid era in that role has eventually went on to make more than anyone else in the NFL. Reiter might not ever match the totals of Hudson or Morse, but he can certainly command plenty of money if he proves the Chiefs’ investment in him was the right move.