The Kansas City Chiefs are allowing Marcus Kemp to explore free agency by not offering him a qualifying offer before the new league year.
The Kansas City Chiefs offered up their first bit of surprising news on a busy Monday with word that wide receiver Marcus Kemp, who is an exclusive rights free agent, will not be tendered a qualifying offer, per Matt Derrick.
Unlike his teammates tight end Deon Yelder and offensive lineman Andrew Wylie, who were both given qualifying offers, Kemp is now available to hit free agency just like every other unrestricted free agent on Wednesday.
The Chiefs were reportedly impressed with Kemp last preseason but a knee injury sidelined him for the season. Perhaps the knee isn’t coming around as expected or maybe the Chiefs are looking to go in a new direction at the wide receiver position.
Kemp was coming along nicely overall with the Chiefs through last preseason with a strong training camp showing in 2017 after signing as an undrafted free agent out of the University of Hawaii. In 2018, he played in every single game for the Chiefs and caught his first NFL pass for 7 yards. Unfortunately, he couldn’t build on that after spending all season long on injured reserve with a torn ACL and MCL.
The Chiefs are also slated to lose Demarcus Robinson in free agency, which means another wide receiver will be departing. Furthermore, Sammy Watkins‘ status is up in the air as well given the looming cap hit. The decision not to offer Kemp a deal that would cost so little for one year is a bit surprising.