The K.C. Chiefs have decided against tendering a contract offer to tight end Deon Yelder, which means he will be able to hit the open market for the first time in his NFL career.
NFL reporter Tom Pelissero reported the news first that the Chiefs were going to let Yelder walk this offseason. That doesn’t necessarily preclude him from returning at all. Rather it just means the Chiefs are content to take their time to fill up the depth chart at tight end this offseason behind Travis Kelce.
Allowing Yelder, who was a restricted free agent, to become unrestricted also lets the open market establish his value. For the Chiefs, they held the rights of first refusal to any deal he was offered as an RFA but they had to tender him an offer in the first place, which would have put the Chiefs on the hook for $2.33 million. That’s just far too much for a player of Yelder’s impact, which was fairly minimal over the last three seasons, even if it was impressive how he’s been able to stick around as a former undraftedf free agent.
Deon Yelder has been made an unrestricted free agent by the K.C. Chiefs.
Last year, Yelder earned more playing time than ever by getting into 14 games for the Chiefs in his third season in the league. After originally signing as a rookie free agent out of Western Kentucky, Yelder had slowly earned more time on special teams and in the offense in the ensuing years, but he’s never emerged as a reliable offensive weapon and was cost prohibitive for the Chiefs at this stage.
Yelder played on 18 percent of the Chiefs’ offensive snaps and 20 percent of special teams snaps last season. He has 10 catches for 86 yards in his NFL career.