As the National Football League prepares for the frenzy of free agency beginning next week, franchises in each conference are making moves to clarify their rosters heading into a new league year and releasing some players to make more cap space available to them as they go shopping for another offseason
A familiar face just became available at cornerback when the Houston Texans decided to release Terrance Mitchell after a single season with the team.
Since being drafted late in the seventh round of the 2014 NFL Draft by the Dallas Cowboys, Mitchell has put together a respectable career that’s lasted far longer than the average player—and certainly more than anyone could have expected for a late-round prospect. What makes it even more interesting is that the Cowboys themselves were the quickest to give up on him, as he was waived before the regular season even began in his rookie year.
Former Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Terrance Mitchell has been released by the Houston Texans heading into free agency.
From there, Mitchell found his way forward with the Chicago Bears and then back to the Cowboys before landing with the Kansas City Chiefs. After a season in which he volleyed back and forth between the active roster and the practice squad, he’d earned the Chiefs trust enough to be the next man up when Steven Nelson was injured in 2017. That year, Mitchell started 9 games in K.C. and grabbed 4 interceptions for Bob Sutton’s defense.
By this point, Mitchell had put up enough tape to convince the Cleveland Browns to sign him to a 3-year, $12 million deal. He flirted with a full-time starting job for two years before a full seasons worth of work in 2020. Then Houston signed him to be a starter in the secondary for the 2021 season.
Given his 29 starts in the last two years, some team is bound to come calling for more work in 2022 if Mitchell wants it, even if it’s in a diminished role. With 8 interceptions in 83 NFL games since 2014, Mitchell has enjoyed a solid NFL career and it might not be over for a few more years.