Broncos release veteran wideout who earned previous FA interest from Chiefs

This might be a case of wrong place, wrong time for the Kansas City Chiefs and any further shopping at wide receiver. After all, they've already imported a couple of faces since the season began, will get others back from injury, and might be out of money.

However, it's at least notable that the Denver Broncos have decided to release a player that the Chiefs were trying to entice in recent years on the free agent market: wide receiver Josh Reynolds.

The Chiefs might be done shopping, but it's notable that they've showcased interest before in Josh Reynolds.

The Broncos inked Reynolds to a two-year deal last spring worth up to $14 million with $9M of that in guaranteed money. Reynolds' addition supplemented the loss of Jerry Jeudy via trade and gave Bo Nix another veteran to ease him in after he'd worked with Jared Goff in Detroit for the last few seasons.

On Tuesday evening, however, the Broncos decided to terminate the relationship early with the official release of Reynolds.

The Broncos' chapter of his career did not go smoothly for Reynolds. A hand injury suffered in Week 5 forced Reynolds to have surgery on his finger. The Broncos, in that span of time, have found a nice offensive rhythm and have turned their season around with the maturation of Nix and the performance of a stout defense.

The Broncos brought Reynolds back from injured reserve in mid-November and had a 21-day window within which they could watch him practice and bring him back to the active roster. The downside to the window is that a team has to make a firm decision to either place that player back on IR for the rest of the season if not ready for bring them back. For the Broncos, they decided to cut Reynolds loose instead.

For the Chiefs, the addition might not make sense at this point. The Chiefs neededd help at multiple points this season, but the signing of JuJu Smith-Schuster and the trade for DeAndre Hopkins raised the floor. The Chiefs will also reportedly get Hollywood Brown back from injury in the next few weeks. That should be enough to carry them through.

That said, it's important to recognize that the Chiefs have publicly tried to bring in Reynolds in the past. That includes him choosing the Titans in free agency in 2021.

Reynolds had 12 catches for 183 yards and 1 touchdown in four-plus games for the Broncos. The 29-year-old wideout has 232 catches in his eight-year career for 3,116 receiving yards and 20 touchdowns.