The Kansas City Chiefs certainly have more than their fair share of decisions to make in free agency, one of which is whether to attempt to bring back veteran edge rusher Charles Omenihu for a fourth season.
After spending the first four years of his NFL career with the Houston Texans and San Francisco 49ers, the former fifth-round pick signed a two-year, $16 million deal with Kansas City ahead of the 2023 season, a campaign in which he was suspended for the first six games for violating the league's personal conduct policy, as he was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor domestic assault.
Despite missing all that time, Omenihu had the best season of his career, tallying a career-high 7.0 sacks in 11 regular-season games and adding another in the playoffs before suffering a torn ACL in the AFC title game against the Baltimore Ravens. He returned toward the end of the 2024 season, recording one sack in six regular-season outings and another against the Houston Texans in the Divisional Round of the postseason.
The Chiefs allowed him to hit the open market at this time a year ago, but they ultimately brought him back on a one-year, $4 million deal. And now, as mentioned, they have to contemplate whether to make that same choice one more time.
Looking back at Charles Omenihu's contract year
While 2025 certainly wasn't Omenihu's best season, the seven-year veteran still tied his career bests in both total tackles (28) and tackles for loss (five), while also tallying 3.5 sacks, good for third on the Kansas City roster behind only Chris Jones (7.0) and George Karlaftis (6.0).
While not overly strong in the pass-rush department from an overall standpoint, the former Texas Longhorn was exceptional against the run, with his 75.0 run-defense grade ranking 14th among 115 qualifying edge rushers. Simply put, his season could've been better, but it also could've been worse.
Charles Omenihu's market outlook
In terms of those that could attempt to sign Omenihu in free agency, one could easily say that he'd be an attractive option for all 32 teams, especially seeing as how Spotrac is only projecting the average annual value of his next contract to be $3.5 million per season. That's a small price to pay for someone with his versatility.
While primarily an edge rusher, Omenihu also took his fair share of snaps on the interior this past year at the tackle position—141, to be exact—accounting for 24.9 percent of his season total. So, with that price point and that type of plug-and-play versatility, every team could obviously use a player like that on the roster.
Could Charles Omenihu return to the Chiefs in 2026?
Now, despite everything just said in the section above, it's interesting to note that last year, the Chiefs didn't sign Omenihu to his new one-year deal until March 20, which was nine days after the new league year began and 11 days after the legal tampering period for unrestricted free agents opened.
Perhaps there were still some character concerns stemming from his arrest, or maybe there were still concerns about his knee, but the fact remains that he sat on the open market for more than a week before re-signing with Kansas City.
The Chiefs might not have that luxury this year, and if they can get him for the $3.5 million figure mentioned above, they would be wise to do so. If his price tag gets into the $5 million range or higher, they'd probably pass, but having recently released Mike Danna for salary-cap reasons, they're already down some defensive end depth.
Final prediction for Charles Omenihu
While I could easily be wrong on this one for all the reasons mentioned above, I'm officially calling for Omenihu to return to the Chiefs on the exact same one-year, $4 million contract he received last offseason.