3 players who are definitely entering their final season with KC Chiefs

Deon Bush, S

Deon Bush is back again this offseason after joining the Chiefs for the first time as a free agent in the spring of '22 after spending his first several years in the league with the Chicago Bears. When he joined the Chiefs, he did so primarily as a special teams ace who had earned enough trust from the coaches to have climbed his way into a few occasional starts in the face of injuries, giving him dependability in several facets of the game.

As the Chiefs were prepared to lose Tyrann Mathieu and Dan Sorensen among others in the secondary over a year ago, it made sense for the team to profile multiple new pieces for the defense, including a strong new addition to give Dave Toub the security he'd want from a core special teams player in all four phases.

While in his first season with the Chiefs, Bush was relegated back to a special teams-only role after playing on nearly 400 percent of defensive snaps the previous year. But he did whatever the Chiefs asked of him and was one of the few reliable players on S/T with so many younger players around him making frustrating mistakes at times with the ball.

It wasn't a big surprise to see the Chiefs invite Bush back to compete for the same role again this offseason after he won a ring with them last year. However, he's not even guaranteed to win the same spot with several young players hoping to take his job in training camp.

Even if Bush's experience wins out for another year, Bush will be 30 years old next season and the Chiefs have several impressive young defenders who can flex into this same role as versatile defensive backs—from Chamarri Conner to Nazeeh Johnson to Nic Jones. With Justin Reid and Bryan Cook atop the safety order, there are only so many spots to go around for the long-term at the position, which means Bush is likely done after this year—if he makes this team at all.