Willie Gay seems to support the fan-fueled movement to bring him back to Chiefs

Finding unity on social media is a rare sighting these days, but everyone in Chiefs Kingdom agrees on one free-agent subject these days: the potential return of Willie Gay Jr.

A cursory glance at Chiefs Twitter—er, X—shows one primary talking point at this stage of the offseason with free agency well under way. As former Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Willie Gay Jr. remains available, a plethora of fans have come together to call for the team to bring him back to Arrowhead after a season away in 2024.

Gay left the Chiefs in free agency one year ago to sign with the New Orleans Saints—a popular post-K.C. locale for players leaving Clark Hunt's team. Justin Reid just made the same decision this spring on a three-year deal in free agency. Others who've left for the Big Easy include Tanoh Kpassagnon, Tyrann Mathieu, Daniel Sorensen, Khalen Saunders, and Clyde Edwards-Helaire.

Now that Gay is back on the open market, Chiefs Kingdom is cheering for his hopeful return, which would bolster a linebacking corps and get Steve Spagnuolo's defense back to its deepest with the same core four players who played during the team's Super Bowl run in 2023. Leo Chenal is still around in his contract season. Drue Tranquill is in the middle of a multi-year deal. Nick Bolton just signed a big-money extension.

Fans recently started clamoring for Gay's return online and the movement quickly gained steam. Gay even reposted some responses from Chiefs Kingdom.

Chiefs Kingdom wants Willie Gay Jr. back in K.C.—and he seems inclined to agree.

Considering that Gay just turned 27 years old, he should still have productive years ahead of him and his familiarity with both the defense and teammates should make for a seamless transition back—should general manager Brett Veach want to add him. Therein lies the issue since Gay was relegated to a rarely used rotational player for the Saints (only 277 snaps) and was graded poorly by Pro Football Focus with particularly poor marks in coverage and tackling.

Should the Chiefs decide to sign him, the cost should not be prohibitive coming off of such a season and considering he was only given a one-year, $3 million deal last year at this time. Gay could actually be a buy-low opportunity given that the staff in K.C. would know best how to use him in their schemes given his four years of experience in Arrowhead.

Last season, Gay had 8 starts in 15 games for the Saints defense under Dennis Allen, and he responded with 28 total tackles, 2 sacks, 3 pass deflections, and 2 fumble recoveries. Gay made 47 starts in K.C. before leaving in free agency a year ago.

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