In mid-March, the Kansas City Chiefs extended a qualifying contract offers to Exclusive Rights Free Agents (ERFAs) Jody Fortson and Shane Buechele. According to the NFL’s personnel notice for Thursday, those players have now signed their ERFA tenders, which is merely a formality ensuring that both players would be back in 2023.
For those who are unfamiliar with the term, ERFAs are veteran free agents who have yet to accrue three full seasons in the NFL. To accrue a season, a player must be on a team’s roster for a minimum of six games.
If an ERFA is tendered a qualifying contract offer by their team prior to the beginning of free agency, they can’t refuse said offer to become an unrestricted free agent. They can only reach unrestricted free agency if a team declines to extend a qualifying offer, otherwise, that team holds exclusive negotiating rights.
Based on both players’ years accrued, the tender amounts should come in at a non-guaranteed $940K in 2023. Both contracts fall below the top-51 cutoff for the salary cap during the offseason.
Fortson and Buechele have both proven to be valuable depth pieces for Kansas City over the years. Buechele has been the No. 3 QB for the Chiefs since entering the league as an undrafted free agent out of SMU in 2021. Fortson emerged as one of the best run-blocking tight ends in the NFL just a season ago. It’s quite the heel turn from joining the team as an undrafted free-agent wide receiver out of Valdosta State University back in 2019.
