The Kansas City Chiefs head into the 2023 NFL offseason with some big decisions to make in free agency. Fresh off of Super Bowl LVII, they have plenty of key contributors who are set to become unrestricted free agents. One of the positions where their biggest decisions will come is offensive tackle.
Orlando Brown Jr. is the player who will most dictate how the offseason goes for Kansas City, but a decision on Andrew Wylie also looms large. Wylie re-signed with the Chiefs last year on a one-year fully-guaranteed deal worth $2.5 million before going on to start all 20 combined regular-season and postseason games in the 2022-2023 season.
Wylie’s performance was up-and-down all season after going through a gauntlet of the league’s best pass rushers, but that prepared him for his defining moment. In the biggest game of the season, Wylie held Philadelphia Eagles OLB Haason Reddick to just a single pressure and no sacks.
When you consider Wylie’s history with the team, that fact is all the more impressive. He entered the league as an undrafted free agent out of Eastern Michigan in 2017, making stops with three NFL teams before finding his home in Kansas City. He’s done what the Chiefs have asked of him every step of the way during his career making starts at left guard, right guard and right tackle. His performance in Super Bowl LV, in what was just his second career start at right tackle, was sub-par. But Wylie didn’t give up. He kept growing and learning the position just as K.C. asked him to do.
So will Wylie be back in Kansas City again in 2023?
As things stand right now, the Chiefs only have two players under contract who can play tackle and one of those players’ future is likely at guard. The team is expected to franchise tag Orlando Brown Jr. as they work toward a long-term contract extension. But Andy Reid said in his end-of-season press conference that Brett Veach would make a “strong attempt” to retain both Brown Jr. and Wylie.
Over The Cap projects Wylie’s valuation at a ballpark amount of around $7.3 million per year on average. Will the Chiefs be able to be competitive in his market in free agency? That remains to be seen. It’ll be hard to pay both tackles on long-term deals this year and go on to retain key interior offensive linemen who have contracts coming down the line.
The front office does have a lot to weigh in re-signing Wylie. Firstly, we saw the continuity in having all the same starters on the offensive line for the past two seasons. That could again become important for Kansas City in 2023. Secondly, Wylie is the definition of a homegrown player and exactly the type of guy that you want to re-sign based on that fact alone. It’ll send a message to the team that if you’re a team player and do your job, good things will happen. That’s the right message to send to a championship team that will be relying on pieces ranging from first-round picks to undrafted free agents to keep their window open for the foreseeable future.
