3 players the Kansas City Chiefs gave up on way too soon

The reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs aren’t really worried too much about the past at the moment. This is a franchise on its way to becoming the NFL’s modern dynasty after winning yet another championship during the 2022 season with no end to its reign over the rest of the NFL in sight. Still, there have been some players throughout the Chiefs’ history that the team let get away way too soon.

Sometimes in the NFL, you just never know what’s going to happen when you let a player go after their rookie contract runs its course, but for the Kansas City Chiefs, there are a few notable names they maybe wish they had handled differently.

Let’s take a look at the three biggest mistakes the Kansas City Chiefs have made in terms of players they gave up on way too soon.

3 players the Kansas City Chiefs gave up on way too soon

3. Rodney Hudson, Center

You can’t keep everybody.

Every offseason, teams are faced with difficult decisions and really “risks” if you want to call them that when it comes to players they let hit free agency. The Chiefs had Rodney Hudson for four seasons and they decided to save the big money he was about to command in free agency as opposed to giving him a long-term deal.

The Chiefs were certainly right that Hudson would command a huge market when he left. He signed a five-year, $44.5 million deal. Everyone would have been happy for Rodney except for the fact that he signed with a division rival — the Raiders.

The Raiders got what they paid for — absolutely elite-level center play. Hudson made the Pro Bowl three times and was named a second-team All-Pro in the 2019 season. The Kansas City Chiefs aren’t still wiping up any tears in the aftermath of this move. They currently have one of the best centers in the game in Creed Humphrey. But letting go of Rodney Hudson may not have been the wisest decision at the time and clearly they “gave up” on him too soon.