Report: Chiefs Re-Sign Tershawn Wharton to One-Year Deal

Kansas City brings back its 24-year-old defensive lineman on a contract for the 2023 campaign.

Near the very end of the first day of this year's NFL legal tampering/open negotiation window for free agency, the Kansas City Chiefs are still busy checking items off their to-do list.

On Monday afternoon, it was announced that general manager Brett Veach and his staff came to an agreement with offensive tackle Jawaan Taylor on a four-year deal worth $80 million. Late on Monday night, Ari Meirov of The 33rd Team reported some news regarding Steve Spagnuolo's front four on defense. According to Meirov, defensive lineman Tershawn Wharton is returning to Kansas City on a one-year deal worth $2M: 

The #Chiefs are re-signing DL Tershawn Wharton to a 1-year, $2M deal, per source. 24-year old former UDFA has racked up five sacks in three years for KC. He'll continue to develop with the Champs. - Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) on Monday, March 13, 2023 at 10:32 p.m. CT

Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2 Houston expands on Meirov's report, detailing that the contract contains the following:

• $850,000 guaranteed
• $500,000 signing bonus
• $1.01M base salary ($350,000 guaranteed)
• $25,000 per-game active roster bonuses
• $90,000 workout bonus
• $975,000 playing time incentive 

Wharton, who was a restricted free agent this offseason, is coming off a 2022 campaign that saw him tear his ACL during the team's Week 5 win over the Las Vegas Raiders. The Missouri S&T product had one sack in five games before suffering the injury, recording eight tackles on the season. He has five combined sacks in 38 career regular-season games as a Chief, logging 1,169 snaps along Spagnuolo's defensive line over the past three seasons.

The Chiefs had hopes that in year No. 3 on the job, Wharton would be able to serve as a role player and situational pass-rusher along with the likes of Mike Danna and Carlos Dunlap. That didn't end up being the case for long, but now he'll potentially receive a similar opportunity in 2023 due to Dunlap and Frank Clark hitting the open market. Wharton turns 25 in June and will be roughly 11 months removed from his ACL injury by the time next season begins, which could leave the door open for him to reclaim a role on defense moving forward. With that in mind, the playing time incentive is something to monitor.

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