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Kansas City GM Brett Veach loves to make “prove-it” deals. Will he go back to the well this offseason?
The NFL's “legal tampering period” will begin Monday at 11 a.m. Arrowhead Time. It marks the start of a frenetic (and chaotic) period: the first wave of free agency.
Every team will be doing its best to add talent before April’s
NFL Draft. There will be blockbuster deals in which life-altering money will be paid to top players. But there will also be those who won’t be able to demand as much as they imagined. Many of these will take a one-year deal, happy to have caught on with a new team — and get another opportunity to prove themselves.
These kinds of "prove it" deals are the bread and butter of the
Kansas City Chiefs’ general manager Brett Veach.
Sometimes, these work out well. Other times, they don’t.
In 2022, the Chiefs signed former
Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver
JuJu Smith-Schuster to a one-year deal worth just a little over $1 million on the salary cap. The wideout responded by gaining nearly 1,000 receiving yards, helping Kansas City reach (and win)
Super Bowl LVII.
A year ago — after veteran wide receiver Hollywood Brown did not get the contract offers he was expecting — the Chiefs signed him to an incentive-laden
one-year contract worth up to $11 million. But on the preseason’s first offensive snap, Brown suffered an injury that kept him out until Week 15. On Saturday, we learned the team has
signed him to a similar deal for 2025.
With Kansas City, a "prove-it deal" gives a player a chance to earn a good-sized chunk of money as he rehabilitates his reputation. If he can, he could earn a big contract with another team — but if nothing else, he’ll at least get to make a deep playoff run that might end with confetti and a Lombardi Trophy.
Here are a few players the Chiefs could target this offseason.
Wide receiver Stefon Diggs
Photo by Todd Rosenberg/Getty Images
Talent has never been an issue for this former All-Pro, who is now seeking to join his fourth team in 11 years. It’s what happens off the field (and in the locker room) that has kept a
question mark looming over him.
Some have labeled Diggs a cancer to his teams — but some closer to the situation maintain it’s not nearly so black and white.
“He needs to have someone he can talk to, listening to his concerns, work through what was bothering him, recognizing him as a voice,” a Vikings source who directly observed Diggs’ tenure
told ESPN.
The source said Diggs’ needs can add up to be “a lot.”
“He might throw his helmet. He will wear on your quarterback. But find me a premier receiver that’s not a diva... And he works incredibly hard. That’s why coaches love him.”
Still, Diggs has over
10,000 receiving yards (and 70 touchdowns) in his career. He remains one of the most technically sound receivers in the game — and even at 31 years old, he averaged 3.9 yards per route run for the
Houston Texans in 2024.
But like Brown, Diggs missed significant time when he
tore his ACL in Houston’s Week 8 victory over the
Indianapolis Colts. So he did not hit the statistical numbers he normally reaches. This would allow Kansas City to craft an incentive-laden deal that would significantly lower Diggs’s 2025 cap hit by utilizing
NLTBE (not likely to be earned) incentives that won’t count against the salary cap until 2026.
Defensive end Dre’Mont Jones
Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images
After losing his starting job for the
Seattle Seahawks last season, the writing was on the wall for Jones. But despite playing only part-time, he still proved to be a capable pass rusher, logging four sacks in 2024.
Just 28 years old, a fresh start could do him some good — and help him return to the form he had earlier in his career with the
Denver Broncos. Teams are always looking for pass-rushing help — and are willing to pay a premium for sacks.
At 6 feet 3 and 281 pounds, Jones has the size and strength to set the edge; he could fit well into defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s defense. If he plays at a high level on a one-year contract in Kansas City, he’s still young enough to parlay that into one last multi-year deal before he hangs them up.
Offensive tackle Trent Brown
Photo by David Eulitt/Getty Images
The 31-year-old Brown has been around the block a few times, switching back and forth between right and left tackle pretty fluidly over his 10-year career. He has started over 1,000 snaps at left tackle as recently as 2022.
Listed at 6 feet 8 and 370 pounds, he is a mountain of a man — but on the flip side, conditioning is a concern. In addition, his body could age faster due to his size.
Still, Brown has consistently had a
PFF (
Pro Football Focus) pass blocking grade over 70 when playing left tackle. Spotrac currently has his market value set at
$1.2 million per year, so he could be brought in to compete for the left tackle job — with a floor as a swing tackle.
HI
AL
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