NFL Free Agency: Drue Tranquill signs new one-year contract with Kansas City Chiefs

After playing out his rookie contract with the Los Angeles Chargers, linebacker Drue Tranquill is slated to cash in on NFL free agency. According to NFL insider Jordan Schultz, the talented linebacker is headed to the Kansas City Chiefs on a contract that will be one year and pay up to $5 million.

Tranquill was a fourth-round draft pick out of Notre Dame in 2019, going to the Chargers.

A broken ankle robbed Tranquill of his second season with the Chargers but he’s been quite productive otherwise. He has 268 career tackles and 6.5 sacks, to go along with one interception and six passes defended.

But he’s coming off the best season of his career, with 126 tackles, five sacks, an interception and four passes defended, making him a hot commodity in this year’s NFL free agency.

More on the 2023 NFL offseason, free agency

The NFL 2023 calendar year is set to begin at 4 p.m. ET on March 15 when contracts running through 2022 will officially run out, making those players free agents. Prior to the beginning of free agency, teams will have a chance to designate one franchise or transition tag player, starting on Feb. 21 at 4 p.m. ET and ending on March 7. Beginning March 13 through March 15 teams will be allowed a legal negotiation with players who are set to become unrestricted free agents.

In addition to NFL free agency, the new year also marks the beginning of all trades being made official by the league office. April 21 marks the deadline to sign restricted free agents to offer sheets while April 26 marks the deadline for teams to match restricted free agent offers sheets. 722 players are slated to become free agents in 2023.

More on restricted, exclusive rights free agents

Players with only three years of accredited NFL experience become restricted free agents. Their original team will have the option to apply first-round, second-round, original-round, and right-of-fight-of-first-refusal tenders on players at escalating price tags. The higher the round, the more expensive the tender amount; however, if a separate team does offer a contract and the original team does not match that round pick will be conveyed from the new team to the original team. Right of first refusal only gives a team the option to match or not. If they don’t match, they get nothing in return. An original-round tender would send a draft pick from whatever round the player was drafted back to the original team if they chose not to match. The original team will have five days to match once a player signs an offer sheet from a new team.