Getty Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Anthony Hitchens.
With regular season football just days away, there’s still one former Kansas City Chiefs player with a lot of NFL experience that remains a free agent: linebacker Anthony Hitchens.
One of the very first moves of the 2022 offseason for the Chiefs was releasing Hitchens on February 22. The move was an opportunity for the then cap-strapped Chiefs to free up money, as Hitchens’ release freed up $8.44 million in cap space, according to Jason Fitzgerald of Over the Cap.
#chiefs create $8.44m in salary cap space with release of Anthony Hitchens
The move to release Hitchens made sense for Kansas City, as Hitchens hadn’t lived up to the five-year, $45 million contract he signed with the Chiefs in 2018.
Though Hitchens was always available — he missed just four games since joining Kansas City — and was a leader, he only recorded over 100 tackles in one season with the Chiefs and didn’t make a Pro Bowl in any of the four seasons. So, saying goodbye to the 29-year-old defender this offseason was warranted, especially given the emergence of 2021 second-round pick Nick Bolton.
This offseason, Hitchens had a visit with the Chicago Bears, but it didn’t lead to a contract offer for the veteran linebacker. He also had a workout for the New Orleans Saints on August 6, but again, he left New Orleans with no contract offer.
At 30 years old and with nine years of NFL experience under his belt, signs point towards Hitchens remaining unsigned in the near future based on the fact that he went through all of training camp and the preseason as a free agent. However, injuries could put Hitchens back in an NFL uniform as the season progresses.
Brett Veach on Anthony Hitchens
After releasing Hitchens in February, Chiefs general manager Brett Veach was appreciative of what Hitchens had done for Kansas City despite the way it ended.
“When I first became general manager, one of the first moves I wanted to make was to bring in Anthony Hitchens from Dallas,” Veach said at the 2022 NFL Scouting Combine. “We knew how intelligent, hard-working and consistent he was as a player, and we knew he’d become a selfless leader. He was that and more. He has all the intangibles and was an integral piece in our franchise winning a Super Bowl title. We appreciate everything he’s done for the organization and wish him the best as he continues his career.”
Bolton’s Play Pushed Hitchens Out of KC
While it certainly wasn’t the only reason, the play of 2021 second-round pick Nick Bolton did make the decision to cut ties with Hitchens easier for Kansas City’s front office.
During the 2021 season, Bolton played in 16 regular season games and started 12 of them, recording 112 tackles, 11 tackles for loss, and 1 fumble recovery for a touchdown, according to Pro Football Reference. His play was strong enough to earn him the Chiefs’ Mack Lee Hill Rookie of the Year award, despite fellow second-round pick Creed Humphrey recording the highest PFF grade ever by a rookie offensive lineman in the PFF era.
Congratulations to this year’s Mack Lee Hill Rookie of the Year Award winner, Nick Bolton! 👏
“You know how this league works,” Veach explained. “[Anthony Hitchens will] certainly go out there and I’m sure he’ll have some suitors. He brings a lot to the table, especially to a young linebacking corps.
“I mean the work he did with Willie Gay and Nick Bolton last year – I think you can ask both those guys and they’d be the first ones to tell you that they developed into the players they were at the end of the season because of Anthony. I think that’ll be attractive to a lot of teams with some younger linebackers. If that doesn’t work out though, every team needs to fill out depth on their roster and it’s a long season. You never know, these things have a bunch of different ways they could turn out.”