Veteran Pro Bowl guard Kyle Long is officially coming out of retirement and this time, he’s not returning to the team he called home for seven seasons. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the 32-year-old inked a one-year deal with the Kansas City Chiefs that’s worth up to $5 million. Long joins former New England Patriots lineman Joe Thuney as the latest additions to the 2020 Super Bowl champion’s offensive line.
The revelation sounded like music to Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ ears. He immediately shared his thoughts with two grinning emojis in a response to Schefter’s tweet.
Long Was Reportedly Deciding Between the Chiefs and Raiders
As far as advantages are concerned, the Chiefs certainly have another one over their bitter rivals the Las Vegas Raiders. Per earlier reports, Long scheduled a Monday visit in Sin City before traveling to the City of Fountains a couple days later. According to Fox NFL Sunday analyst Jay Glazer, a conversation with Mahomes (of course) was the catalyst behind Long ultimately settling on Kansas City.
As you can imagine, talking to @PatrickMahomes made a huge difference in Kyle’s decision making
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The Virginia native was selected 20th overall in the 2013 NFL draft by the Chicago Bears, where he called home until his retirement in January 2020. The son of former Super Bowl champion Howie Long, the former Oregon Duck played 77 games with the Bears, starting an impressive 76. Long’s tenure in the Windy City came to an end in 2019 after he was placed on season-ending injured reserve after attempting to play through a hip sprain.
Looks as though the injury is long gone because on March 9, Macon Gunter informed the masses of his triumphant return in an episode of Chalk Media’s podcast Green Light with Chris Long.
Seems as though Long was anticipating good news at the start of the day, because he coincidentally tweeted a positive message ahead of his meeting with the Chiefs.
Let’s have a great day
By our standards and his, it was indeed a great day.
What Long Missed the Most During Retirement
Though retirement sounds delightful to most, Long found himself quickly missing some elements of the game. During that same podcast episode, the esports part-owner opened up about what he missed the most.
“The people, the abundance of clean clothes (in the locker room), the fact that there actually is somebody doing your laundry…” he jokingly explained, before providing a more serious response. “I miss sitting next to the D-line after a hard practice and talking smack about how they all said I was holding.
“I miss sitting with the offensive line at breakfast at six in the morning. I miss the group texts. I miss all of it, man. I miss competing. I miss lining up and saying, ‘watch this sh*t.’ Like, you get in the huddle, the play’s called, you turn to your buddy and you say, ‘watch this sh*t.’ I miss that.”
Lucky for him, in a few short months, those unique components will once again be the new normal.
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Three-Time Pro Bowl Guard Unretires, Signs 1-Year Deal With Chiefs: Report