Getty Former Kansas City Chiefs rookie linebacker Isaiah Moore (right) with NC State in 2022.
What a rollercoaster of a rookie summer it’s been for undrafted linebacker Isaiah Moore.
The NC State product was first highlighted as a name to watch ahead of Kansas City Chiefs training camp, and KSHB41 media member Nick Jacobs even predicted that the priority UDFA would make the Week 1 roster after a fast start in July.
Then, out of nowhere, an injury occurred and Moore was sent to the injured reserve with a replacement taking his spot on the 90-man roster. This would typically end a player’s season, unless of course, the two parties come to a settlement.
Chiefs have reached an injury settlement with undrafted rookie LB Isaiah Moore. He’s been placed on waivers. If he clears waivers, he would be eligible to re-sign with the Chiefs once healthy and injury settlement expires.
Chiefs Digest insider Matt Derrick announced this update on August 7, informing: “Chiefs have reached an injury settlement with undrafted rookie LB Isaiah Moore. He’s been placed on waivers. If he clears waivers, he would be eligible to re-sign with the Chiefs once healthy and injury settlement expires.”
Explaining Chiefs’ Injury Settlement With Rookie LB Isaiah Moore
Although we don’t know the exact details of Moore’s settlement, we can explain how this situation typically works. Over the Cap’s Jason Fitzgerald once did a fantastic job outlining injury settlements for fans.
“Contrary to what some believe a settlement is not a negotiation of price,” Fitzgerald began. “It’s really a negotiation of weeks. When a minor injury occurs, a determination is made for weeks that the player will miss due to injury. The options would be to hold the player until he is healthy enough to be released or to have the two sides agree right away as to the amount of weeks that the injury should keep the player sidelined.”
“Once the weeks are agreed upon the team simply agrees to pay the player as if he was on the roster for those weeks,” he continued. “Teams and players have a 5-day window to agree to this settlement. Once the settlement occurs the player is again released from the team (in most cases exposed to waivers), except in this situation the player can return to the team, with a bit of a catch. The player is not allowed to return to the team until the length of the settlement passes plus another 6 weeks.”
So, let’s say the Chiefs agreed to pay Moore for two regular season weeks, hypothetically. He would then be “free to sign with any team in the NFL at that point and agrees to waive all rights to compensation from the team in the event the injury turns out to be more serious than expected” — per Fitzgerald.
However, Moore would not be allowed to re-sign with Kansas City until Week 9 — or six weeks after the length of the agreed upon settlement. Again, this scenario is just hypothetical. It’s unclear how many weeks the Chiefs and Moore settled on.
Fitzgerald called the settlement decision a “financial one for both sides.” They often occur with prospects and veterans on short-term contracts when an injury is long enough to sideline said player indefinitely, but not necessarily season-ending. It remains to be seen if Moore will end up returning to KC at a later date.
Chiefs’ Isaiah Moore Injury Opens Door for LBs Jack Cochrane & Cam Jones
The other linebacker Jacobs had making the 53-man roster was undrafted rookie Cam Jones. With Moore out of the picture for now, Jones’ path is a bit clearer.
Assuming the Chiefs keep five linebackers in 2023 — which is certainly no guarantee — Jones will have to beat out 2022 UDFA Jack Cochrane and former Los Angeles Chargers prospect Cole Christiansen. This will be a special teams role as much as a linebacker position, and Cochrane should have the leg up coming in.
After all, he was a core special teamer for coordinator Dave Toub in 2022, so there’s some familiarity with the second-year pro. Having said that, Jones could have the highest ceiling of the three, and this should be an interesting competition throughout the rest of the preseason.