The defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs continue to add roster depth by agreeing to a one-year deal with offensive tackle D.J. Humphries, a league source said.
Humphries, 30, will make $2 million for the rest of the year with a maximum value of $4.5 million, according to the source. A first-round pick in the 2015 NFL Draft out of the University of Florida, Humphries spent the first nine years of his career with the Arizona Cardinals. The 2021 Pro Bowl selection had been unsigned this season while recovering from a torn ACL.
The Chiefs felt they needed to make this move to protect themselves further in case Wanya Morris, who has played through pain in his right knee the past several weeks, is unavailable at any point in the rest of the season. In last week’s game, the Chiefs planned to shift left guard Joe Thuney to backup at left tackle if necessary. If that occurred, Mike Caliendo would have played left guard.
For the first time this season, rookie left tackle Kingsley Suamataia, the Chiefs’ 2024 second-round pick, was inactive last week as a healthy scratch. Undrafted rookie Ethan Driskell was in uniform as Suamataia’s backup.
In Week 10, in the Chiefs’ comeback victory over the Denver Broncos, Suamataia struggled in pass-blocking snaps in place of Morris, who aggravated his right knee injury early in the second quarter but returned in the fourth quarter.
“Kingsley will be OK,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said Monday. “Sometimes you have to take a step back to take a step forward. That’s what we felt we needed to do there.”
Kansas City has allowed 22 sacks this year, ranking in the lower third of the league. However, nearly half of those sacks (10) have come in the last three weeks.
Humphries is the latest veteran addition for a Chiefs team looking to three-peat. Since the end of training camp, the team has added running backs Samaje Perine and Kareem Hunt and wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster in free agency. Last month, the Chiefs acquired wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins and defensive end Joshua Uche via trade.
Fox Sports was first to report on the Chiefs acquiring Humphries.
