It wasn’t so long ago that the Kansas City Chiefs thought Neil Farrell could be part of the answer to the deficit of young talent along the defensive interior. They’ll actually have a chance for another attempt if they want to give one to Farrell now that he’s been made a free agent.
The Miami Dolphins announced the release of three players on Thursday, one of whom was Farrell who is still finding it difficult to land a long-term home in the National Football League.
The Chiefs decided to flip a late-round draft choice (a sixth) to the Las Vegas Raiders for Farrell’s services shortly before the 2023 regular season started. It was clear that Farrell was on the ropes to make the Raiders’ roster, and the Chiefs thought it sounded prudent to take a shot on the former LSU lineman given that he had three years of control left on a cheap contract.
Former Chiefs defensive tackle Neil Farrell is once again a free agent after being released by the Dolphins.
The frustrating part is that Farrell would only play 41 snaps across three appearances for the Chiefs that first year. Farrell would come into the 2024 season with the Chiefs with greater hopes since he’d finally have some consistency coming into a new season, but he ended up being waived before final roster cuts.
The Dolphins gave Farrell a place to land in 2024, but he only earned 65 snaps in 7 appearances after being promoted from the practice squad.
While at LSU, Farrell was a powerful run-stopper who noticed 23 tackles for loss along a stout defensive front. The Raiders used their fourth-round pick on him in the 2022 NFL Draft with the hopes of beefing up their interior but he was crowded out and the Raiders made a quick assessment that things weren’t working out. To be gifted a sixth-round choice from the Chiefs softened the blow on a bad draft choice.
Now Farrell will hope for a fourth home in the NFL after just three seasons. Given his relative youth, he’s a good bet to catch on somewhere for some training camp competition but it’s going to be an uphill climb to make any team’s active roster after three lackluster attempts.
