The Chiefs assured that safety Eric Berry would stay off the open market by signing him to a six-year extension on Tuesday that will make Berry the highest-paid safety in the league and allow them to avoid doing the franchise tag dance for the second year in a row.
It appears they will also avoid doing that dance with defensive tackle Dontari Poe. According to multiple reports, the team will not use their franchise tag on Poe before Wednesday afternoon’s deadline.
That will put Poe on the path to become an unrestricted free agent next week. He could still sign an extension with the Chiefs before the new league year starts on March 9, although it seems unlikely that he’d do that without at least hearing what other teams have to say during the “legal tampering” window that opens a couple of days before the new league year.
It may also be a difficult contract for the Chiefs to put together if they’re going to have much flexibility to make other moves after extending Berry and guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif this week.