![\"Chiefs'](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Jaylen-Watson-7-e1773028794536.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Jaylen Watson.<\/p>\n
Following the Kansas City Chiefs\u2019<\/a> decision to trade star cornerback Trent McDuffie<\/a>, KC now has a much more apparent need in the secondary, and that could lead to them making a real push to re-sign cornerback Jaylen Watson<\/a> in NFL free agency.<\/p>\n On the evening of March 8, just before the start of the league\u2019s legal tampering period on March 9, Watson made news when he dropped a brief cryptic post<\/a> on social media: \u201c\ud83d\ude0f.\u201d<\/p>\n The ambiguous message was just one character long: a \u201csmirking\u201d emoji. Of course, this could mean different things.<\/p>\n In one sense, Watson could be smirking because he knows he\u2019s about to get paid. The former seventh-round selection has earned a little over $6 million in his career, according to Over the Cap<\/a>.<\/p>\n Not bad for the average 27-year-old, but that\u2019s still nothing compared to what Watson is about to make.<\/p>\n In the NFL<\/a>, a second contract can create generational wealth for an athlete\u2019s family. And Watson could be taking that all in now, knowing that one team will guarantee him a large sum of money.<\/p>\n At the same time, he could be smirking because he knows the Chiefs are willing to bring him back.<\/p>\n Watson is not allowed to negotiate with any new teams until March 9, but you can always discuss an extension with your current franchise at any time. Perhaps ongoing negotiations with Kansas City are on the right track, which could cause the CB\u2019s post.<\/p>\n Option No. 3 is that Watson\u2019s message has nothing to do with football or NFL free agency at all. Although this feels less likely, given the timing, it\u2019s always possible that a professional athlete is using social media as an outlet for other aspects of their life.<\/p>\n Chiefs CB Jaylen Watson Is Projected to Earn a 4-Year, $73 Million Contract in NFL Free Agency GettyKansas City Chiefs free agent cornerback Jaylen Watson (#35).<\/p>\n No matter what Watson\u2019s intentions were on March 8, the Chiefs are likely hoping that he\u2019s willing to return in free agency.<\/p>\n The Athletic\u2019s Daniel Popper projected<\/a> that Watson will earn a four-year, $73 million contract in 2026. Popper also ranked the Chiefs cornerback as his 33rd-best free agent this offseason.<\/p>\n \u201cWatson is a sticky press corner who is excellent at the line of scrimmage, mirroring releases and taking away space from receivers,\u201d Popper wrote ahead of NFL free agency. \u201cHe has outstanding route recognition and reactions. He is very rarely out of phase early in downs. Watson is also physical in run support. He lacks the long speed of the truly elite corners.\u201d<\/p>\n There aren\u2019t too many top-tier CBs available this March, and that ups the value of Watson. If the Chiefs want him back, they may have to win a high-stakes bidding war to get him.<\/p>\n Latest Chiefs News on Jaylen Watson<\/p>\n On March 5, NFL Network insider Mike Garafolo provided<\/a> the latest on the Chiefs and Watson.<\/p>\n \u201cNow, you\u2019ve got to decide what you want to do with Jaylen Watson, who\u2019s also a free agent at the cornerback position, and a guy that is extremely highly thought of,\u201d the insider began on \u201cGood Morning Football<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n He went on to explain the importance of Watson without McDuffie on the roster.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Chiefs are going to make a run at Jaylen Watson, who has really come along as a complete cornerback,\u201d Garafolo continued. \u201cCan now show that he can do a little bit of everything. He\u2019s got length, he\u2019s got speed, he can play press [coverage], he can tackle. His instincts have come along, again, thanks to the tutelage of [Dave] Merritt\u2026 and Steve Spagnuolo as the defensive coordinator as well.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m really now looking to see what they\u2019re going to do with Watson,\u201d the NFL Network insider finally concluded. \u201cMaybe the Chiefs were saying \u2014 we\u2019ve got to clear some space because this is one of the guys that we have to pay.\u00a0Keep an eye [out] to see how that goes for Watson here in the coming days.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMichael Obermuller<\/a> covers the NFL as an Associate Editor for Heavy Sports, where he began writing in 2021. His areas of focus include the NFL breaking news operation, Kansas City Chiefs, New York Giants, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Pittsburgh Steelers, with expert knowledge on each based on years of coverage. Michael is an NYC area native and Quinnipiac graduate. More about Michael Obermuller<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Chiefs\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Jaylen Watson. Following the Kansas City Chiefs\u2019 decision to trade star cornerback Trent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":528500,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,593,85],"class_list":["post-528499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=528499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528499\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/528500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=528499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=528499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=528499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Chiefs](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Jaylen-Watson-8-e1773029135803.jpg\")
<\/p>\n