KC Chiefs Re-Signing DT Mike Pennel, Per Report
The Kansas City Chiefs are keeping a playoff standout around for the 2024 season, reportedly bringing back defensive tackle Mike Pennel to solidify a spot on the defensive line.
The news was first broken by Chiefs linebacker Drue Tranquill during a press conference to discuss his return to KC, then confirmed by Matt Derrick of Chiefs Digest. It's a one-year deal for Pennel, according to Nate Taylor of The Athletic.
Pennel was never on the Chiefs' active roster in the 2023-24 season, but he was elevated from the practice squad for KC's games against the New England Patriots, Las Vegas Raiders and Cincinnati Bengals in Weeks 15, 16, and 17., playing around 25% of the defense snaps each of those games. He was then elevated for all four of KC's playoff games, playing a whopping 40 snaps (52%) against the Buffalo Bills and 40 again (53%) in the Super Bowl against the San Francisco 49ers.
Pennel turns 33 years old in May, but with defensive tackles Derrick Nnadi and Tershawn Wharton also pending free agents, Pennel bulks up a thin group on the interior alongside Chris Jones, back on his new massive deal.
With defensive tackles Isaiah Buggs and Matt Dickerson on futures contracts, the only other DT under contract was Neil Farrell, who saw the field sparingly after the Chiefs traded for him in August.
Pennel, who was born in Topeka, Kan., is now a two-time Super Bowl champion after spending the 2019 and 2020 seasons with the Chiefs before bouncing from Atlanta in 2021 to Chicago in 2022.
