KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Chiefs added depth to their thin defensive end group Monday night by acquiring edge rusher Cameron Thomas in exchange for a seventh-round draft choice.
Thomas has three sacks in his NFL career along with 20 solo tackles and 20 assists, including six tackles for a loss. He’s also been credited with seven quarterback hits, two broken-up passes and a fumble recovery for a touchdown.
Playing the role of matchmaker between the Chiefs and Cardinals was Thomas’ agent Chris Cabott, according to NFL Network. Cabott also represents quarterback Patrick Mahomes. It’s not uncommon during the cutdown to 53 players for teams to allow players and their agents to seek deals with other teams. It was not immediately know which seventh-round pick the Chiefs were sending to Arizona.
A third-round selection (No. 87 overall) in the 2022 NFL Draft from San Diego State, Thomas played 32 games with three starts for the Cardinals during the past two seasons while 591 snaps on defense and 176 on special teams. The 6-foot-4, 267-pound Thomas played primarily as an outside linebacker in Vance Joseph’s 3-4 defense in 2022 before moving to a 4-3 defensive end under new coordinator Nick Rallis last year.
The Chiefs are hoping to help Thomas recapture the form he showed as a rookie when he collected all three of his NFL sacks and earned his highest grades from Pro Football Focus. That organization gave him a rating of 80.1 for tackling, 70.5 for pass rush and 63.8 for run defense as a rookie in 2022.
Thomas joins a defensive end group in need of reinforcements. The Chiefs have just five healthy defensive ends on the current roster, including Truman Jones who has yet to take a snap in a regular-season game. The club doesn’t expect Charles Omenihu to return from a torn ACL until midseason, and it’s uncertain when BJ Thompson will receive medical clearance to return to football activities.
A three-time first-team All-Mountain West performer, Thomas was a second-team All-American in 2021 and the conference’s defensive player of the year after compiling 49 tackles, nine tackles for a loss, and 5 1/2 sacks for the Aztecs.
It’s the second year in a row that the Chiefs have acquired defensive linemen in exchange for a draft pick at the roster cut-down deadline. Last year the Chiefs picked up defensive tackle Neil Farrell in exchange for a 2024 sixth-round choice.
