KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Chiefs and All-Pro guard Joe Thuney are parting ways with the 32-year-old veteran heading to Chicago in exchange for a 2026 fourth-round draft choice.
The trade will not become official until the beginning of the new league year, which begins at 3 p.m. central time March 12.
The move frees up valuable cap space for the Chiefs — Thuney carried a nearly $27 million salary cap hit for the 2025 season. The trade frees up $16 million in cap space, leaving $10.971 million in dead cap space for 2025. Thuney is also expected to receive a contract extension with the Bears, which was not an option the Chiefs could afford.
Thuney has been an iron man for Kansas City during the past four seasons, missing just two regular-season games and playing a pivotal role in two Super Bowl championship teams and three AFC title winners. He earned three Pro Bowl nods, and three All-Pro honors including first-team All-Pro in each of the past two seasons. He also played 11 playoff games for the Chiefs during the past four years, missing only the final two games of the 2023 postseason run due to a pectoral injury.
He finished 10th in Offensive Player of the Year voting this past season, a campaign in which he finished the season filling in at left tackle after Kingsley Suamataia, Wanya Morris and D.J. Humphries struggled in the role. Thuney’s solid play at left tackle was essential to the club’s run to the AFC championship before falling in the Super Bowl to the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Chiefs have several options at left guard with Thuney’s departure. Mike Caliendo, a 2022 undrafted free agent from Western Michigan, finished the season next to Thuney at left guard, and the Chiefs selected Hunter Nourzad from Penn State in the fifth round of the 2024 NFL Draft. The club also expects to test Suamataia at guard during the offseason.
