The Kansas City Chiefs have agreed to terms with third-round edge rusher Ashton Gillotte and fourth-round wide receiver Jalen Royals on rookie contracts, Aaron Wilson reported Tuesday.
With Gillotte and Royals under contract, five of the team’s seven 2025 draft picks are now signed. Only second-round defensive tackle Omar Norman-Lott and the Chiefs’ other third-rounder, cornerback Nohl Williams, remain unsigned.
Gillotte led the nation in quarterback pressures last season. Affecting quarterbacks with unexpected pressure could be the underrated fuel that supplies the Chiefs with another Super Bowl title. In both 2022 and 2023, the last two seasons Kansas City won the Super Bowl, Steve Spagnuolo’s unit finished second among NFL teams in sacks. Last year, the Chiefs were tied for 18th.
A 6-3, 264-pound defender out of Louisville, Gillotte joined Kansas City as the 66th overall choice, the third-rounder the Chiefs picked up from the Titans in the 2024 L’Jarius Sneed trade. That deal will go down as one of the best trades Brett Veach has made during his tenure as Kansas City general manager.
Royals is a 6-0, 205-pound target from Utah State, the Chiefs’ 133rd-overall selection in the fourth round. Before a foot injury shelved him for much of the last half of 2024, he finished the 2023 season as the nation’s only player with at least 70 receptions and 15-plus touchdown catches.
The receiver figures to remind many of another Day 3 Chiefs selection, Tyreek Hill. In 58 games with Patrick Mahomes and Hill on the same field from 2017-21, the quarterback compiled a 106.0 career passer rating, with 17,254 yards, 143 touchdown passes, and 36 interceptions. Hill earned Pro Bowl selections each of those seasons and All-Pro honors in 2018 and 2020.
Earlier this month, the Chiefs signed first-round selection Josh Simmons, fifth-rounder Jeffrey Bassa and seventh-round choice Brashard Smith.
The Chiefs received resoundingly high grades from national analysts for their 2025 draft, due in large part to drafting Simmons.
Simmons, a 6-5, 317-pound tackle from Ohio State, sustained a patellar injury in his left knee during the first half of an Oct. 12 loss at Oregon. Before that, he was widely projected as a top-five selection.
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