The Kansas City Chiefs have landed one of the most fascinating undrafted free agents in the entire 2024 class.
According to multiple reports, the Chiefs are set to sign Charlotte edge rusher Eyabi Okie-Anoma, who was a former top 5 recruit out of high school. He's bounced around a lot during his college career and hasn't quite produced as he did at the high school level. When he joined the NCAA he was coming off a season at St. Frances Academy where he recorded 98 tackles, 22 sacks, and four forced fumbles en route to an undefeated season.
In the 2018 recruiting class, Okie-Anoma was ranked as the No. 4 recruit in the nation, behind QBs Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields, and fellow DE Xavier Thomas. He was even ranked ahead of Cowboys LB Micah Parsons. Okie-Anoma landed at Alabama with Nick Saban in 2018 after taking recruiting visits with basically every top program in the nation. He had nine tackles and two tackles for loss in 12 game appearances. Okie-Anoma was dismissed from Alabama over the summer of 2019 for violating team rules. That began his long journey to Charlotte.
He transferred to Houston, sat out for a season due to transfer rules, and was dismissed in the summer for again violating team rules. Okie-Anoma then wound up at Tennessee-Martin in 2020, where he again sat out the 2020 season due to transfer rules. He played in 12 games for Tennessee-Martin, recording 36 total tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss, six sacks and a forced fumble.
He entered the transfer portal after the 2021 campaign and reunited with his former high school coach (Biff Poggi) at Michigan in August 2022 as a graduate transfer. There he appeared in 14 games, recording 12 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, and 2.5 sacks in a rotational capacity. Okie-Anoma followed Poggi to Charlotte in 2023, where he had the best season of his college career. He was named a team captain and recorded 56 total tackles, 11.5 tackles for loss, 5.5 sacks, one forced fumble and a pass batted. He earned First-Team All-AAC honors and would throw his name in the hat for the 2024 NFL draft.
Listed at 6-foot-4.5 and 262 pounds, Okie-Anoma is a prototypical Steve Spagnuolo edge rusher. He has clear talent, but there are questions about whether he'll be able to fall in line and be coachable in the NFL. This one is a shot in the dark for the Chiefs, but if it pans out, it could be one of the best undrafted free agent signings of the Brett Veach era.
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