The Kansas City Chiefs' season just got capped off with a Super Bowl LVII win over the Philadelphia Eagles, but the team is already back to work only a couple of days later ensuring that its roster remains stocked with talent as the offseason begins.
The reserve/future contract is a way for teams to work around the requirement that they maintain just a 53-man roster until the first day of the new league year in mid-March. Once that new league year begins, clubs can then expand their rosters to 90 for a big chunk of the offseason.
Because practice squad players don't count towards the aforementioned 53-player total, teams will oftentimes prioritize using a future contract on them in order to help avoid them departing for another team. That appears to be the case for Kansas City on Tuesday morning as according to Ari Meirov of The 33rd Team, center Austin Reiter is one player the team has signed to a future contract.
In regards to Reiter, Meirov adds that the Chiefs "valued his leadership and experience" as an offensive lineman and wanted to have him remain a member of the team as the offseason progressed. The 31-year-old played in 42 games for the organization from the 2018-2020 season and started for them on the teams that eventually went on to play in Super Bowls LIV and LV. In his career, Reiter has appeared in 65 games and made 38 starts with the Chiefs, Cleveland Browns and Miami Dolphins after being selected in the seventh round of the 2015 NFL Draft. He's also spent some time with various other organizations on their respective practice squads.
After effectively spending the 2021 campaign in Miami, Reiter returned to Kansas City in March of last year before being released/waived and re-signed a few times in a procedural fashion leading up to the regular season. He ultimately ended up on the practice squad at the end of August and after being released in November, he rejoined the practice squad on Dec. 8. In advance of Sunday's Super Bowl win over the Jaguars, Reiter and wide receiver Marcus Kemp were elevated from the practice squad and added to the game day roster. With the future deal now in the fold, Reiter sticks around an organization he's quite familiar with.
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