Jan 26, 2025; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Chiefs defensive end Charles Omenihu (90) tackles Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) in the AFC Championship game at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-Imagn Images Denny Medley-Imagn Images

Why Omenihu Feels Like He’s Turned a Chiefs Corner

Originally posted on Kansas City Chiefs on SI
By Zak Gilbert | Last updated Jul 31, 2025 12:30 PM ET

In May, when the NFL announced the Chiefs would open the 2025 season in Brazil, Charles Omenihu was more than excited. To use his word, the Chiefs’ veteran defensive end was geeked.

“It's going to be the first time I play Week 1 since my fourth year in the league,” he said after camp practice Wednesday. “So, I have definitely in these last two years understood the fact of not taking things for granted, understood the fact that you got to cherish everything in this game.

“Because I've been on the end where you've had to sit and wait for different reasons.”

He missed the first 11 games of last season after tearing his right ACL in the 2023 AFC Championship Game. The year before, his first with the Chiefs, Omenihu missed the first six games while suspended under the NFL’s personal conduct policy. Upon his return, he posted a career-best seven sacks before the knee injury in the postseason.

A return to Week 1

Omenihu, who turns 28 in August, last played a season-opening game in 2022 with the 49ers. A reserve that year, Omenihu still played 53.5 percent of San Francisco’s defensive snaps, second among defensive linemen behind Nick Bosa. He helped the 49ers advance to the NFC title game, including two sacks in a wild-card win over Seattle.

Signed by the Chiefs as an unrestricted free agent before that 2023 season, Omenihu returned this past March on a one-year, $4 million deal. Now, Omenihu is a new man.

“I feel a lot better,” said Omenihu, Houston’s fifth-round selection in the 2019 draft. “I think it's a big difference just in my consistency and my explosiveness. Feel as strong as I've ever been. So, I'm glad that I'm back at full strength for the first time since when I first got here. So, that should bode well for me.”

If so, retaining Omenihu should bode well for the Chiefs. In just 17 games over the last two years with Kansas City, he has eight sacks. He’s also added two sacks in six playoff games for Kansas City, including a critical play in that AFC championship before the injury.

With Kansas City protecting a 14-7 lead in the second quarter, Omenihu sacked Lamar Jackson and forced a fumble recovered by George Karlaftis.

Just over a month to Brazil

Omenihu, who's helped his teams reach the playoffs in five of his six NFL seasons, said he has high expectations of himself and looks forward to Sept. 5 against the Chargers in São Paulo, Brazil.

“So, I'll be excited, I'll be geeked, I'll be ready to rock and ready to go help get us get a win.”

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This article first appeared on Kansas City Chiefs on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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