{"id":772774,"date":"2026-02-24T08:19:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T08:19:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/772774\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T08:19:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T08:19:18","slug":"chiefs-release-defensive-end-mike-danna-after-six-seasons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/772774\/","title":{"rendered":"Chiefs release defensive end Mike Danna after six seasons"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Danna will become a free agent after six seasons with the Chiefs, which featured four AFC Titles and two Super Bowl victories. He will not finish out the three-year contract he signed after his rookie deal expired, and will be looking for an opportunity elsewhere at 29 years old.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">This move has a significant financial note: it will save the team nearly $9 million against the cap. Unfortunately, Danna\u2019s role has evolved into one that does not justify that cost, according to this move by Chiefs\u2019 general manager Brett Veach.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Kansas City drafted Danna in the fifth round of the 2020 NFL Draft, and he was an immediate contributor despite not meeting the physical standards most defensive ends do under defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo. He only started seven games over his first three seasons, but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/D\/DannMi00.htm\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">tallied 10.5 sacks, 10 tackles for loss, and four forced fumbles<\/a> in that stretch as a rotational player.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">In 2023, Danna started every game, including all four postseason matches that culminated in the dynasty\u2019s third championship. In that regular season, he set current career-high marks in tackles (50), sacks (6.5), tackles for loss (7), quarterback hits (13) and passes defended (3).<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">That spring, he re-signed with the Chiefs, but was unable to build off that breakout year. He has dealt with injuries that have forced him to miss six games over the last two years, but it became clear that a younger, less expensive player should be occupying the role Danna had in the defensive rotation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">He was an easy player to root for, and there\u2019s little doubt Chiefs Kingdom will remember him fondly as he looks for a new home before his seventh NFL season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Danna will become a free agent after six seasons with the Chiefs, which featured four AFC Titles and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":772775,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[7,922,1193,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-772774","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs-news","10":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs-roster","11":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116124632013201229","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=772774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772774\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/772775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=772774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=772774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=772774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}