{"id":799680,"date":"2026-03-08T04:13:24","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T04:13:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/799680\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T04:13:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T04:13:24","slug":"chiefs-bring-back-james-winchester-on-fully-guaranteed-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/799680\/","title":{"rendered":"Chiefs bring back James Winchester on fully guaranteed deal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Kansas City Chiefs are trying to bounce back after a rough 2025 season. They went 6-11, their worst record since 2012, and that snapped a playoff streak that had been going for over a decade.<\/p>\n<p>Patrick Mahomes and the offense never really clicked, but one guy in Kansas City has stayed locked in the whole time.<\/p>\n<p>MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/ravens-maxx-crosby-trade-afc-north-impact\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Maxx Crosby move could reshape AFC North after Ravens\u2019 aggressive trade<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Long snapper James Winchester is coming back for a 12th season. The Chiefs brought him back, keeping the team\u2019s longest-tenured player around. At least until they figure out what is happening with Travis Kelce.<\/p>\n<p>According to NFL Network\u2019s Ian Rapoport, Winchester agreed to a fully guaranteed one-year deal worth $1.75 million, maintaining his status as the league\u2019s highest-paid long snapper.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Chiefs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">#Chiefs<\/a> have agreed to terms to bring back long snapper James Winchester, per source, as he gets a 1-year, $1.75M fully guaranteed deal. This keeps him as the NFL\u2019s highest paid long snapper. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/zCzMR9wSPo\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/zCzMR9wSPo<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RapSheet\/status\/2030365259693777334?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">March 7, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Winchester\u2019s run in Kansas City has turned into one of the quieter success stories in the franchise. He\u2019s 36 now and won the starting job back in 2015 after a training camp battle.<\/p>\n<p>He has not given it up since. By the time the 2026 season starts, he\u2019ll be 37, but he\u2019s still getting it done.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s one of only four players on the current 90-man offseason roster who were around for all three of Kansas City\u2019s recent Super Bowl wins.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/default-531-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Kansas City Chiefs long snapper James Winchester\" class=\"wp-image-129986\"  \/>Kansas City Chiefs long snapper James Winchester walks from the locker room to the fields prior to training camp at Missouri Western State University. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p>The others are Mahomes, Harrison Butker, and Chris Jones. Winchester has also been there in January.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s played in 25 postseason games, which ties Kelce for the most in franchise history. Not bad for a long snapper who just keeps showing up.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Enjoy free coverage of the top news &amp; trending stories on The Big Lead <\/a>\u2014<\/p>\n<p>NFL: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/5-most-overrated-nfl-free-agents-hitting-the-market-in-2026\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">5 most overrated NFL free agents hitting the market in 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>MLB: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/what-drug-did-jurickson-profar-take-new-reports-reveals-ped-use\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">What drug did Jurickson Profar take? MLB announces PED use<\/a><\/p>\n<p>SPORTS MEDIA: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/stephen-a-smith-bashes-underwhelming-nba-star-food-addict\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Stephen A. Smith bashes underwhelming NBA star as \u2018food addict\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<p>VIRAL: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/nbc-delivers-epic-nostalgia-throwback-tuesday-nba-broadcast\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NBC delivers epic nostalgia with \u2018Throwback Tuesday\u2019 NBA broadcast<\/a><\/p>\n<p>WORLD CUP: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/will-iran-compete-in-the-2026-world-cup-donald-trump-weighs-in\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Will Iran compete in the 2026 World Cup? Donald Trump weighs in<\/a><\/p>\n<p>WNBA: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/letter-from-2-time-mvp-4-time-all-star-reveals-rift-between-wnba-players-union-leaders\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Players, union leaders divided, claims letter from 2-time MVP and 4-time All-Star<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Kansas City Chiefs are trying to bounce back after a rough 2025 season. They went 6-11, their&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":799681,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2063],"tags":[346,7,58527,118,110,2438,2437,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-799680","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-kansas-city-chiefs","8":"tag-chiefs","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-james-winchester","11":"tag-kansas-city","12":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs","13":"tag-kansascity","14":"tag-kansascitychiefs","15":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116191612704306088","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799680","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=799680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/799681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=799680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=799680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=799680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}