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Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid.

The Kansas City Chiefs announced news of another NFL free agency signing on March 20, as the team came to terms with veteran linebacker and staff favorite Jack Cochrane.

“Welcome back,” the Chiefs’ social media team captioned the post, while also tagging Cochrane’s official X account.

Cochrane has become one of those culture and identity guys for head coach Andy Reid, defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, and special teams coordinator Dave Toub. The former undrafted prospect has appeared in 71 games for Kansas City over the past four seasons, including playoffs, and has hardly missed any action at all if you look at his yearly totals.

Cochrane suited up for 15 regular season games as a rookie, then 17 in year two, 15 in year three, and 17 in year four. He’s also been credited with 2 starts and 7 postseason appearances.

Dave Toub Gets an Integral Special Teamer Back as Chiefs Announce Jack Cochrane News

At his core, Cochrane is a special teamer, and a key one at that.

He’s played an astounding 1,237 special teams snaps for Toub over the past four seasons. Which, for those who aren’t familiar, is a lot.

On defense, Cochrane has only taken the field for 250 snaps, and there are more defensive snaps in a game than special teams snaps.

Although Cochrane’s impact rarely shows up on the stat sheet, he’s become an integral leader and field general for Toub’s ST unit. And the former South Dakota product has two Super Bowl rings to show for it.

As for total impact, Cochrane has been credited with 62 total tackles, 2 tackles for a loss, 1 interception, 1 fumble recovery (pictured above), and 2 passes defended.

His return may not make headlines around the NFL, but it’s important as the Chiefs try to get back to winning football in 2026.

Chiefs’ Free Agency News Has Slowed Down

As usual, after the initial frenzy that is the first week of NFL free agency, the news has died down for both the Chiefs and the rest of the league.

Smaller reunions like Cochrane will trickle in as the days go by, and perhaps Kansas City will add depth at different positions if the price is right, but most of the major moves have already happened. And the remainder of the big-name signings may not occur until after the 2026 NFL Draft and, in some cases, June 1.

There’s a reason for that. Teams have mostly filled their dire positional needs as of March 20, which allows most NFL front offices to focus on the draft.

Successful franchises use the draft to supplement what they already have. And that’s what the Chiefs will do — although they do still have more positional needs than usual.

After the draft is complete, most franchises will have the majority of their 90-man roster filled out with returnees, free agent signings, draft picks, and UDFAs. Leaving the final few spots.

After June 1, teams that made post-June 1 releases get cap relief. Generally speaking, this leads to a string of later veteran signings.

At that point, franchises have also completed Organized Team Activities and have a general sense of what they might still need before training camp in late July and August.

There are still moves to be made between now and the draft, but the frequency of news will continue to decrease. That trend has already begun as of March 20.

Michael Obermuller covers the NFL as an Associate Editor for Heavy Sports, where he began writing in 2021. His areas of focus include the NFL breaking news operation, Kansas City Chiefs, New York Giants, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Pittsburgh Steelers, with expert knowledge on each based on years of coverage. Michael is an NYC area native and Quinnipiac graduate. More about Michael Obermuller