THE Kansas City Chiefs might be forced lose one of their top defenders in free agency.

Star defensive tackle Tershawn Wharton is heading to free agency, and there might not be a thing the Chiefs can do about it.

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Wharton is just 26 years old and is coming off the best season of his career.

Across the regular season and playoffs, Wharton recorded 8.5 sacks.

He plays well as both a run defender and pass rusher, and could be highly coveted in the free agency market.

The issue is that the Chiefs likely can’t afford to retain him.

They would need to clear millions more to afford a free agent like Wharton.

Chiefs fans are sad to see Wharton go, and shared their thoughts about his free agency on social media.

“Terk is an ANIMAL. Been saying it for a while,” one fan said.

“I could see Bengals or Bills signing him,” another fan said.

“Potentially a name to watch for the commanders,” a third fan said.

“I think he will get paid and not by KC,” a fourth fan said.

“Intrigued…but I wonder how much of his production comes from playing next to Chris Jones?” a fifth fan said.

The Chiefs’ current financial struggles stem from their use of the franchise tag on offensive tackle Trey Smith.

That contract is worth a guaranteed $23 million for the 2025 season, which blasted the Chiefs over the cap.

The Chiefs had around $8 million in cap space before using the franchise tag.

Kansas City only has eight days left to get their cap situation under control before they could face penalties from the NFL.

The cap has been set at $279.2 million this year.

If the Chiefs don’t get below that cap, they could be fined $5 million for each offense.

They could also have draft picks taken away if they don’t obey the salary cap.

The NFL could go as far as to void Chiefs players’ contract to force the team under the cap.