Former Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Gehrig Dieter announced his retirement from the NFL on Wednesday via his Twitter account.
Dieter spent five seasons trying to make himself a staple in Kansas City’s offense after going undrafted in 2017 but came up short more often than not. Despite that, he achieved a few milestones during the 2018 regular season, recording his first NFL reception during the last game of the season against the Raiders and his first postseason catch in the Divisional round against Indianapolis.
In total, Dieter appeared in ten regular season games between 2018 and 2020 and caught two passes for 32 yards. He also appeared in three postseason games and caught one pass for 11 yards.
When he was active, most of his playing time came while on special teams.
But Dieter’s name mainly sticks out to Chiefs fans because of his friendship with quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who came to Kansas City the same year as Dieter.
Mahomes sometimes spoke about his relationship with Dieter, and videos of Mahomes practicing with various receivers on high school fields typically showed Dieter as one of the receivers catching passes.
One of the reasons Dieter remained with the team’s practice squad year after year was likely because the team saw potential in Dieter to become a promising pass catcher, and he was already helpful on special teams. However, things have changed with the new crop of receivers entering the building this offseason. Deiter didn’t appear in any games last season, and despite the team bringing him back on a futures reserve contract in early 2022, the Chiefs released him on May 6.
After being a free agent for over a month, Dieter has decided to move on to the next phase of his life with just a little over $1 million in total earnings and a Super Bowl ring from his time with Kansas City.
