Current and former Chiefs players bond over their love of burnt ends
It’s reasonable to believe the Chiefs could be looking for help on the defensive line following the season-ending ACL injury suffered by rookie Omarr Norman-Lott.
Multiple Chiefs-focused websites have pondered whether the Chiefs might bring back Khalen Saunders. Just before the start of the 2025 season, Saunders was traded from the Saints to the Jaguars.
Saunders, who played for the Chiefs from 2019-22 and was part of two Super Bowl championship teams, played in Jacksonville’s opener. But Saunders hasn’t seen the field since then.
It likely wasn’t intentional, but Saunders this week teased Chiefs fans who would love to see him back in Kansas City. It came with a post on X.
“Whoever invented burnt ends.. thank you,” Saunders wrote Monday. “That (stuff) the perfect cut. Like lil bbq meat nuggets #Grateful”
Everyone in Kansas City is grateful, too, for burnt ends.
Former Chiefs offensive lineman Mitchell Schwartz offered a history lesson about burnt ends in response to Saunders.
“The original burnt ends are even better,” Schwartz wrote. “It was literally the end piece of the brisket that caught more smoke and got crustier. There’s only a few bites on a brisket and it used to be a treat for the chef or for who they wanted. Since then they’ve been created from other parts of the brisket because it’s so coveted, and you can get close enough the way they smoke the point muscle. But those few true burnt ends are still the best bite in all of BBQ.”
Saunders responded with an “offer.”
“Listen,” Saunders wrote, “you send me your best brisket I’ll buy it you smoke it for me and let me keep the ends you keep the brisket. deal?”
Saunders’ post may have inspired Chiefs cornerback Jaylen Watson, who went to Q39 and enjoyed some burnt ends.
“@khalenNOTkaylen I just had some burnt ends so mf good!!!” Watson wrote on X.
Nothing should warm the heart of a Kansas City fan quite like seeing current and former Chiefs players bonding over burnt ends.
This story was originally published October 22, 2025 at 8:59 AM.
