Signed by the Kansas City Chiefs to a one-year contract as a free agent on March 24, defensive tackle Byron Cowart instead spent less than seven weeks with the NFL team.

The Chiefs released Cowart on Wednesday.

MORE NFL:

· WHY DID HENRY RUGGS III GET A PLEA DEAL AFTER BEING CHARGED IN DEADLY WRECK?

· TANK BIGSBY ON MEANING OF NO. 4, BENEFIT OF AUBURN ADVERSITY

· BENGALS COACH ON JORDAN BATTLE: ‘FROM ALABAMA – WINNER’

Between signing Cowart and releasing him, Kansas City drafted Texas defensive tackle Keondre Coburn and signed defensive linemen Matt Dickerson and Chris Williams. Dickerson played in six games for the Atlanta Falcons and Williams played in five games for the Indianapolis Colts last season.

Cowart played in all 17 regular-season games for the Colts in 2022. On the field for 227 defensive snaps and 92 special-teams plays, Cowart had 12 tackles, including two tackles for loss.

Once ranked as the No. 1 recruit in the 2015 class, Cowart played at Auburn in 2015 and 2016 before being granted his release early in the 2017 season. Cowart cited his lack of playing time and the health of his mother as the reasons he sought to leave the Tigers. Cowart played at Maryland in the 2018 season.

Cowart joined the New England Patriots in the fifth round of the 2019 NFL Draft. He played in five games as a rookie, then made 14 starts in his second season, when he totaled 29 tackles and recorded one sack while playing 419 defensive snaps.

Cowart did not play during the 2021 season. He opened training camp on the physically-unable-to-perform list with an undisclosed injury and never came off it.

The Patriots waived Cowart on July 22, 2022, and he joined the Colts the next day as a waiver claim.

FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.