Like the other 31 clubs in the National Football League, the Kansas City Chiefs have 15 more tough decisions (at the time of writing this) that need to be made to turn in a final 53-man roster by the league’s deadline on Tuesday at 4 p.m. eastern.
On Monday, Kansas City reportedly trimmed its locker room down to 68 players by waiving the following players:
CB/LB Zayne Anderson, WR Dalton Shoen, WR Darris Shepherd, DE Demone Harris, LB Omari Cobb, DE Austin Edwards, S Devon Key, OL Wyatt Miller, WR Maurice Ffrench, RB Derrick Gore, RB Darwin Thompson, G Darryl Williams.
With 15 moves left to be made before the Chiefs’ official roster fully takes shape, here are some observations of what the team might look like by tomorrow afternoon.
Quarterback – The Chiefs have rolled with only two active QBs for the past several seasons but could that change in 2021? Third-stringer Shane Buechele showed flashes of real potential during the preseason and with Patrick Mahomes not necessarily needing a veteran mentor anymore, some questions could be floating around the future of backup Chad Henne, who’s in a contract year. There could be a possibility that Veach doesn’t risk losing Buechele to another club and keeps three QBs on the roster to ensure the future of who’ll be backing up Mahomes for years to come.
Running backs – There’s no arguing that the biggest move Kansas City has made on Monday, was waving tailback Darwin Thompson. While it’s not a surprising move, it does make the Chiefs’ backfield a lot clearer at the moment. Barring any crazy pickups or trades, it appears the Chiefs’ run game will consist of Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Darrel Williams, and Jarrick McKinnon carrying the load while Michael Burton leads the way at fullback.
Wide receiver – Ultimately, the biggest question at WR is how many does Veach plan on keeping. Whatever that number might be, there’s hope for Daurice Fountain to still make the team. It’ll also be interesting to see who is named the team’s second starting receiver. Byron Pringle and Demarcus Robinson could see bigger roles as well.
Tight end – Could this be the year Jody Fortson cracks the 53? There’s definitely a huge chance he might. While the Chiefs always roll with Blake Bell, who did a fine job while he was last with Kansas City in 2019 and would also have a better understanding of Reid’s playbook. However, Fortson displayed some real play-making abilities during the preseason. Throw Noah Gray in the mix, and the thought of having three pass-catching tight ends might be too good to pass up.
Offensive Line – Kansas City has their starting o-line figured out. Now it all comes down to who they want to keep around as depth. Guards Laurent Duvernay-Tardif and Kyle Long and center Austin Blythe are scheduled to return from injury in time for the season opener. Nick Allegretti and Mike Remmers have also presumed locks at o-line depth.
Defensive End – After releasing Taco Charlton last week before Friday’s win over Minnesota, the Chiefs’ defensive end situation got a lot more interesting. We know Chris Jones and Frank Clark are locked in as the starters, but how many young guys will Veach keep underneath as depth and which ones will they be? The second-year player out of Michigan Mike Danna is definitely a name that pops out. Rookie Joshua Kaindoh and Alex Okafor come to mind as well. It’ll also be interesting to see if Tim Ward cracks the 53 as well.
Defensive Tackle – The number of how many DEs the Chiefs keep will probably impact how many defensive tackles that will make the roster. Jarran Reed and Derrick Nnadi are the unquestioned starters and Tershawn Wharton likely makes the team as well. Whether or not four DTs make the roster will determine if Khalen Saunders sticks around or not.
Linebacker – Since Steve Spagnuolo took over as defensive coordinator, the Chiefs defense has been run out of the base 4-2-5 nickel formation with two linebackers on the field at all times. In recent years, that combo has been Anthony Hitchens and Ben Niemann. In 2021, there’s reason to think the WILL and MIKE backers could be a rotation of three guys, with Willie Gay Jr. entering the fray. There’s also a shot where we see Nick Bolton a little bit down the stretch.
Cornerback – Kansas City has gotten both younger and more experienced in their secondary and after training camp and preseason, the Chiefs cornerback depth sheet could very well be Charvarious Ward, L’Jarius Sneed, Mike Hughes, Rashad Fenton, Deandre Baker, and BoPete Keyes.
Safety – Kansas City didn’t add much to their already existing safeties room. The safe assumption is Armani Watts and Daniel Sorensen return to backup starters, Juan Thornhill and Tyrann Mathieu.
