Kansas City Chiefs roster: Which players did not like the 2015 NFL Draft?

3. Junior Hemingway: At some point, special teams play alone is not enough for a position player to retain his job. That’s the situation Junior Hemingway is now facing. The Chiefs added a pair of wide receivers in the draft, after signing Jeremy Maclin in free agency. On top of that are the additions of Da’Rick Rodgers on a futures contract, and draftnik favorite, Donatella Luckett, as an undrafted free agent.

Hemingway has been solid on special teams, but his offensive play took a step backward last year. During a year when the wide receiver corps came under heavy scrutiny, that’s not a good thing. Hemingway’s production isn’t difficult to replace, so if any of the young new additions shows promise in special teams, Junior will not be long for the roster.

Demetrius Harris has shown a lot of potential, but if he can’t turn it into production, his time in KC may be coming to an end. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

4. Richard Gordon and Demetrius Harris: While the Chiefs clearly didn’t feel there was as big a need at tight end as the fan base did, they still made a significant investment in working on the bottom half of the group. That means that whoever finishes lower on the depth chart between Gordon and Harris is likely going to be on the hot seat. The first contender for the group is fifth-round pick James O’Shaughnessy from Illinois State. Added to him are four undrafted free agents who will be trying to take a spot as a developmental prospect.

Demetrius Harris has been a project guy for the past couple of years, but has shown growth to go with his potential, while Richard Gordon is more of a reliable depth player. This would normally put Harris ahead of Gordon on the depth chart, as it did last year. However, without Anthony Fasano’s presence, reliability becomes a bit more important than potential. Harris will have to take the next step to keep his job.

5. The quarterbacks: The Chiefs’ quarterback situation remains unsettled. While Alex Smith has a lock on the starting job, it still remains to be seen how the rest of the group plays out. Kansas City added Bo Wallace from Ole Miss as an undrafted free agent. That’s not a significant investment, but it also shows the Chiefs are still working with the quarterback lineup.

Wallace is the second quarterback added to the roster this offseason. That doesn’t show much confidence in the current group. It seems that nobody from the group of Tyler Bray, Aaron Murray and Chase Daniel have done enough for the coaching staff to feel comfortable with the group. While fans can pretend that their favorite guy from that group is safe on the roster, the Chiefs’ actions tell us the exact opposite.

The obvious question left over after this is: “What about the offensive line?” Well, the truth is that I could have done an entire article identical to this with just the offensive line. The possibility exists that the 2015 offensive line will field four out of five starters who were not even on the roster last year (Grubbs, Morse, Fanaika, and Sherrod). The entire offensive line group has been on notice for a while now, and I am certain there will be at least one big cut. I simply don’t see how the Chiefs decide to keep both Donald Stephenson and Jeff Allen. And there is even a chance that both men are out of a job depending on how Derek Sherrod and Laurent Duvernay-Tardif look in training camp.

So while fans look forward to the possibilities that may or may not come to pass, there are many players on this team looking at the draft — and the offseason as a whole — without much enthusiasm.