Kansas City Chiefs: Four Training Camp Takeaways
Takeaway No. 2: There aren’t many roster spots up for grabs.
In recent years it seems like we have entered the first preseason game with tons of roster spots up for grabs. This year things are a little different. With Reid and Dorsey entering the third year of their administration, the roster is stabilizing.
They now have “their guys” on the roster and now that the system has been in place for two years it becomes more difficult for new players to just walk in and unseat guys that already know the system and coaches. Also, the overall depth of the roster appears deeper, which means less waiver wire caliber players will be able to earn spots on the final 53 man roster.
After watching camp on Friday, my stepbrother Cory and I went over the entire roster on our drive home. We had a hard time coming up with many roster spots that are open. Barring injuries or a drastic change in how things look now, I see these players as being safe bets to make the 53 man roster:
QB – Alex Smith, Chase Daniel, Aaron Murray
RB – Jamaal Charles, Knile Davis, Charcandrick West
FB – Anthony Sherman
WR – Jeremy Maclin, Albert Wilson, DeAnthony Thomas, Jason Avant, Chris Conley
TE – Travis Kelce
OL – Eric Fisher, Ben Grubbs, Eric Kush, Jeff Allen, Donald Stephenson, Mitch Morse, Zach Fulton
DL – Dontari Poe, Allen Bailey, Mike DeVito, Jaye Howard, Mike Catapano
LB – Justin Houston, Derrick Johnson, Josh Mauga, Tamba Hali, Dee Ford, Ramik Wilson, Frank Zombo
CB – Sean Smith, Marcus Peters, Phillip Gaines, Steven Nelson
S – Eric Berry, Ron Parker, Husain Abdullah, Tyvon Branch
K – Cairo Santos
P – Dustin Colquitt
If you were keeping tabs, that’s 42 roster spots that I feel pretty strong about being already taken on the 53-man roster. That means the other 48 players at camp are all competing for 11 spots. A couple more may be open to start the year with Poe and Smith out, but you get the idea. If we’re being honest, it’s not even really 48 players competing for those last few spots either. Several of those guys are just camp bodies that don’t have a shot at earning a spot.
Next: The battles are heating up