Every year, fans are shocked by the release of a player or two when the Chiefs decide on their final 53-man roster. Who will be this year’s surprise?
In just a few weeks, the transaction wire will be impossibly long to read. As teams pare down their rosters from 90 to the required 53-man rosters heading into the regular season, an overwhelming stream of new free agents enter the open market and the frenzy of waiver claims begin. New players are then signed while others are released, creating a transactional torrent of sorts over the course of a few days. When the dust settles, it’s often surprising to see some players get cut for the sake of finances or age or both—familiar veterans whose spots weren’t as secure as fans believed.
Every year, a number of surprise cuts will shock a team’s fan base and the Kansas City Chiefs have certainly experienced the sensation already this offseason. If you were prepared for Jamaal Charles to be let go, then at least Jaye Howard likely provided the unexpected curveball. Months later came the bomb for everyone when Jeremy Maclin was told to get out of Kansas City. Even the general manager was let go in another surprise cut, so to speak, when John Dorsey was allowed to leave early after being told he would not be receiving an extension like head coach Andy Reid. For the Chiefs, the entire offseason has been marked by surprise cuts.
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The surprises, unfortunately, aren’t finished in Kansas City. They simply can’t be. There are 37 players who will be let go in the next four to five weeks, and some of them will likely be names other than what we’d expect. Unless you’re with the coaching staff or front office, it’s simply impossible to know for sure which young players are standing out enough to make another player seem expendable.
We recently polled our staff writers for their best guesses for surprise cuts this offseason. It’s nothing any of us want to see happen, but given the task, here are our attempts to claim we knew who the Chiefs would release all along.