Brett Veach will have to have the final roster ready to go by September first. Which positions are going to be the hardest to slim down this season?
Brett Veach has been very active constructing his roster over his first full year as the general manager of the Kansas City Chiefs. From his free agent acquisitions of Sammy Watkins and Anthony Hitchens to shipping off Marcus Peters and Alex Smith via trades, Veach has made very aggressive moves to shape the team in his vision.
There is only one more preseason game before things start to count for the Chiefs. Players across the NFL understand this, and they know that the last slate of preseason games is the last chance to showcase their skills to the entire NFL.
Veach should already have 90 percent of the roster figured out at this point, but which groups will give Veach the hardest time when it comes to the final 53?
Wide Receiver
The receiver group that the Chiefs currently have is the deepest it has been during Andy Reid’s tenure with the team. John Dorsey was making a concerted effort to improve the position during his tenure in Kansas City, having drafted three receivers in three straight drafts starting in 2015. The current receivers on the Chiefs roster consist of Tyreek Hill, Watkins, Chris Conley, Demarcus Robinson, Jehu Chesson, De’Anthony Thomas. Gehrig Dieter, Marcus Kemp, and Byron Pringle.
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Hill and Watkins are locked in at the top of the roster, and both players are bonafide deep threats and will more than likely help Kansas City have one of the more explosive passing attacks in the NFL. Following up those two is Conley who is currently the most experienced receiver in Reid’s offense, and looks to be Kansas City’s third receiver going into the season.
Robinson is next in line, but may not sit behind Conley for long. He was the next man up last season when Conley tore his Achilles tendon against the Houston Texans. In Robinson’s limited snaps, we were all able to witness the explosive player that he could become as long as he was more consistent.
After those four it seems to be complete chaos over who could make the roster. The Chiefs traditionally have kept six receivers going into the season, with the last spot, in particular, being someone with excellent special teams ability.
Chesson has the most invested in him currently have been a fourth-round pick that the Chiefs traded up to acquire. While Dorsey has been let go since the pick was made, it would be unusual for Veach to give up on a player after just one season.
With the investment made in Chesson, we can assume he makes the roster. That leaves just one spot for Dieter, Kemp, Thomas, and Pringle to fight over. Dieter and Kemp have both had very solid preseasons so far, both have scored touchdowns and have continued to prove their worth on special teams. Even with that, Reid has openly come out and said that he was excited to have Thomas back after the devastating injury he received in Week 17 of last season. Reid went on to say that they even had special packages for him within the offense, which is something none of the other players currently have. Pringle has had a very quiet camp overall and seems to be a perfect practice squad candidate.
Keeping all of this in mind, it becomes easy to see why Veach will have a hard time trimming down this position. In a perfect world we could keep all of them, but alas that is not possible. No matter how you slice it, the Chiefs are going to have a very talented group of receivers for Patrick Mahomes to throw to this season.
Inside Linebackers
The first significant move that Veach made as Kansas City’s new general manager was to improve the inside linebacker position. He traded the Chiefs fourth-round pick in 2019 for then Buffalo Bills linebacker Reggie Ragland. After the season Veach proceded to let go of longtime fan favorite Derrick Johnson. Veach filled this spot by aggressively going after free agent linebacker Anthony Hitchens to give Ragland a stable running mate for years to come.
While some may criticize Veach for how much he paid Hitchens, no one can deny that the position itself is better overall—at least when it comes to the two starters. After Hitchens and Ragland, there is not much in the way of proven depth behind them.
The players currently sitting behind Hitchens and Ragland consist of Ukeme Eligwe, Terrance Smith, Ben Niemann, and Dorian O’Daniel. Both Elgiwe and O’Daniel are similar to the Chesson situation for the receivers.
Elgiwe was the Chiefs fifth-round pick in the 2017 draft, and O’Daniel was picked in this year’s draft in the third round. With that in mind, it seems inevitable that both of them will make the roster. That leaves the last possible spot up for grabs and between Niemann and Smith. Both players were undrafted free agents, so there is no other investment in them other than their contracts.
Niemann has shown some outstanding instincts this offseason, during the first preseason game he kept popping off the screen when he played against the Texans second and third-team players. He was a higher caliber player than most of the other players on the field. Fans seemed to notice it, and Niemann quickly has become a household name in the Chiefs Kingdom.
Smith, on the other hand, has been somewhat hit or miss since he came to the Chiefs. He was able to stick to the final 53 last season as a special teams contributor and even started one game for Kansas City.If Smith makes the roster, it is because Veach has decided his familiarity with the defense and his contributions on special teams be better than what Niemann can bring to the table. Whoever is chosen, they are both great practice squad candidates that the Chiefs will be able to continue to develop.
Offensive Line
The offensive line is the same as it was last season, except at the carousel that is the left guard position. Eric Fisher, Mitchell Schwartz, Mitch Morse, and Laurent Duvernay-Tardif are all returning starters. Morse has finally recovered after the foot injury that he had sustained last season while playing against the Philadelphia Eagles. His return to the center position should be an upgrade over Zach Fulton who took over for him last season while he was injured.
After those four is when things start to get interesting, Cameron Erving is currently the starting left guard on the team. The Chiefs also have two other players in Parker Ehinger and Bryan Witzmann who have manned the same spot over the past two seasons.
After the starters, we have guys like Jordan Devey, Kahlil McKenzie, Ryan Hunter, and Andrew Wylie who have all shown flashes of being either capable starters in their own right or at the very least decent backups. Wylie, in particular, is on the fast track to make the roster as of right now. When LDT was recently in the concussion protocol, Wylie was the one who took over his spot at right guard with the first team. Once the second team would come out Wylie would slide out to the right tackle spot and play there.
That type of versatility is key when it comes being a backup offensive lineman. Hunter played both guard positions in camp this year, but will more than likely end on the practice squad due to the jump in the competition he faced while at Bowling Green. Devey seems to have the backup center spot locked down, and Kahlil Mckenzie will make the final roster to protect him from being stolen from the practice squad.
The real question here is who do you keep as the starter and backup at left guard? Ehinger, Witzmann, and now Erving have all spent significant time at the position. All three have some type of versatility, Ehinger has been backing up the left tackle spot for a good chunk of the preseason. Erving was slated as the swing tackle if anyone went down at either tackle position to start the preseason, and Witzmann has been a backup tackle in the past in addition to his time as the starter at left guard.
The Chiefs have managed to get a lot of decent talent at the position to protect new quarterback Patrick Mahomes this season. It also looks like this position will be the one to give Veach the hardest time when it comes time to slim it down to reach the final 53.