Kansas City Chiefs sign linebacker Nate Orchard

The Kansas City Chiefs have brought in a new linebacker to the team in former Cleveland Browns player Nate Orchard.

The Kansas City Chiefs continue to make a series of roster moves this week after the team’s costly win over the Jacksonville Jaguars, a game in which they lost several players to varying degrees of injuries.

The latest announcement from the team is that they’ve reached an agreement with free agent linebacker Nate Orchard, who was released by the Cleveland Browns earlier this season.

Orchard was the second round selection of the Browns back in the 2015 NFL Draft, but like many of the franchise’s draft picks over the last several years, Orchard failed to pan out as planned. Orchard was a first team All-Pac 12 player in 2014 and ended his career at Utah with 18.5 sacks showing an increasing ability to disrupt the passer.

Orchard started 11 games during his rookie season and had 36 tackles, 3 sacks, 1 interception and 4 tackles for a loss. From there, however, he fell down the Browns depth chart, playing in only 19 games over the next two years and starting two. It also didn’t help that a season-ending injury greatly shortened his sophomore year in the NFL.

The Buffalo Bills picked up Orchard shortly after he was released by the Browns earlier in September and he played part-time in only three games before being released again.

The Chiefs have now re-signed linebacker Frank Zombo and Orchard before the Patriots game, a sign that perhaps injuries to Dee Ford or Justin Houston or even Tanoh Kpassagnon are worse than expected. The team did not wait to see how any of those players felt in practice but rather made quick moves to bolster the roster. As the week goes on, the injury picture will clear up but for now it doesn’t look good at outside linebacker.