Austin Reiter gets chance to be next man up for Kansas City Chiefs

Austin Reiter will be the starting center for the Kansas City Chiefs when they play the Denver Broncos on Sunday afternoon.

The Kansas City Chiefs have officially announced that Mitch Morse will be out for another week on Sunday, which means it’s time for yet another next man up at the starting center position. On Sunday it will be Austin Reiter, a waiver claim from last month who will be tasked with manning the middle for K.C.

The Chiefs high-octane offense has been a work in progress along the offensive interior, but the team has stayed the course despite myriad changes at center and right guard. Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, the team’s starting right guard, has been lost for potentially the rest of the season with a broken leg. In his place, Jordan Devey and Andrew Wylie have been taking snaps.

Mitch Morse, the team’s starting center, was lost to a concussion after the loss of LDT, which meant Devey slid over to center and opened up space for Wylie. However, Devey tore a pectoral muscle shortly after taking over at center which now means that Reiter will be the new man at center.

Reiter came over from the Cleveland Browns in a waiver claim after being released by former Chiefs general manager John Dorsey. Reiter made the Chiefs active roster in the process and is now being asked to take over an important role in the middle just seven games after arriving—a tall order for a player with only 64 total snaps in his career along the offensive line per Pro Football Focus.

Reiter was a seventh-round pick of the Washington Redskins in the 2015 NFL Draft. His backup will likely be Jimmy Murray, an undrafted free agent from Holy Cross who was signed off the team’s practice squad earlier this week.