The Kansas City Chiefs hid offensive lineman Jimmy Murray on the active roster for the majority of the season. What’s in store for 2019?
Typically the list of inactives in a given game is only useful to know which players could be injured or available before a game after spending a week on the team’s injury report. If someone has been listed as questionable or even doubtful, the final hammer falls on game day and reports are quickly passed in an era of fantasy football to make the necessary adjustments.
What is also important to understand, however, about a team’s inactives list is that there are often one or more players listed who are completely healthy. They are players who are often being hidden, so to speak, by the franchise—a promising player who is clearly not ready to contribute in the present yet offer some real potential for the future.
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Many such players also end up on a team’s practice squad, but teams can poach players from those very spots. The Kansas City Chiefs lost David Irving, pass rusher, to the Dallas Cowboys after leaving him on the practice squad. Then again, the Chiefs enjoyed being on the other side when they signed away Harrison Butker, kicker, from the Carolina Panthers.
Leaving a spot or two open on the active roster for a prospect is the best way to keep them safe and make sure they aren’t stolen by another team, Looking at the Chiefs inactives lists from last year, it’s clear the team has been hiding Jimmy Murray since they first found him last spring.
Murray is an offensive lineman who signed with the team as an undrafted free agent out of Holy Cross. At 6’5, 304 lbs., Murray decided to sign with the Chiefs who stayed in contact with him after his collegiate pro day and a visit to Arrowhead. Despite not getting drafted, the Chiefs called him after the draft and brought him in.
Murray appeared in two games this year—in consecutive weeks against the Rams and Cardinals (subbing for Jordan Devey)—and it’s clear the Chiefs like his potential. Murray worked at left tackle and right guard in college as well, so there’s some positional versatility, but post-draft interviews made it clear that both the player and team liked his intelligence and quickness to hold down the center position.
The Chiefs are likely looking at some significant changes to the offensive interior going forward. Mitch Morse has been the team’s starter at center since he was taken in the second round in the 2015 NFL Draft. Last season, after Morse went down along with his backup Devey, Austin Reiter filled in admirably in the middle, even weeks after coming over via waivers from the Cleveland Browns.
The Chiefs signed Reiter to a two-year, $4.5 million extension this offseason to guarantee he stayed around, and the signing brings into question whether or not Morse will be retained. If not, Reiter could be given a chance to become the new long-term option or a holdover as a new rookie comes in (while also providing depth/security).
Other prospects come and go from the practice squad like a revolving door, but the Chiefs believe that Murray has something special to offer enough to take up valuable real estate on the active roster. It will be interesting to see if the Chiefs add to the mix this offseason or go forward with a positional battle with Reiter, Murray and anyone else who steps up from within.