The 6 biggest surprises from the Kansas City Chiefs latest depth chart

The latest depth chart from the Kansas City Chiefs shows a few surprises on both sides of the ball as the team prepares for the final preseason game.

The latest version of the Kansas City Chiefs depth chart is out, and some positions are coming into clearer view as we near the end of the preseason. Others are offering up a surprise.

Nothing is final, of course, and until the last day of the preseason, every roster hopeful on the Chiefs should be giving it everything they can in practice and in games. Just because a player is positioned above another one at this point means little since this is all unofficial and there’s no way to gauge the difference between two players in the mindset of the coaching staff and front office.

That said, it is interesting to look at the way the Chiefs have stacked up the roster at this point. Snap counts can help us with one angle, but those are often used to see what a player can or cannot do. The depth chart gives us a pecking order to at least begin to understand the way Andy Reid views this batch of players.

Here’s a look at the biggest surprises from the latest depth chart posted after the team’s third preseason game, a loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

Shurmur v. Litton

Despite completing a single pass for six yards against the worst players on the Niners roster, Chase Litton is listed at third quarterback on the Chiefs roster, ahead of this year’s rookie import Kyle Shurmur. It’s a reminder to us to not read too much into a quarterback’s single performance in the preseason and that the team is considering an entire body of work plus that player’s usefulness for the franchise going forward.

Litton laid a rotten egg on Saturday against the Niners while Shurmur looked much sharper—completing 9 of 12 passes for 67 yards. However, the Chiefs are likely going with Litton’s experience here and overall ability versus the intelligence of the greener Shurmur.

It’s important to not read too much into it, but for those who watched Saturday’s game, Shurmur looked like he was QB3 without question. Maybe there’s a tighter race than we believed.

Tremon Smith

According to the latest depth chart, the team’s kick returner is Tremon Smith followed by Tyreek Hill. That’s interesting because while Smith did return a single kick on Saturday night, he was outperformed by rookie cornerback Rashad Fenton, wide receiver Mecole Hardman and wide receiver Byron Pringle, each of whom had longer returns than Smith.

Does Smith really have this job locked down? Is this some sort of message, a conveyance of hope to a player often found lacking in the media? Is this, instead, a dated reference, like someone forgot to update kick returner?

Smith has been tried at running back in practice, caught a pass at wideout on Saturday, and is still listed as a returner here. Is he a jack-of-all trades for this team, or is Reid trying desperately to find him a role? Only time will tell.

Cam Erving remains second-team

Despite the recent switch of Cam Erving at left guard over Andrew Wylie for the opening stretch of Saturday’s loss, Erving is now sitting back at left guard with the second team as Wylie takes over again. Wylie spent time spelling Laurent Duvernay-Tardif during the loss to the Niners, giving both Erving and Wylie several starting reps in the process.

Will Erving be able to make a believer out of Reid? Will Wylie be able to stave him off? Is there anything to read into LDT coming off the field for a stretch? Questions still to be sorted.

Yelder over Bell

Imagine being the only healthy one and still being unable to overtake your competition. That’s what Blake Bell is seeing at this point at tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs.

The latest depth chart has Deon Yelder at No. 2 tight end over Bell, who is third, despite the fact that Yelder has been missing practice and games with an ankle injury. On Saturday, Yelder was out entirely while Bell caught 2 of 3 targets but the depth chart still likes the younger player. Maybe that’s true, but Bell should feel pretty motivated after seeing this latest version of the roster.

Rookies play like Rookies

Despite the fact that the defense is going through a complete overhaul with very real chances for playing time at cornerback, linebacker and safety, the Chiefs rookies aren’t exactly seizing the moment.

Juan Thornhill looked very much like a man learning to play safety at the pro level, thinking through what he’s supposed to do versus instinctually responding like he did as a ballhawk at Virginia. Khalen Saunders might be an athletic beast in the middle, but he’s nowhere ready for actual reps at the pro level. Cornerback Rashad Fenton had a nice return but he’s not suiting up anytime soon in the secondary.

Consequently, we’re still seeing Dan Sorensen over Thornhill and the other two buried under a lot of names. The needs are still there, but the defense won’t be delivering for at least a while.

What the RB is going on here?

No running back has looked less impressive this summer than Carlos Hyde. No one has looked better than Darwin Thompson. So why is the former listed second, behind Damien Williams, and the latter listed fourth, behind Darrel Williams?

The whole pecking order at running back makes no sense and you might be tricked into thinking this depth chart was months old if some other player additions or omissions weren’t involved. Everyone in and around K.C. believes Hyde is on the roster bubble (if he’s even that safe) while Thompson has been a revelation as a late round back—a player capable of truly special things at the position.

If any position on the depth chart reminds you of the unofficial nature of all of this, it’s running back.