The Kansas City Chiefs have their own practice squad, but given some needs, here are some interesting prospects from other squads around the NFL.
A spot on an NFL team’s practice squad serves as a desperate last hold onto the dream of playing professional football. Every year, each franchise is given 10 spots to stash developmental players—young guys with ideal size or perfect length or incredible athleticism who just can’t seem to put it all together. The hope is that further time practicing with the team will help them turn the corner.
Every year, 320 players begin the regular season on a team’s practice squad and hundreds more are rotated in and out as the season wears on. The reason it’s a desperate last hold is that most players end up silently slipping off of a team’s radar, making nothing but a minor blip on the league’s transaction wire.
Still for every 9 prospects who earn a chance only to lose it, there’s one success that makes these efforts worth it all. Andrew Wylie was the Kansas City Chiefs rookie of the year last year, yet he lingered on the practice squads of the Indianapolis Colts, Cleveland Browns, and L.A. Chargers for a couple years first. It took the right fit, the right opportunity, the right coaching staff—one player who is an ill fit for one team can be exactly what another needs.
To that end, I took a look around various practice squads heading into the regular season to find a group of 10 prospects that I like for the Chiefs. Of course, Brett Veach has already gathered 10 finds of his own—and, of course, he would have a much greater perspective than any of us on this matter—but I thought it’d be fun to make my own practice squad for K.C. using the prospects of other teams.
Here’s a completely fun exercise making a new P.S. for the Chiefs based on team need and/or available talent.