KC Chiefs swap wide receivers on practice squad

The Chiefs have swapped Kalija Lipscomb for Chad Williams on the practice squad.

The Kansas City Chiefs decided to swap out out wide receivers on the team’s practice squad on Wednesday. After news that the team had created a spot with the release of Kalija Lipscomb, the team has now filled it with veteran wideout Chad Williams.

Williams might be a familiar name for NFL fans given that he came into the league as a third round prospect as recently as the 2017 NFL Draft (the same class as Mahomes). The Arizona Cardinals selected Williams 98th overall as an exciting small-school prospect from Grambling State. He entered the NFL with impressive speed (4.37 seconds in the 40-yard dash), great hands, and a physical approach.

Unfortunately, injury and work ethic concerns plagued him and after a couple seasons, he was released (along with much of the same draft class). During his tenure with the Cardinals, Williams caught only 20 of 53 total targets for 202 yards and a single touchdown.

To make room for Williams, the Chiefs released former Vanderbilt star Kalija Lipscomb. The team signed Lipscomb to an undrafted free agent deal this past spring with a considerable guarantee attached ($110K). At Vandy, he put up 198 catches for 2,356 yards and 22 touchdowns—an impressive body of work from a school that struggled each week against top competition.

Both Lipscomb and now Williams faced long odds to climb toward the Chiefs active roster given the depth of wide receivers already on the team, Not only is the active roster loaded with wideouts waiting for a chance for more targets—Byron Pringle, Marcus Kemp, and even, to a degree, Mecole Hardman—but the team’s practice squad still includes Maurice Ffrench, Gehrig Dieter, and Jody Fortson.