Former KC Chiefs player earn further opportunities with Bengals, Texans

Two former Chiefs have found new places to land with the Bengals and Texans.

A couple familiar faces from previous rosters for the Kansas City Chiefs have found new opportunities around the NFL in the last 24 hours as both quarterback Kyle Shurmur and cornerback Mark Fields have had new franchises claim them and extend their pro careers.

Shurmur has been signed to the practice squad of the Cincinnati Bengals and it’s the sort of late-season signing that could serve as a springboard to a much longer look for the 2021 offseason with a reserve/futures deal to come.

Shurmur, who is the son of Denver Broncos offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur, was an undrafted free agent signing for the Chiefs in 2019 after serving as a longtime starter for Vanderbilt. In fact, Shurmur set several Vandy records including single-season marks for touchdown passes and total scores as well as career touchdown passes and yardage.

Shurmur lasted a full year with the Chiefs as he lingered on the team’s practice squad and active roster for all of 2019 before being released shortly after the draft in 2020. At that point, the Chiefs decided to move forward with Jordan Ta’amu as their developmental arm, and Shurmur has been unemployed in 2020 until now.

As for Fields, he was an acclaimed rookie free agent signing who was expected to compete for reps at cornerback. Instead, the Chiefs found a trade market for him shortly before the season began and shipped him to the Minnesota Vikings for a 7th round choice. From there, Fields lingered on the roster for nearly two years, but he recently was released this week after coming off of injured reserve.

The Houston Texans submitted a winning claim and Fields now joins Phillip Gaines and Eric Murray as former Chiefs now playing in the team’s secondary. It will be interesting to see if he develops on the field after generating more buzz than most UDFAs.