Tajae Sharpe will take Marcus Kemp’s place on Chiefs practice squad

The Chiefs will sign wide receiver Tajae Sharpe to replace Marcus Kemp.

The Kansas City Chiefs have figured out who will replace the departed Marcus Kemp on the team’s practice squad (and potentially the active roster) with news from Herbie Teope of the K.C. Star that the team has plans to sign wide receiver Tajae Sharpe.

In recent days, the Chiefs waived Kemp as they likely hope to bring back wide receiver Byron Pringle to the active roster from injured reserve. However, instead of Kemp relegating back to the practice squad, the Chiefs had run out of promote Kemp back to the active roster, so Kemp decided to sign with the Miami Dolphins. Matt Derrick of Chiefs Digest explains:

Given the Chiefs usage of Kemp not only this season but in years past, it’s not surprising to see the Chiefs bring in further depth at the position, although Sharpe doesn’t have the special teams experience that Kemp specialized in. Kemp was a solid core player for Dave Toub’s units who would earn a rare offensive target here and there.

Kemp played in 26 total games over the last two seasons for K.C., so there are possibilities here for someone else to make an impact.  It should be noted that the Chiefs aren’t without known options on the practice squad, so it will be interesting to see how any future active roster additions are sorted out among Gehrig Dieter, Maurice Ffrench, Jody Fortson and now Tajae Sharpe.

As for Sharpe, he’s most likely familiar to NFL fans as a former Titans wideout—he was their fifth round pick in the 2016 NFL Draft—after setting receiving records at UMass. He earned an immediate starting role as a rookie and caught 41 passes for 522 yards and 2 touchdowns in his rookie year. From there, however, his role diminished as the Titans slowly improved their roster year to year (think Corey Davis, Adam Humphries, and A.J. Brown additions).

Sharpe spent the majority of this season with the Minnesota Vikings but was released earlier this week. He was signed to a one-year deal in free agency but was barely used in only four games with zero catches on three targets. Sharpe will turn 26 years old next week.