KC Chiefs 53-man roster prediction includes preseason trades
By Matt Conner
Defensive Line
In: Chris Jones, Jarran Reed, Tershawn Wharton, Frank Clark, Derrick Nnadi, Mike Danna, Tim Ward, Joshua Kaindoh, Khalen Saunders
Out: Austin Edwards, Demone Harris, Tyler Clark, Malik Herring, Alex Okafor
Just like the offensive line, the Chiefs are deep, deep, deep along the defensive front. That’s great news for what’s going to be a longer regular season than ever before at 17 games.
Chris Jones, Frank Clark, Derrick Nnadi and Jarran Reed are likely ready to start across the defensive front from the first snaps of the season opener against the Cleveland Browns.
There has been a significant emphasis this preseason on the ability to play multiple positions up front, which bodes well for the playing time for Turk Wharton and Mike Danna as well.
Joshua Kaindoh is an auto-inclusion here in our roster predictions given that the Chiefs just sunk a fourth round pick into the Florida State product. Khalen Saunders has also bounced back from a frustrating sophomore year to show off an enhanced skill set this preseason. Finally Tim Ward has looked strong this offseason after two years in development—the defensive Fortson, if you will.
If there’s any surprises here, it’s that we’re sticking the Chiefs with only 9 players and not 10. We think they could keep 10 for sure, but we’re not sure if they’re seeing anything from Alex Okafor that they don’t already have and his injury history has us putting him outside looking in.
From there, Herring should be an IR placement and the Chiefs can get Okafor-esque production by calling up the likes of Demone Harris or Tyler Clark from the practice squad on game day (remember the Chiefs can add two players on game day).