The Kansas City Chiefs only lost one player to waivers after active roster cuts: Matt Dickerson to the Atlanta Falcons.
If the Kansas City Chiefs want the ability to stack their practice squad with almost every promising player they were forced to cut before the NFL’s deadline to reach the 53-man roster on Tuesday, they have it. That’s because the Chiefs only had a single player claimed on the waiver wire.
The Chiefs went down to 53 players overall, like every other team, on Tuesday afternoon, which meant setting more than 20 players free either via release to waivers or outright free agency. What is surprising is that defensive tackle Matt Dickerson was the only player coveted enough by another team to claim him.
Other teams might have gone in with the Falcons but Dickerson is now employed by Atlanta in a move that should bolster their defensive interior with a player who showed he could be productive inside in the Chiefs’ preseason.
Dickerson was a late signing to training camp for the Chiefs, given that he arrived less than one month ago, but he showed disruptive skills even in a part-time role. The downside for Dickerson was that the Chiefs looked fairly deep along the defensive interior with Khalen Saunders making an inspired push in the preseason to go with the newly signed Danny Shelton, Taylor Stallworth, Chris Jones, Derrick Nnadi, and Turk Wharton. Stallworth and Shelton failed to make the team as well (and could end up as practice squad players).
A former lineman at UCLA, Dickerson spent his first few years in the NFL with the Tennessee Titans with which he played 18 games. He spent last year with the Raider and Cardinals on their respective practice squads before landing with the Chiefs on August 8.