5 Chiefs players who could get cut after the NFL Draft

Cornell Powell, wide receiver

The Kansas City Chiefs first picked up Cornell Powell as a day three pick, a fifth-round selection out of Clemson back in the 2021 NFL Draft. Before being drafted, Powell did enjoy a breakout season for the Tigers, but the bigger story around Powell was how much of a late bloomer he turned out to be for Dabo Swinney.

Powell was a fifth-year senior at Clemson when he put up 53 catches for 882 receiving yards and 8 touchdowns. Before that, his career high at Clemson was only 122 receiving yards. The Chiefs have likely been hoping to see Powell turn a corner in a similar way as a pro with a later learning curve that yielded results on the investment made.

While Powell has at least been activated onto the regular season roster for the Chiefs, the truth is that he’s barely hanging around on special teams and K.C. is even giving lower-tier WRs some contractual commitment, such as Justin Watson’s two-year deal that was just announced. The primary goal for keeping Powell around on a rookie deal for all this time is so he can eventually climb the depth chart and provide some of those glue reps to round out the rotation.

At this stage, the Chiefs would be better off grooming a younger receiver with a higher ceiling than counting on Powell to give them much of anything with only two years left on his rookie deal.