It was quite the surprise when the Kansas City Chiefs opted not to keep Mike Pennel on their roster. He was on the list of roster cuts in favor of the recently-reaquired Derrick Nnadi, who briefly spent time with the Jets before coming back to Kansas City.
With Pennel officially becoming a free agent, it didn't take long for him to get snatched up by another team. Unfortunately for Chiefs fans, that team happened to be the Cincinnati Bengals, who scooped Pennel up and signed him to their practice squad.
Pennel was elevated to the active roster for the Bengals' Week 1 game against the Browns and now has officially been signed to the Bengals' active roster moving forward. If Pennel goes on to play to the level that he did in KC but for the Bengals, that's going to be a tough pill for fans to swallow.
Ex-Chief Mike Pennel quickly earns promotion with Bengals after Week 1
Pennel was a great run-stuffer during his time with the Chiefs and that's another reason why it was interesting to see him let go while bringing Nnadi back. Nnadi hasn't been very effective for the Chiefs in recent years and the team even was fine with letting him leave in the offseason, only then to trade for him a week before the season began. None of it makes any sense.
Meanwhile, Pennel is going to be someone that sees playing time for Cincinnati. He's coming off a year where he tallied three sacks and, again, he's good at stopping the run. The Bengals' defense didn't play as badly as everyone thought they would in Week 1 and Pennel played 29% of the defensive snaps with his new team.
Pennel has been in the league since 2014 and spent four total seasons with the Chiefs and was on two of their Super Bowl-winning rosters. He's also played for the Packers, Jets, Falcons, Bears, and now the Bengals. Let's hope this move doesn't hurt the Chiefs while also benefitting the Bengals.