The Kansas City Chiefs announced a minor roster move on the Monday before the NFL's deadline to pare down rosters to the 53-man version at the end of the preseason slate. They've signed defensive end Niles King after making room for him by waiving wide receiver Jeff Caldwell with an injury designation.
Caldwell joined the Chiefs as a rookie free agent out of Cincinnati, whose athletic numbers were off the charts. His RAS (Relative Athletic Score) came in at 10.0 with historic measurables for someone with both his size, strength, and speed. He drew buzz from draft analysts as a steal for the Chiefs to land such traits without using a pick, but Caldwell never quite turned the corner from the hype machine in either minicamp or training camp.
The knock against Caldwell was always a lack of production, with only a single season with the Bearcats after having transferred from a much smaller school, Lindenwood. Caldwell's numbers at Cincy were rather pedestrian for a player creating any real excitement at all: 32 catches, 478 yards, 6 touchdowns. The Chiefs gave him the spring and summer to develop more as a player, but he's been injured for several days and he failed to play in the team's preseason game against the Buccaneers on Saturday.
The Chiefs have waived Jeff Caldwell in order to make room for some defensive end depth before the team's final preseason game.
By waiving Caldwell, the Chiefs have opened up the possibility of losing him to another team's waiver claim. However, if he goes unclaimed, then the Chiefs can place him on injured reserve if they desire.
As for the new addition, King is a rookie free agent who failed to get drafted this spring coming out of San Diego State. He transferred to the Aztecs in 2025 after years at Grand Valley State and had 10 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks for SDSU a year ago. He had 20 sacks in 34 games at GVSU before he transferred to the Pac-12. Dane Brugler of The Athletic ranked King as his 65th defensive end availabel in the '26 draft class.
King's presence should help the Chiefs get through the third and final preseason game scheduled for Friday night at Arrowhead against the Seattle Seahawks. Without second-year edge Ashton Gillotte and Tyreke Smith, the Chiefs are a bit short-handed up front as it is, which affords them a closer look at a prospect, even if only for a single game.
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