4. Shane Buechele - Quarterback
In my original roster projection at the start of training camp, I advocated for the Chiefs to only keep Patrick Mahomes and Blaine Gabbert on the 53-man roster. My reasoning was that if Mahomes and Gabbert were injured, I didn't see them trusting Buechele to run the offense. My thought was that they would likely try to bring Chad Henne out of retirement if that happened.
I never even really considered the possibility that Buechele would challenge Gabbert for the number two role. However, that seems to be exactly what happened. Again, as I'm typing this we don't know who made the final roster or which quarterback will be listed as the primary backup, but the Chiefs were clearly open to Buechele earning that job based on how they played him ahead of Gabbert in the final two preseason games.
Buechele struggled a little against the Browns on Saturday, but his overall preseason performance was solid. He ended up 29 of 45 (64.4%) for 349 yards (7.8 YPA), with 3 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. We'll see just how much faith the Chiefs have in Buechele in the coming days, but he definitely deserves this spot on the list for his push this preseason to become Mahomes primary backup.
Next up, I'm going to cheat the list a little and do a two-for-one at number three.