The 3 roster battles that will define Kansas City Chiefs training camp

The Kansas City Chiefs are about a dozen practices in since the rookies and quarterbacks reported on July 16 and the dust on a few of the key training camp battles are not even close to settling. 

In all likelihood there are 48 or so of the 53 roster spots that are locked in, so there are positions to be earned and higher depth chart rankings to be had. Much of it will come down to whether or not the Chiefs keep three or four running backs, six or seven wide receivers, three or four tight ends, nine or 10 offensive linemen, etc. 

While the Chiefs have a dire need for someone to fulfill the third running back position, there are other, more season-defining consequential battles at stake. Let’s begin with the most high-profile one in which the winner will be protecting the all-world quarterback’s blind side. 

Left Tackle: Kingsley Suamataia vs. Wanya Morris

Since Eric Fisher took his last snap in January of 2021, the Chiefs have started five different left tackles. While two of those were spot starts by Mike Remmers and Joe Thuney, the door has been ever-churning since the Super Bowl LV debacle. 

The three starters that have received extensive runs have been Orlando Brown Jr., Donovan Smith and one of the 2024 counterparts, Wanya Morris. While none of them have graded out exceptionally well on sites such as Pro Football Focus, the Chiefs have gotten by with competent play due to Mahomes' escapability and him taking what the defense gives him. 

Therein lies the optimistic view of the Chiefs' left tackle situation. They do not need Morris or Kingsley Suamataia to be an all-pro, they need to provide adequacy. Mahomes has proven that he can get by with anyone who does not instantly make him run for his life like that Super Bowl against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. 

Without a preseason game to show the improvements Morris has made or how Suamataia deals with live action, it is tough to tell where this one stands. The slight upper hand presumably belongs to the 2024 second-rounder, Suamataia. Morris and the BYU product have split a lot of the reps in camp, but the rookie has run with the ones in every padded practice. 

Suamataia was touted as more of an all-around, athletic left tackle coming out of the draft, and Morris was known as a little more of a mauler. Morris had mixed reviews in his four starts in 2024, so there seems to be momentum for Suamataia to slide into the starting left tackle position, in hopes that he can stabilize it for years to come. The longer the battle goes on, the less likely the Chiefs are to give incumbent tackle, free agent Donovan Smith a call to fill his former spot. 

Starting cornerback battles

This one too, seems obvious, after losing L’Jarius Sneed this offseason. Even without Sneed, it seemed clear that two of Joshua Williams, Jaylen Watson or Nazhee Johnson would take hold of the two slots behind number one Trent McDuffie. While those three are still the most plausible, Watson is just now ramping up coming off the PUP list, Johnson has left practice twice while missing one practice completely and Williams has spent time with both the ones and the twos. 

It now appears that former Cowboys second-round pick Kelvin Joseph has entered the fold, to go along with a pair of 2023 and 2024 late-round picks Nic Jones and Kamal Hadden. Former undrafted Kansas State standout Ekow Boye-Doe is looming as well, after suiting up for six games last season. With safety Chamarri Conner sharing slot-corner reps with McDuffie, the depth chart is suddenly crowded with guys going after two or three spots. 

Sure, Kansas City can find a way to use more than three or four corners, but as the number two corner McDuffie played nearly 90 percent of the snaps last season, while Watson and Williams finished third and fourth with 40 and 30 percent of the snaps. The next closest was Jones, who played 237 fewer defensive snaps than Williams. 

Defensive coordinator Steve Spaguolo seems to find his three or four and use them exclusively. With Johnson and Watson seemingly losing momentum, it leaves the door open for guys like Joseph, who has reportedly spent time with the ones amid the injuries. Joseph has the pedigree as the 44th overall pick in the '21 NFL Draft. He also has the prototypical size, as he's listed at 6-1, 192 pounds. He has talent and does not even have 300 NFL snaps to his name, so there may be more than he has shown. 

There is also the possibility that if the corners cannot prove health or the level of play Spags is looking for, and the Chiefs could then use their more than $15 million in cap space on the free agent market. Stephon Gilmore, Xavien Howard, and Adoree Jackson all remain on the market. While all of them fit the size and coverage skills Kansas City looks for, they are aged. Gilmore, however, did finish 35th in cornerback grades in 2023, according to PFF. He is the type that would want assurance of starting, so it makes complete sense the Chiefs are finding out what they have first. 

The third pass rusher

There are much more interesting camp battles such as the running back spots behind Isiah Pacheco, the fifth through seventh wide receiver spots or whether or not Irv Smith Jr. can force the team to carry four tight ends. However, none of these players will have as much of an impact as whoever the third pass rusher is.

With Charles Omenihu out for an unknown period of time after tearing his ACL in the AFC Championship game, this job is 2023 first-round pick Felix Anudike-Uzomah’s to take. 

To be frank, Anudike-Uzomah will likely win this position by default because it is veteran Malik Herring and former undrafted free agent Truman Jones pushing him. B.J. Thompson suffered a seizure that turned into a cardiac arrest at the facility in June and with him needing to take all of the time he needs outside of football, it has left the Chiefs thin at the position. While FAU does not have much competition, that does not mean it is not imperative he wins the spot with a bullet. 

Starters George Karlaftis and Mike Danna both played just shy of 70 percent of the snaps last season, which leaves a lot of snaps left over for Anudike Uzomah. The Chiefs' pass rush, which finished second in the league in sacks last season, will be losing a ton of juice if the former 31st-overall pick does not step up to the plate with some production. 

While his snaps were limited last year, he did tally 11 pressures and seven quarterback hits, but there is no sugarcoating that it was a disappointing rookie season. There are snaps to be had and he cannot let Herring steal them as he did last year down the stretch. At the very least, being a go-to situational pass rusher would go a long way while Herring plays more on run downs. 

Messages thus far through camp have been mixed but there will be no telling where this stands until he shows his ability and growth against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the first preseason game. The Chiefs showed they at least poked around bringing in a guy like Emmanuel Ogbah, but hopefully, Anudike-Uzomah will prove his worth until Omenihu is ready to contribute again. 

Once again, other battles are going on with guys like Deneric Prince, Louis Rees-Zammit, Kadarius Toney, Skyy Moore, Nikko Remigio, Smith Jr., Lucas Niang, C.J. Hanson, Chukwuebuka Godrick, Fabian Lovett, Curtis Jacobs, etc. who are battling hard for the final roster spots. With that said, I have a hard time any of those will be as impactful to the Chiefs' chances at a three-peat. Left tackles, cornerbacks and edge rushers simply move the needle more in one direction or the other based on the quality of play.