Kansas City Chiefs: Five Surprise Candidates to Start in 2016

Kansas City Chiefs tight end James O'Shaughnessy (80) - Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports
Kansas City Chiefs tight end James O'Shaughnessy (80) - Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports /
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Cornerback Steven Nelson #20 of the Kansas City Chiefs (Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty Images)
Cornerback Steven Nelson #20 of the Kansas City Chiefs (Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty Images) /

Though these are just my predictions as potential surprise starters, there are tons of other guys who could be on this list.

I thought about putting rookie guard Parker Ehinger on here, but after doing my research, it actually seems as if the former Bearcat could be on that starting offensive line. The guard positions are wide open, and Ehinger very well could win one of the two spots.

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I also thought about listing tight end Brian Parker on here. I mentioned in that tight end post about how Parker is a great blocker along the offensive line, and that could be the guy’s way in when it comes to making the final roster.

Overall though, I feel like this list is pretty good. I only ended up including one rookie on the list, but considered several others. Two of the other players are second year players and the other two are seasoned veterans. One of those vets is Justin Houston, who will be entering his sixth year with the organization.

While Justin Houston is normally in the “for sure starter” category, his injury has put his starting future in serious jeopardy.

Steven Nelson would be a nice story though should he win that second cornerback spot opposite Marcus Peters. He’s still young, and he and Peters could really carry the secondary for a long time if that’s the duo that Reid decides to roll with.

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What do you think of this list, Chiefs Kingdom? Any other surprise candidates that you think I left off?