Kansas City Chiefs: 55-man roster predictions 1.0
By Shade Piper
Offensive Line (10)
Starters: Eric Fisher, Martinas Rankin, Nick Allegretti, Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, Mitchell Schwartz
Depth: Lucas Niang, Andrew Wylie, Darryl Williams, Mike Remmers, Yasir Durant
Offensive Line may be the toughest position to predict this year and will be one of the best position battles to watch through training camp. While not the most exciting position battle to watch (because who likes to watch offensive linemen), it’s probably going to be some of the toughest competition.
The biggest change to note here is Austin Reiter not making the cut. This is for two reasons, and I know I said I wasn’t going to talk about finances, but the Chiefs can save just over $3.4 million in cap space with a post-June first release. Reiter didn’t really play all that great last season.
Center specifically is probably one of the most wide-open competitions on the entire roster. I also think fans could see at least one of Rankin or Niang starting at one of the guard spots, so there’s competition there as well.
Running Back (4)
Starter: Clyde Edwards-Helaire
Depth: Damien Williams, DeAndre Washington, Darwin Thompson
This is another huge position battle to watch this year that may be a little more exciting than the offensive line group. The starter is locked in, but the rest are pretty fluid. There isn’t one player after Edwards-Helaire that I am comfortable saying is a lock right now. And yes, that includes Damien Williams.
Williams has been great for Kansas City when on the field, but with Edwards-Helaire in the fold, it could be a good time for the Chiefs to capitalize on his great Super Bowl performance and look to trade him.
Washington is not a lock by any means unless Williams is traded, then his veteran presence makes him a lock. Thompson is not guaranteed a spot by any means either and honestly Darrel Williams has shown more over time, so who knows who we could see filling the running back room come September. Elijah McGuire, Marcus Marshall, and Mike Weber have legit chances to make the roster as well as other guys to watch.
Full Back (1)
Starter: Anthony Sherman
This is more than likely Sherman’s last year as a Chief, but he gets one more celebratory victory lap before the reigns are handed over to John Lovett. It doesn’t create any cap space by moving on from Sherman, so he is a virtual guarantee to make the 55-man roster.
Tight End (3)
Starter: Travis Kelce
Depth: Ricky Seals-Jones, Deon Yelder
There are only four tight ends on the 90-man roster and the Chiefs kept three tight ends on the active roster all season last year. That means there is really only a two-man competition between Yelder and Nick Keizer for that third spot and honestly, it would not shock me one bit to see Keizer beat out Yelder for a spot on the 55-man roster.
Wide Receiver (6)
Starters: Tyreek Hill, Sammy Watkins
Depth: Mecole Hardman, Demarcus Robinson, Byron Pringle, Jody Fortson
The top five here are absolute musts for me. It is the same group KC had last year and they will roll with them this year.
If you noticed at the top I had 27 offensive players make the cut, but 26 would be more of the 50-50 offensive-defense split. If the Chiefs go that route, wide receiver takes the player cut and Jody Fortson would be the odd-man-out spending another year on the practice squad.
Really the competition here is for the practice squad spots. I really loved Felton Davis last year, so he is someone to watch in competition. Gehrig Dieter is somehow really good at hanging around the Chiefs roster despite Marcus Kemp – who is much better – being a free agent right now.
The wide receiver competition definitely is not going to be as fun this training camp, but it is still one of the most exciting positions, so fans can still follow the practice squad battle to get their wide receiver fix.