5 Most Likely Chiefs Inactives for Week 1 vs. Ravens
2. Peyton Hendershot, TE
One pass-catcher group that will likely have a healthy player in street clothes on Thursday is the Chiefs' tight end room.
Travis Kelce is playing, obviously. Noah Gray is playing, obviously. And that realistically leaves only one more spot behind the two of them. Tight end depth can be important, and you can typically get some special teams contributions from your backups at the position, but it's rarely worth having four active in the modern NFL.
The question is whether rookie Jared Wiley or veteran offseason addition Peyton Hendershot is the odd man out.
The Chiefs' (admittedly unofficial) depth chart lists Wiley ahead of Hendershot, and there's not a ton of reason to doubt what they're telling us there. Unofficial depth charts can be unreliable and nothing is forcing them to stick with what they have down there, but what reason is there for them to list Wiley ahead of Hendershot only to make him inactive in Week 1?
The one thing that could give the veteran an edge is his experience on special teams. He played over half the Cowboys' special teams snaps when active in both of his two seasons in Dallas. But Wiley proved in the preseason that he already has great special teams chops. He saw snaps on all of kick return, kick coverage, punt return, punt coverage, and field goals in each of his three preseason games.
3. Marlon Tuipulotu, DT
Marlon Tuipulotu was a late addition to the Chiefs' 53-man roster, being elevated from the practice squad on Tuesday. But that doesn't mean it's time for his Chiefs debut.
The former Philadelphia Eagle is still the fifth defensive tackle on the roster, and the fact that the other four actually made the initial 53-man roster tells us he's clearly No. 5 in the pecking order.
It's also not like he was elevated to replace another defensive tackle. He took the place of Clyde Edwards-Helarie, who is on the non-football illness (NFI) list. So if Edwards-Helaire didn't get sick, Tuipulotu would still be on the practice squad today and we wouldn't be having this conversation at all.