6 Chiefs Who Could Be Cut by the End of October
3. Cameron Thomas, edge rusher
The Kansas City Chiefs made a couple of modest trades at roster cuts, and neither of them has worked out how they might have hoped when the deals got done.
At least, not so far.
The Chiefs traded for tight end Peyton Hendershot of the Dallas Cowboys, and he was already cut from the active roster and added to the practice squad. More on him later...
The other trade the Chiefs made was to acquire former Arizona Cardinals third-round pick Cameron Thomas, a big-bodied edge rusher who put some nice stuff out there on tape to close out the preseason. The Chiefs wanted some additional depth off the edge to open this season and as it turns out, they kind of needed a player like Thomas to step up with the recent absence of Mike Danna.
Unfortunately, Thomas has not answered the bell, or the Chiefs simply don't feel like he's ready for action yet. If he can't step up in the team's time of need, he might not be long for this roster.
"The Chiefs' most noteworthy inactive player on Sunday was defensive end Mike Danna, who missed the game due to a calf injury. In Danna's absence, how did the defensive end rotation shake out? The most noteworthy development may be the usage of Cameron Thomas. The Chiefs sent a seventh-round pick to the Arizona Cardinals for Thomas in August, but he didn't make his Chiefs debut until Week 4. In that debut, he played just three defensive snaps. It's hard to be anything but discouraged about what the coaching staff must currently expect from Thomas, as KC's pass rush has been weak enough from the edge this season to justify a search for creative solutions. At this point, the Chiefs apparently don't see Thomas as much of an asset."
- Joshua Briscoe, KC Chiefs on SI
As Briscoe noted, Thomas only played three total snaps for the Chiefs with Danna sidelined due to the calf injury. It can take guys time to adjust and acclimate to new systems, but for someone whose job is to rush the passer, that's not a great sign.