Chiefs Get Terrible Injury News on 2 Defenders for Start of Season

The Kansas City Chiefs along with the other 31 teams in the NFL are working on cutting their respective rosters down from 90 to 53 players ahead of Tuesday’s 4 pm deadline.

The Chiefs made several cuts on Monday and acquired Arizona Cardinals pass rusher Cam Thomas in a trade. Kansas City will likely be active on Tuesday as they work on putting their roster together for the 2024 NFL regular season.

Speaking of the 2024 regular season, the Chiefs received terrible injury news on two players ahead of the roster deadline, who they expected to play integral roles on the defense.

According to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, Kansas City will keep veteran defensive end Charles Omenihu on the PUP list, hoping he’ll return in November. Omenihu sadly tore his ACL in the AFC title game against the Baltimore Ravens earlier this year.

In addition to Omenihu, the Chiefs are placing linebacker BJ Thompson on the non-football illness list to start the 2024 season. Thompson was hospitalized in June after suffering a seizure and going into cardiac arrest during a special teams’ meeting. 

With Thompson going on the NFI list, he’ll miss the first four games of the season, but Pelissero adds that there’s optimism he’ll play this year.

Kansas City looks forward to getting both guys back on the field, especially Omenihu, who had an outstanding 2023 season as a rotational pass rusher. The 27-year-old defensive lineman had 28 combined tackles, 11 quarterback hits, five tackles for loss, and seven sacks (career-high) in 11 games.

Omenihu played 56 percent of defensive snaps last season and was a game-wrecker. Without him on the defensive line, the Chiefs will hope for former first-round pick Felix Anudike-Uzomah to step up after a disappointing start to his career.

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