Chiefs: Sunday’s 53 Refit – I erred several times in building my final guess at the final 53 and I was wrong. My ideas were not correct… but some were. I am sure you had surprises as well. I thought DOD would get cut. I thought it wasn’t far fetched since he wasn’t getting playing time and didn’t get that much all last season. Further, I was willing to discount speed and I should not have presumed that would it would be ignored. Another example of how silly I can be is the same topic arose for Tremon Smith. My reasoning for keeping him was speed. How much of an Odd Fellow I am?
On the other hand, I had Jeff Allen as being part of the front 8 Offensive linemen. He was waived. That was a surprise too(for me). Let’s take a closer look!
Quarterback
No surprises. Mahomes and Moore were expected. Litton and Shurmur both released. One will come back to the PS. My guess is it will be Litton. I thought I saw some awfully good play by Shurmur in the last 2 pre-season games.
Running Backs
No surprises for me except Brett Veach was able to get the Texans to bite on taking on Carlos Hyde’s salary (about $1.5M in cap help). The Chiefs will eat about 800k in Bonuses. The Good part of this trade is the Chiefs obtained an offensive lineman: Martinas Rankin.
- Damien Williams
- D-Train (as we are getting to know him) DarwinThompson
- Tremon Smith
- Darrell Williams
- Anthony Sherman (FB)
Offensive Line
Martinas Rankin has 2 more years left on his rookie contract and this bodes well for the Chiefs. He is also on the active Roster. We have talked about a talent need on the OL and it appears that Rankin fits the swing role at Guard and is a lot less expensive than Jeff Allen. Even considering other options the Chiefs depth players would likely be Erving, Hunter and Rankin.
Ryan Hunter is also less expensive for Rankin and he has good beginners marks. I look forward to seeing how this plays out. Veach, Reid and Bieniemy had to be on the same page here because 2018’s output was not a bad season considering injuries.
All other linemen are back so the starting front looks like this:
1. LOT – Eric Fisher
2. LOG – Andrew Wylie
3. OC – Austin Reiter
4. ROG – LD-T
5. ROT – Mitchell Schwartz
Depth: 6. Erving, 7. Rankin, 8. Hunter.
We have new faces in their new roles but two of those had significant play time on the OL: Reiter and Wylie. I still value the Chiefs starting Offensive line as moving up to the top 15 or better. Now we have two additional players who were not active last season. Pace, Boyd, McKenzie, Allen, Murphy, and Okeke were all waived. Of course we cannot tell who will be back on the PS (except Allen cannot be).
Wide Receivers
Wide Receiver waivers went as expected but I didn’t expect Cody Thompson to be one of them – especially considering the plays he made all through pre-season and especially in the games. Worthy effort and some team is going to get a special player. Another surprise was that Jamal Custis (who earned a 100k contract to sign with the Chiefs, was also released.
Hurt Feelings? Well of course, if you had your favorite and he didn’t run a sub 4.5 40. If there is one thing that hurts my belief system about things is that a player who gave us such a great view of being a WR was released by the Chiefs: Cody Thompson. Speed Kills, I know but there is more to being a WR than just speed. But Thompson will come back to the PS and if not, he will get an opportunity elsewhere.
Here is the KC Chief’s Speed-Wagon:
1. Ty Hill 4.29
2. Mecole Hardman – 4.33
3. Demarcus Robinson – 4.39
4. Sammy Watkins – 4.43
5. Byron Pringle – 4.46
6. De’Anthony Thomas – 4.34 (Combine)
Not on the list? Chris Conley who had a 4.35 Combine mark for the 40. Now, go back and look at how Reid used Conley and tell me if his lack of success was not due to coaching. How much did the Chiefs use Conley as an over the top WR who could get behind coverage? Never is about the right answer and for me? That is all staff not the player.
I am sure the speed thing gets my goat too. It was the reason for my own failing – sure, due to the ankle injury, the same one that plagues me with pain now. I never recovered from the injury and now that I have had replacement surgery? I may never recover from that either.
Tight Ends
1. Travis Kelce
2. Blake Bell
3. Deon Yelder
I wanted to go with the outside shot but the former Princeton QB but he ended up on the IR. Then I liked what I saw from Fortson. But the way I had it originally with Yelder was right. So much for wanting something else to happen in this case.
Safety
I had no surprises here but you might have. We go with five.
1. Tyrann Mathieu SS
2. Juan Thornhill FS
3. Armani Watts FS#2
4. Jordan Lucas Depth safety
5. Daniel Sorensen SS#2/HY/Nickel LB
Cornerbacks
1. Kendall Fuller ICB
2. Breeland (OCB)
3. Charvarius Ward (OCB)
4. Rashad Fenton
5. Morris Claiborne – immediate 4 game suspension applies.
Others Below. I am thinking there must be something else happening with this group and I don’t know what it is. 5 CB’s seems far too light in the pants to me and one of this is on the immediate suspension.
Herb Miller – Waived – should go to the PS. I thought needed for the 53?
Keith Reaser to the IR
D’Montre Wade, Waived – to the PS was my view.
Defensive Ends
Other than the injury to Breeland Speaks, no surprises here. We need Kpass to really step up and so must Ogbah.
1. Frank Clark
2. Alex Okafor
3. Emmanuel Ogbah
4. Tanoh Kpassagnon
Defensive Tackles
If there are any surprises here it’s that Joey Ivey made such strides to earn a spot over all competition, including players with NFL Experience. We were able to see him in pre-season and I like this retention for the 53 man roster.
1. Chris Jones
2. Derrick Nnadi w
3. Khalen Saunders
4. Xavier Williams
5. Joey Ivy (Surprise to most of us)
Note: Breeland Speaks to the IR (out for 2019)
Linebackers
1. Anthony Hitchens
2. Darron Lee
3. Damien Wilson
4. Reggie Ragland
5. Ben Niemann
6. Doran O’Daniel
7. Jeremiah Attaochu
Specialists
There are no changes here either. Jack Fox was waived. If he clears, he will go to the PS and that would likely signal the end of Dustin Colquitt’s long ‘and successful Career.
1. PU – Dustin Colquitt
2. PK – Austin Butker
3. LS – James Winchester
More to come next week! Or maybe come sundown on Sunday. I feel our CB group is very light and something must be going on. But maybe that is just me. As I observed about myself earlier — I have been known to be a bit “odd.”
David Bell — ArrowheadOne
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