The Kansas City Chiefs will soon face the Detroit Lions at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium for preseason Week 2 .
The second preseason game is perhaps the most important for evaluation of the 90-man offseason roster. You'll see a lot of the players getting work for Kansas City who are fighting for a spot on the 53-man roster, and they'll be working against like talent for Detroit.
A good performance in this game can be the difference between securing an opportunity or looking for work come the first week of September. So, what are the most dire questions the team still must find the answers to?
Who will be the Chiefs' No. 2 cornerback and the depth beyond?
This is the biggest question left to be answered for Kansas City, and I worry that they might not get the answer in a timely fashion. Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo previously mentioned the team wants someone to separate themselves from the pack. Chiefs DB coach Dave Merritt echoed those sentiments last Wednesday.
"You want a guy to step up," Merritt said. "35, Jaylen Watson, and Joshua Williams have played a lot of football for us. Nazeeh Johnson, of course, coming back off of a knee injury but you want someone to step up and be able to claim that position and not have a guy rotating and always looking over his shoulder."
Watson is still working his way back from a torn labrum that he played through all of last season . Johnson is working his way back from a knee injury and a hamstring injury suffered during training camp. Williams has remained the talented roller-coaster ride that he's been throughout his career.
The Chiefs are clearly comfortable with several of these guys filling in opposite McDuffie in base and sub-packages. However, if no one can pull away in this preseason Week 2 game against the Lions, they might be forced to hang onto a lot of players at the cornerback position just to give themselves options.
Last year, they ran with five cornerbacks on the initial 53-man roster. I think it stands to reason they could hang onto five or even six this year. I could also see a versatile player like Christian Roland-Wallace making it in the safety room because of his ability to play in a variety of sub-packages as a safety, slot, corner, or even dime backer.
The ideal situation would be to get as close to finding an answer at the No. 2 CB spot as possible in preseason Week 2. That'd make things infinitely easier on the coaches and front office evaluators when it comes to this position group.
How will special teams impact the Chiefs' wide receiver room?
Fans won't be thrilled to admit it, but the final roster spots in the wide receiver room are going to be heavily influenced by special teams. With the injury to Hollywood Brown, it also might take away an additional return specialist from Dave Toub. He recently mentioned that Xavier Worthy can return punts, but that they might be taking him off those duties with the injury to Brown.
“Yeah, he’s able," Toub said of Worthy. "He’s probably one of our better guys. The injury to Hollywood (Brown) kind of changed things a little bit there with his status. We said, ‘We’ll keep him out this game.’ We still got two more games. We might get him in there, but if not, he’s done a lot in practice to show us that he can do it.”
It'd stand to reason that they don't want Worthy risking injury on punt returns, as his role on offense becomes even more valuable with Brown dealing with injury.
Right now, I have five receivers who are already a lock to make the 53-man roster: Hollywood Brown, Rashee Rice, Xavier Worthy, Justin Watson, and Skyy Moore.
Debate me all you want about Moore, but everything I've seen and heard so far suggests he's a lot closer to a lock than the roster bubble. His filling in with the first-team offense for Brown last week and getting pulled from the game fairly quickly said a lot about what the team thinks of him.
Nikko Remigio is listed as the team's top kick return specialist on the depth chart . Mecole Hardman is listed as the team's No. 2 punt return specialist behind Xavier Worthy. Remigio is also listed as the third-string punt returner. Do you cut a veteran like Hardman and run with Remigio as a return specialist? Do you keep both? I think they get a lot closer to answering that question after this game.
If the team runs with seven receivers, they could wind up leaving someone like Justyn Ross off the roster just because of special teams. There are also a few wild cards like Kadarius Toney and Montrell Washington, who could surprise in these final preseason games.
Is it worth it to carry four tight ends in 2024?
You can basically lock in three tight ends for the Chiefs' 53-man roster in 2024 : Travis Kelce, Noah Gray, and rookie Jared Wiley.
To Irv Smith Jr. or not to Irv Smith Jr., that is the question.
Irv Smith Jr. has been a standout during training camp and he's had a few days where he's just been dominant in the red zone. The athleticism and ability as a pass catcher are clear, but what else does he bring to the table? He had one catch for eight yards on a single target in preseason Week 1 against the Jacksonville Jaguars, converting on third down. He had the second-best pass-blocking grade among Chiefs tight ends with a lone pass-blocking snap per PFF . He also had a nice down-block on Carson Steele's touchdown run. He played a combined five special teams on kick return, kick coverage, and punt return units, grading out as the team's 12th-best special teams player.
If you carry four tight ends, it likely means carrying just three running backs or six receivers in 2024. So, this could boil down to whether the Chiefs feel Smith Jr. is more valuable than a player like Deneric Prince or Justyn Ross. He should have a chance to make that case in preseason Week 2.
Related: Forgotten Chiefs draft pick has a massive opportunity ahead of him in preseason Week 2 vs. Lions
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