2 Surprising Roster Cuts the Kansas City Chiefs Could Make

The countdown to the first regular season game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Baltimore Ravens is fast approaching with less than a month to go. The Chiefs are preparing to defend their Super Bowl win and create history by becoming the first team in the Super Bowl era to hoist the Lombardi Trophy for three years running.

The first step in that pursuit though is to identify the final 53-man roster which must be done by the 27th of August. Plenty of activity during the offseason means that fringe players from the previous season are never guaranteed as roster locks and their performance in training camp and preseason games helps the coaches to identify the players they want to keep.

At times fans may witness a couple of surprises with the final roster and that is what we will try to determine for the Chiefs in this article.

Here are two surprising players Kansas City could cut before the start of the regular season.

Irv Smith Jr., TE

The Chiefs currently seem to have a good tight end room led of course by one of the greatest to ever do it, Travis Kelce. He is the life and soul of this unit and still the most important receiving option for QB Patrick Mahomes.

Nevertheless, behind Kelce the Chiefs have Noah Gray who has been a solid number two for Kansas City for the past three years. They also drafted Jared Wiley in the 2024 draft who is potentially seen as the long-term replacement for Kelce.

Irv Smith Jr. has had close to 50 games under his belt but his production has not been up to the mark. Playing for the Bengals last year, he had an opportunity to have a breakout season in a dynamic offense but even then he was unable to make it count. At the moment it is looking like Smith Jr. is last on the depth chart and may very well get cut.

Derrick Nnadi, DL

Defensive tackle Derrick Nnadi could also be a potential cut candidate which may surprise quite a few fans. However, what we need to remember is that Nnadi has a specific skill set which is to stop the run.

He has never been the guy to get after the quarterback which is also evident from his stat line of 4 sacks, 7 QB hits, and 1 forced fumble. The Chiefs have other options who can perform a similar role but at a lower cost. Players such as Tershawn Wharton, Mike Pennel Jr., and Neil Farrell could potentially take his place on the final 53-man roster.

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