KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Kansas City Chiefs return to practice Sunday certain to have fewer than the 90 players they took to Friday night’s preseason game against the Tennessee Titans.
The Chiefs don’t have to be at this week’s NFL limit of 75 players until Tuesday afternoon, but they won’t wait that long to make all 15 of their necessary roster moves. This round of cuts won’t be that difficult. Many of the developmental players who didn’t get in the game against the Titans won’t be at practice today.
The Chiefs, like all NFL teams, have to be at the regular-season limit of 53 players by Saturday afternoon, and that’s where the decisions will get difficult. Chiefs coach Andy Reid recently acknowledged the Chiefs this year would be releasing some players they’re going to wind up playing against after they join other teams. The Chiefs may also be able to trade a player or two.
The Chiefs have a lot of depth in the secondary, where only the three-game season-opening suspension of cornerback Sean Smith may prevent the Chiefs from releasing a player who will make it somewhere else.
The knee injury to rookie linebacker Justin March may similarly have saved the Chiefs from having to choose between him and veteran Frank Zombo, who had an interception against the Titans.
The Chiefs have no such injury or suspension at wide receiver, where Fred Williams caught another couple of touchdown passes against Tennessee. The Chiefs may decide he’s too good to set free and keep seven wide receivers, with Williams joining Jeremy Maclin, Albert Wilson, De’Anthony Thomas, Jason Avant, Chris Conley and Frankie Hammond Jr.
