Getty Images Kansas City Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid
On Thursday, the Kansas City Chiefs finalized the addition of a new free agent, former Miami Dolphins C Daniel Kilgore. Ties between the Chiefs and the tenth-year veteran offensive lineman surfaced late last week courtesy of a report from Yahoo Sports’ Terez Paylor and was later confirmed by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport on Monday evening.
In a corresponding move to make room on the training camp roster, the defending Super Bowl champions waived second-year LB Emmanuel Smith with an injury designation. The 25-year-old sat out the team’s previous two practices after suffering a hamstring injury on August 24. Smith earned a future/reserve contract earlier this year after spending the entire 2019 season on the Chiefs’ practice squad and playing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a rookie in 2018.
LB Emmanuel Smith (@MAN23SMITH4) from @OaklandRCS and @VandyFootball holds the Lombardi Trophy in the @Chiefs locker room after #SBLIV. Smith is on KC’s practice squad.
@OHSPatsFootball
As mentioned by Chiefs Wire, Smith will revert back to Kansas City’s injured reserve list should he clear waivers on Friday.
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Dave Toub Provides Update on a Special Teams Battle
While the large majority of the Chiefs’ 2019 offensive and defensive starters will remain in place heading into this season, one area that should see some turnover is the special teams unit, which is already set to feature a new punter in place of the since-departed Dustin Colquitt.
On Thursday, assistant head coach and special team coordinator Dave Toub provided some insight into the ongoing battle for the starting gunner position.
“The gunner position is looking pretty good,” said Toub. “We have some good, solid depth there. We brought Antonio Hamilton in from the Giants, who probably was the Giants’ number one gunner last year. When you put the tape on, he made a lot of plays for them and we’re happy to add him to the mix. Right now, I’d probably say Antonio is in the lead with [Byron] Pringle. Obviously, Pringle was our gunner last year all year.”
In an early, but encouraging sign for Kansas City’s 2020 draft class, Toub also mentioned a pair of late-round rookies, S L’Jarius Sneed and CB BoPete Keyes as outside competitors for the role.
“We have a number of guys behind them,” Toub noted. “[Marcus] Kemp was a starting gunner [in 2018] for us and he’s looking really good this offseason coming off of his knee injury. Other guys can play it, [Demarcus] Robinson can play it,[Rashad] Fenton can play it, there’s a number of guys that can play gunner for us and some of these young guys look good too. The [L’Jarius] Sneads of the world, and BoPete Keyes, they’re all contributors and they’re all going to help us this year.”
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