Getty Kansas City Chiefs center Austin Reiter (#62).
The Kansas City Chiefs made a pair of transactions on Thursday, December 8 that had to do with their practice squad.
The Chiefs re-signed center Austin Reiter to their practice squad, according to the NFL’s transaction wire. The team made room on the practice squad for Reiter by promoting defensive tackle Brandon Williams from the practice squad to the 53-player roster.
Reiter, 31, was one of two practice squad players cut by Kansas City on November 29 to make room for Williams and veteran running back Melvin Gordon.
Reiter a Former KC Super Bowl Starter
Coming out of South Florida, Reiter was a seventh-round draft choice of the then-Washington Redskins in the 2015 draft. He started his NFL career being demoted to Washington’s practice squad during his rookie year, which is where he stayed until the Cleveland Browns signed him to their active roster in September of 2016, per Pro Football Reference.
Reiter remained in Cleveland for two seasons, playing in a total of 17 games for the Browns, but only accumulating 67 total snaps over that timeframe. It wasn’t until the Chiefs claimed him on waivers after Cleveland cut him in September of 2018 that Reiter’s involvement on an NFL field progressed significantly.
In three seasons with Kansas City, Reiter played 42 regular-season games and started in 32 of those games. He also played in six playoff games and started in all of them, including starts in the 2019 and 2020 Super Bowls.
With the Chiefs making it a focal point during the 2021 offseason to bolster their offensive line, Reiter wasn’t re-signed and remained a free agent until the New Orleans Saints signed him at the beginning of the 2021 season for what would be a brief stint. On October 5, the Miami Dolphins signed Reiter, and he played in six games and started five of them before being waived on December 14, per Pro Football Reference.
Reiter re-joined Kansas City in March and signed to the practice squad on August 31.
Williams a 10-Year NFL Veteran
Williams entered the league as a third-round pick of the Baltimore Ravens in 2013. He spent the first nine seasons of his NFL career with the Ravens, registering 323 tackles in 123 games played, and had one Pro Bowl nod during his time in Baltimore, per Pro Football Reference.
Signing Williams reunites him in Kansas City with defensive line coach Joe Cullen, who was Williams’ position coach in Baltimore for five seasons (2016-20).
The Chiefs cut veteran defensive tackle Taylor Stallworth on December 6, which foreshadowed Williams’ promotion.
Twitter users reacted to Williams being promoted to Kansas City’s active roster.
“Seeing Williams in locker room yesterday, you knew him being active would come soon,” Harold R. Kuntz of Fox 4 in Kansas City wrote.
“Not surprising after yesterday’s move. Excited to see what Brandon Williams can add,” Zack Eisen of Arrowhead Report wrote.
“Hopefully Brandon can help Chris (Jones) and Carlos (Dunlap) out a lot,” another user wrote.
“Hopefully this means Williams and (Khalen) Saunders, [Derrick Nnadi] hasn’t been the greatest this year and for some reason he got more playing time against the Bengals,” another user wrote.
“How did this guy make it to the point the chiefs scooped him? I mean I know nothing about him but to just see him damn! How did KC get him before everyone else?” another user wrote.