Getty Former Kansas City Chiefs safety Nasir Greer with Wake Forest in 2018.
The second official NFL cutdown deadline is tomorrow (Aug. 23) but as they did last week, the Kansas City Chiefs decided to rip the band-aid off early when it came to three players.
Herbie Teope of The KC Star was the first to report the breaking news. “Chiefs waived CB Brandin Dandridge, DB Nasir Greer, OL David Steinmetz,” he tweeted. “Roster now at 82 players, need two more moves by Tuesday’s 3 p.m. CT deadline to be at 80.”
Chiefs waived CB Brandin Dandridge, DB Nasir Greer, OL David Steinmetz.
Roster now at 82 players, need two more moves by Tuesday’s 3 p.m. CT deadline to be at 80.
Arrowhead Pride’s Pete Sweeney confirmed the three cuts just after Teope.
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More on the Chiefs’ Departures
None of these three prospects should be considered surprises, although one or two of them were in consideration for the Chiefs practice squad — like the Wake Forest UDFA that was guaranteed $25,000 upon signing with KC.
Greer played four seasons with the Demon Deacons (only seven games from 2020-21), accumulating 131 total tackles (two for a loss) and three interceptions. More impressive were his five forced fumbles and seven passes defended.
Within a safety room that included Justin Reid, Juan Thornhill, rookie Bryan Cook, and special teams ace Deon Bush, Greer was obviously a longshot to make the active roster. If he was able to make it to the third round of cuts, however, he might have had a shot at the practice squad.
Greer is coming off an encouraging Pro Football Focus grade of 76.4 against Washington but it wasn’t enough to earn him another week of practices.
The highest-graded #Chiefs defensive players vs. the #Commanders, per @PFF:
1) LB Mike Rose (87.0)
2) DT Matt Dickerson (83.3)
3) S Deon Bush (80.8)
4) DT Tershawn Wharton (77.0)
5) S Nasir Greer (76.4)
Dandridge was also vying for a practice squad opportunity. The fellow defensive back was more of a corner and fell victim to KC’s deep draft class at the position.
We’ve already seen big-name CB cuts like Deandre Baker and Lonnie Johnson Jr., but Dandridge outplayed both — 78.2 coverage grade on PFF over 33 preseason snaps — after an impressive stretch in the CFL. In the end, the 26-year-old suffered the same fate as Greer.
The final waived ex-Chief was originally an undrafted rookie in 2018. Steinmetz profiled as a depth offensive tackle that hailed from Purdue.
He bounced around the league before ending up in Kansas City and had mixed results during the first preseason games. Steinmetz excelled in pass protection (78.2) but offered nothing in the run game with a putrid 39.3 mark on PFF.
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Chiefs Continue to Trim the Fat
As Teope mentioned, there will be two more Chiefs cuts before the deadline. After casting a wide net at positions like cornerback and wide receiver, head coach Andy Reid and his staff have begun to narrow down each room to its 2022 core.
There’s still much more work to be done, however. At 82 men, the roster is far from complete. The largest cutdown is the final one on August 30, which blurs a dream for 27 athletes in the blink of an eye.
That’s where the practice squad comes in, and as the Chiefs’ final roster begins to shape out, those PS spots will become more and more coveted. Here’s how each position group currently stands heading toward the final 29 cuts:
- Quarterback, four remaining.
- Running back, eight including one fullback.
- Wide receiver, 10.
- Tight end, six.
- Offensive tackle, seven.
- Guard/center, seven.
- Defensive tackle, seven.
- Defensive end, eight.
- Linebacker, eight.
- Cornerback, eight.
- Safety, six.
- Special teams, three.
Based on this breakdown, the next couple of trims could come at positions like linebacker, safety, wide receiver, or on the offensive and defensive lines.