Getty Kansas City Chiefs rookie cornerback Nic Jones at the 2023 NFL Combine.
When you win the Super Bowl twice in a four-year span, you tend to have an abundance of talent on your roster. With that comes tough decisions in late August, and no NFL team may have a more difficult time settling on roster cuts than the Kansas City Chiefs in 2023.
Some reigning champs are a bit top heavy, but this KC roster is young and deep. Part of the reason for that is their 17 draft picks over the past two offseasons — and it will be interesting to see if any of those 17 youngsters hit waivers after training camp this summer.
Chiefs Digest insider Matt Derrick took an early look at roster cuts, publishing a 53-man projection on July 5. As he went position by position, it became evident that a couple of shockers will almost certainly be released in 2023. The roster is just too deep and obviously, you can’t keep everyone.
For Derrick, two of the odd men out were rookie draft selections BJ Thompson (EDGE) and Nic Jones (CB) — although both would make the practice squad if they were to pass through waivers.
Chiefs Insider Explains Projected Cuts BJ Thompson & Nic Jones
Derrick elected to keep 26 offensive players and 24 defensive ones (plus three specialists). That decision led to some highly competitive positions battles. Namely, defensive line and secondary were overflowing with options.
He chose to keep nine DLs at edge rusher and defensive tackle, while going with five players at linebacker, cornerback and safety. The nine in the trenches were Chris Jones, George Karlaftis, Charles Omenihu, Derrick Nnadi, Mike Danna, Felix Anudike-Uzomah, Keondre Coburn, Tershawn Wharton and Malik Herring — with Thompson and UDFA Truman Jones as the top cuts “to watch.”
Here was the reasoning from Derrick. “Youth and health should play a significant role in shaping the defensive line room to start the season,” he voiced. “The Chiefs drafted three defensive linemen (Anudike-Uzomah, Coburn and Thompson) in this year’s draft and also have Wharton returning from an ACL tear. The final spots on both the edge and the interior should have stiff competition.”
“Herring and [Joshua] Kaindoh are likely battling for a single roster spot,” Derrick informed, adding that “Thompson is the easiest rookie to see landing on the practice squad because he’s a bit undersized but he appears to be an early favorite of defensive line coach Joe Cullen.”
The cornerback room is even more perplexing, being that five of the challengers were drafted over the past two years — and that doesn’t even include an unquestioned starter in L’Jarius Sneed.
“The days of the Chiefs scouring the free agent market into August for depth in the secondary are over with an abundance of young talented depth,” Derrick noted. “The club will certainly keep at least five cornerbacks barring injury but with [Nazeeh] Johnson showing marked improvement entering year two and Jones exceeding early expectations the competition should be steep.”
He also highlighted undrafted rookies Ekow Boye-Doe and Kahlef Hailassie, calling them “long, lean athletes” and “strong practice squad candidates at minimum.”
In the end, Derrick had Jones joining Boye-Doe and Hailassie on the practice squad with Sneed, Trent McDuffie, Jaylen Watson, Joshua Williams and Johnson making the active roster.
Are 5 Safeties a Lock to Make Chiefs 53-Man Roster?
Let’s say the Chiefs wanted to keep Thompson or Jones, they could cut one of the five safeties that Derrick had making the roster.
“The depth decision in the defensive backfield extend to the safety position where the Chiefs have plenty of talent despite the loss of starter Juan Thornhill,” Derrick detailed. “The Chiefs have primed Bryan Cook to step into the starting lineup but the addition of [Mike] Edwards provides insurance. He started a career-high 12 games for Tampa Bay last season with 82 total tackles.”
“[Deon] Bush returns as a core special teams player and the club will certainly find a home for the fourth-round selection [Chamarri] Conner,” he went on. “It’s not unusual for the Chiefs to carry five safeties and 10 defensive backs but the competition in the secondary should make for some difficult decisions.”
Derrick is certainly right about that last part, “difficult decisions” are looming but a veteran like Bush may not be as much of a lock as this article suggests. Conner was touted as a core special teamer out of college, so his emergence in that area could give Kansas City the confidence to part ways with the older asset in Bush.
As for Thompson, the Chiefs could choose to enter the regular season with four linebackers rather than five, being that newcomer Drue Tranquill has the versatility to backup all three LB roles. That would free up a spot for the athletic fifth-round pass rusher that might need some extra time to develop.