Training Camp in St. Joe is more than half way over at this point, and with the first preseason game coming up Saturday, I’ll take a crack at predicting who will ultimately shake out as the 53 man roster for the Kansas City Chiefs. As games get under way, we’ll all learn a lot much more about who belongs on this team and who doesn’t. Practice is far different from a game scenario and certain guys just know how to really turn it on when the lights shine the brightest. However, there’s still a great deal of value in practice and we’ve now had the opportunity to see these guys practice at full speed a couple of times, and have seen almost a 2 full weeks of football. With all that in mind, I’m going to make an attempt to predict the 53 man roster.
- Quarterbacks (2) – Patrick Mahomes, Chad Henne
- That leaves both Chase Litton and Kyle Shurmer off the team. One of them will get signed to the practice squad, but I haven’t seen anything that would lead me to believe either of them makes the final 53.
- Running Backs (4) – Damien Williams, Darrel Williams, Darwin Thompson, Tremon Smith
- I don’t think Carlos Hyde ultimately makes this team. He’s a veteran who is now on his 4th team in the last 2 years. I haven’t seen him stand out in any way at any point so far in camp, add to that, Tremon Smith is going to make this team for special teams purposes and the coaching staff likes him. There’s going to be an odd man out and I don’t see how Hyde has a place on this team.
- Fullbacks (1.5) – Anthony Sherman, John Lovett*
- *= Will split time between TE and Fullback.
- Wide Receivers (6) – Tyreek Hill, Sammy Watkins, Mecole Hardman, Demarcus Robinson, Marcus Kemp, Byron Pringle
- A name not on this list that I thought would be to start camp is Gehrig Dieter. Dieter went out of camp after just 1 practice with a back injury and hasn’t been on the field since. He’s in a do or die type of year for himself with this roster as this is the 3rd training camp at which he’s been. However, if you’re not on the field you can’t really take up a roster spot. I hate that for him, but unless he gets healthy and makes a big showing in preseason games, I can’t see him making the roster right now.
- Tight Ends (2.5) – Travis Kelce, Blake Bell, John Lovett*
- *= Will split time between TE and Fullback.
- Offensive Line (9) – Eric Fisher, Andrew Wylie, Austin Reiter, Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, Mitchell Schwartz, Cam Erving, Khalil McKenzie, Nick Allegretti, Ryan Hunter.
- Defensive Line (9) – Alex Okafor, Chris Jones, Derrick Nnadi, Frank Clark, Emmanuel Ogbah, Tanoh Kpassagnon, Khalen Saunders, Xavier Williams, Breeland Speaks
- Breeland Speaks was the Chiefs first draft pick a year ago in the 2nd round. He has struggled a great deal throughout camp, if he didn’t have a 2nd round draft position next to his name, to me, he’d be cut. Which is why I listed him last. If Justin Hamilton or another young lineman out perform Speaks in preseason games, he may be on the chopping block.
- Linebackers (6) – Anthony Hitchens, Reggie Ragland, Damien Wilson, Ben Niemann, Darron Lee, Dorian O’Daniel
- Cornerbacks (5) – Bashaud Breeland, Charvarious Ward, Kendall Fuller, D’Montre Wade, Mark Fields
- Safeties (5) – Tyrann Mathieu, Juan Thornhill, Daniel Sorenson, Armani Watts, Jordan Lucas
- Specialists (3) – (K) Harrison Butcker, (P) Dustin Colquitt), (LS) James Winchester
- Practice Squad (10) – Guys that didn’t make the team but the Chiefs keep around for practice purposes.
- Kyle Shurmer (QB), Dion Yelder (TE), Rashad Fenton (CB), Justin Hamilton (DL), Jimmy Murray (C), David Wells (TE), Cody Thompson (WR), Rob McCray (LB), Herb Miller (CB), Felton Davis (WR)
– McLuckie
