KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Reducing a football team from 91 players to 53 in one day is never easy, and that was especially the case this year for Chiefs general manager Brett Veach and his staff.
“As always, this time of year is a bittersweet time,” Veach said Wednesday during a Zoom press conference with reporters. “We’re certainly excited for the start of the year season next week, especially coming off Super Bowl victory. Excited to lower that Super Bowl championship banner in front of our home fans should be an exciting night.”
That enthusiasm is tempered, however, when running into the reality that players who gutted through offseason workouts, 10 OTA practices, a three-day minicamp and 22 training camp practices won’t be coming into work the next day.
“But it’s always tough when you have to say goodbye to some players that have been here, sometimes for years sometimes, since the spring,” Veach said.
This year’s cutdown was also unique in that the NFL allowed teams to keep a full 90-player roster throughout the entire preseason. Veach said calls from other GMs usually heat up after the second preseason game. But this year there was silence until Tuesday when the Las Vegas Raiders called about the Chiefs’ interest in defensive tackle Neil Farrell Jr.
“I think that was the first call we heard basically all preseason camp,” Veach said. “I think a lot of that had to do with there are so many guys that hadn’t been cut yet and a lot of teams, sometimes they try to hide players and not play guys that play good the first week. Teams know they can’t take them on their roster and I think teams are just waiting to see the actual list to see what was real and what was just kind of hearsay through social media.”
In fact, Veach himself didn’t make any roster moves to get down to 53 players until early Tuesday morning when he sent receiver Ihmir Smith-Marsette to Carolina for a conditional 2025 seventh-round selection. The trade allowed Smith-Marsette to know his place on an NFL roster with an opportunity to play, and it allowed the Panthers the chance to get a player they coveted without worrying about their order on the waiver wire at the No. 9 position.
“Credit to them for reaching out just to try and to make sure they get him even though they are high on the claim,” Veach said. “And now he’s a chance to not only be on a 53-man roster but go out there and play and produce on Sundays. So certainly happy for him and wish him nothing but the best.”
Here are four other key observations from Veach on the team’s 53-player roster and practice squad.
Quarterback Decision
The quarterback battle over the last two weeks of the preseason turned out more consequential than anyone expected with veteran Blaine Gabbert fending off a challenge from Shane Buechele, who eventually ceded the No. 3 quarterback role to Chris Oladokun.
“Obviously, Shane is a good football player, and we love having him around,” Veach said. “Certainly going to miss him. And it was just one of those things where at the end of the day, and we always say this to all the guys, at the end of the day, make our jobs easy and put it on tape. And that’s where Blaine came out and won the job.”
This year’s biggest roster battles for the Chiefs weren’t between players in the same position groups but rather choosing between how many players to keep at each position. Ultimately the decision for Veach and his staff came down to keeping a third quarterback on the roster or protecting linebacker Cam Jones, the only undrafted rookie free agent to crack the roster this year.
“Keeping six linebackers was something that is a little bit of an oddity too in some regards,” Veach said. “But when you have these young guys that you know are likely to be gone and you want to see that through, I think sometimes you have to make tough decisions.”
Even though Buechele cleared waivers, the club opted to sign Oladokun to the practice squad as the No. 3 quarter. Oladokun returned from a shaky preseason opener against New Orleans to deliver solid back-to-back performances against Arizona and Cleveland, including engineering the go-ahead drive against the Browns.
“It wasn’t an easy decision,” Veach said. “But I think just from a roster management standpoint, and trying to navigate through the D-line and (the Charles) Omenihu suspension and wanting some extra corners because they’re young, they’re just sometimes rostered as soon as decisions you have to make.”
The Newcomers
The current 53-player roster includes two players who weren’t with the Chiefs during training camp or the preseason. In addition to Farrell, the Chiefs also claimed cornerback Darius Rush off waivers from the Indianapolis Colts.
When Veach and his staff went scouring the waiver wire and roster cuts around the league, they had two types of players in mind. They wanted a big, lengthy run-stuffing defensive lineman and an athletic corner with size, length and speed. They ended up finding both.
In Farrell, the Chiefs landed a 6-foot-4, 325-pound defensive tackle who was a fourth-round pick for the Raiders last season out of LSU. He certainly fits the prototype of the defensive linemen craved by coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, and Veach believes Farrell has the potential to mature into a three-down lineman rather than simply a run-stuffing specialist.
“That’s all always the goal and the plan for any time you add someone on the defensive lines, they can be a complete player,” Veach said. “But right off the bat, just a bigger body, that was one of the things that we put an emphasis on.”
Rush also fits the Chiefs’ penchant for long, lengthy corners who can run. The 6-foot-2, 198-pound Rush was clocked at 21.65 miles per hour at the Senior Bowl, the fastest player recorded this year, and he posted a 4.36-second time in the 40-yard dash.
The addition of Rush gives the Chiefs six cornerbacks and four safeties on the roster, which is more in keeping with their traditional numbers in the secondary. Veach also wanted to add depth at cornerback with both youth and health a consideration. The average age of the team’s corners is 23, with L’Jarius Sneed the grizzled veteran at age 26 in his fourth season. Sneed and rookie Nic Jones have also missed time with injuries in the preseason, adding urgency to the need for depth.
“So just in the last two days here, we’re able to get two of those guys, a longer DT and an athletic corner that fits the measurables we’re looking for and certainly liked both those players coming out,” Veach said.
Seven Receivers
Keeping seven wide receivers once seemed like a preposterous notion but ultimately the players made it an easy decision for Veach and his staff.
“I think having those seven receivers because it gives us a variety of different ways to attack a defense and certainly trust our coaching staff to maximize their abilities as they’ve done in the past with these different types of wideouts,” Veach said.
With Kadarius Toney, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Skyy Moore and Justin Watson, the Chiefs believe they have a core group of receivers who can handle every offensive package. In Richie James, Rashee Rice and Justyn Ross, the club has specialists who with specific skills who can shine in packages devised specifically for them.
For example, James is the possession receiver and return specialist, Rice is the pass catcher who can operate in space and Ross is the big body who can go for the jump ball.
Ross will certainly have his own packages but Veach also envisions him filling the void left in the absence of tight end Jody Fortson, who landed on season-ending injured reserve during training camp.
“We lost Jody, and that was someone coach (Andy Reid) always had packages in for and short yardage and red zone,” Veach explained. “But I don’t think there’s ever a shortcoming of creativity with our coaches, and we have a talented, deep receiving corps. They’re all different in their ways, and coaches do a great job of trying to maximize what they can do and implementing packages for guys.”
It’s not uncommon for young receivers to struggle in Reid’s offense while picking up the verbiage, understanding the tweaks in assignments, and making adjustments based on coverages. That’s why Veach expects a leap forward for Moore with cautious optimism for Ross and Rice.
“It’s super complicated,” Veach said. “And these guys over time start to figure it out, I think we’ll see a big jump with Skyy. And I think what you’ll see from both Justyn and Rashee is, as the games go on, you’ll see them probably have certain packages. And that will bleed into hopefully they continue to grow and progress and produce on the field.”
Injury Report
One of the best bits of news coming from Veach on Wednesday is that the Chiefs appear ready to start their title defense without any significant long-term injury issues on the horizon.
“I think these guys are good to go,” he said. “It doesn’t mean that they’re 100% and will be active on game day. But as we sit here today, I think these guys will all be practicing this week.”
That includes wide receiver Kadarius Toney, who has been sidelined since July 23 with a torn meniscus in his knee, and cornerback L’Jarius Sneed who hasn’t practiced since July 28 due to knee inflammation. Veach also singled out defensive tackle Tershawn Wharton, who returned to the field for his first game action against Cleveland since suffering a torn ACL last October.
Veach believes Toney and Sneed “have a good chance to be where they need to be Week 1” to play against the Lions.
“Those guys have worked their tails off around the clock to put themselves in a position to play Thursday, and I think that they certainly have a chance and we’ll see how it goes,” Veach said.
Veach also did not believe anyone currently on the roster would require a stint on injured reserve. That includes linebacker Leo Chenal, who suffered a hip pointer in Saturday’s preseason finale against Cleveland, and cornerback Nic Jones who missed the last two games with a hand fracture.
“As we sit here today, I think we’re good,” Veach said. “Listen, all this stuff can change and again I don’t want to speak for (vice president of sports medicine and performance) Rick (Burkholder) or the coaches. But I would say that there’ll be no one that gets an injury designation within a day and there’s a swap but I think these guys are good to go.”
