The Kansas City Chiefs are going to have a few important roster decisions to make in the coming weeks.
Frank Clark has already been reinstated from Reserve/Suspended list after serving his two-game suspension for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy. The team received a roster exemption for Clark, which will expire on Thursday, Nov. 17th. That means they’ll need a corresponding roster move to make space for Clark on the 53-man roster by this upcoming Thursday.
Clark isn’t the only player expected to return for Kansas City soon, though. Lucas Niang’s 21-day practice window is set to expire on Wednesday, Nov. 23rd. On that day, the team will need to decide whether to activate him from the Reserve/PUP list or place him on season-ending injured reserve. The last we heard from Andy Reid on Niang came about a week ago. He said that Niang was making progress, but wasn’t there yet.
So the Chiefs potentially need to free two spaces on the 53-man roster over the next two weeks They could need more should TE Blake Bell be designated to return from injured reserve. How exactly will they go about freeing up roster space for Clark and Niang, though?
First, they’ll likely take a look at the timeline for the players who are currently dealing with injuries such as Mecole Hardman, Andrew Wylie, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Chris Lammons. If any of those four players are at risk of missing the next four weeks, it’d make sense to place them on injured reserve to free a roster spot.
If none of those players are going to wind up on injured reserve, the Chiefs have a number of players who have been inactive for multiple games this season. That list includes QB Shane Buechele, RB Ronald Jones, DE Joshua Kaindoh, OT Darian Kinnard and DB Nazeeh Johnson. It’s possible that any one of these players could be a casualty of a roster crunch, though some are likely safer than others.
Beyond those players, the team has a number of players who have played special teams-only snaps in recent weeks. Perhaps the team thinks they can sneak LB Jack Cochrane through waivers and onto the practice squad. There are a lot of possible outcomes here, but the one thing that is certain is that Brett Veach and the front office staff have some roster decisions to make soon.
