Kansas City Chiefs 2022 Practice Squad Tracker
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The Kansas City Chiefs had until Tuesday afternoon at 3 p.m. local time to get their roster trimmed down to 53 players, and the team officially settled on an initial group to beat the buzzer at the deadline. Kansas City's original decisions included surprises such as carrying three quarterbacks, four running backs and five wide receivers. Nevertheless, this year's depth chart projects to be one of the deepest across the board in the Patrick Mahomes era.
That's just the first half of the battle. Now that clubs have their rosters set, they're allowed to form their practice squads. For the Chiefs, they have multiple recently released or even waived players who were — and are — expected to return to Kansas City via the practice squad. Being 30th in the NFL waiver claim order in regards to priority, however, their work is cut out for them. Despite that, general manager Brett Veach is hard at work piecing together this year's unit. Here are the rules for each NFL practice squad:
- Maximum of 16 players total
- Maximum of 10 players with two or fewer accrued seasons
- Maximum of six veterans
- Maximum of three gameday elevations for practice squad players
With that in mind, let's dive into who is set to join the Chiefs' 2022 practice squad, which former Chiefs are on the move and whether or not Kansas City gained anyone through the waiver wire process.
Players reportedly joining the Chiefs' practice squad
- Offensive lineman Mike Caliendo, per Herbie Teope of The Kansas City Star.
- Safety Nazeeh Johnson, per Teope.
- Quarterback Chris Oladokun, per Doug Kyed of Pro Football Focus. Oladokun was recently hosted by the Chiefs for a tryout and also had a top-30 visit with him prior to the 2022 NFL Draft.
- Center Austin Reiter, per Ari Meirov of Pro Football Focus. Reiter is a veteran who won Super Bowl LIV with the Chiefs and was released on Tuesday.
- Tight end Jordan Franks, per Teope.
- Wide receiver Daurice Fountain and defensive tackle Danny Shelton, per Nate Taylor of The Athletic. Both players were semi-surprise cuts by Kansas City on Tuesday but return on a practice squad basis just a day later.
- Linebacker Jack Cochrane, per Teope.
- Tight end Kendall Blanton, per Harold Kuntz of Fox 4 Kansas City. The Chiefs previously put in a waiver claim for Blanton when he was cut from the Los Angeles Rams' roster, but the Washington Commanders were awarded him due to waiver priority. With Chiefs tight end Blake Bell recovering from surgery to repair a hip flexor injury, Kansas City will be getting additional help at the position.
Per Teope, Blanton is flying to Kansas City on Wednesday evening and plans to sign with the practice squad if he passes his physical. - Wide receiver Cornell Powell, per Teope. Powell was a 2021 fifth-round pick by Kansas City.
- Safety Zayne Anderson, per Mike Garafolo of NFL Network and Anderson's agents Ness Mugrabi and David Canter.
- Defensive end Azur Kamara, per Teope.
- Defensive tackle Taylor Stallworth, per agent Brett Tessler.
- Per a Wednesday afternoon announcement by the Chiefs on Twitter, running back Jerrion Ealy was also signed to the practice squad. Linebacker Elijah Lee, who is expected to be elevated once tight end Blake Bell goes on the injured reserve list, is also on the practice squad per that tweet.
- Former Los Angeles Chargers linebacker Cole Christiansen, per Aaron Wilson of Pro Football Network.
Waived Chiefs heading elsewhere
- The only former member of the Chiefs to get claimed on Wednesday morning was defensive tackle Matt Dickerson, who was awarded to the Atlanta Falcons. Atlanta was the No. 8 team in the waiver priority order.
- Wide receiver Josh Gordon, who signed with the Chiefs last year and returned on a reserve/futures contract but was released this week, is visiting with the Tennessee Titans. Taylor Bisciotti of NFL Network had the initial report.
Per Adam Schefter of ESPN and Gordon's agents Zac Hiller and LAA Sports and Entertainment, Gordon is signing with the Titans' practice squad. - Offensive lineman Vitaliy Gurman is staying in the AFC West. The 24-year-old is signing with the Las Vegas Raiders' practice squad, per Matt Derrick of Chiefs Digest.
Chiefs 53-man roster moves and news
- Per the release of waiver system transactions on Wednesday morning (linked above), the Chiefs didn't appear on the list. Kansas City didn't get awarded for any claims on players.
This story is being updated as additional Chiefs practice squad and roster news is made available.
