Welcome back to the Arrowhead Pride Mailbag! Throughout the season, keep watching The Feed for an opportunity to submit your questions about the Kansas City Chiefs!
The Chiefs have now revealed their 53-man roster (and adjusted it further). Let’s see what’s on our readers’ minds.
Papajazz asks:
Is the offensive line still the biggest concern?
I would say yes, although that is probably true for most squads. There are simply not nearly enough NFL-caliber offensive linemen for every squad to stock themselves with nine
or ten options.
Other than quarterback, offensive line is the position group where you can’t scheme around weakness. Many are concerned about the Chiefs’ linebacker depth, for example, but I expect them to account for light numbers in the middle of their defense with frequent three-safety packages. Little can be done to mitigate blocking woes.
The Chiefs clearly were unhappy with what they saw in their own depth options because they traded for two backups last week. With left tackle Josh Simmons dealing with back pain (on top of right guard Trey Smith’s earlier consultation with a hip specialist), the Chiefs needed to know they could at least finish a game with their depth options.
In our last mailbag, I predicted the Chiefs could not afford more than one injury along the offensive line and still keep their season afloat. I believe the trade for veteran Josh Ezeudu — who brings experience at both guard and tackle — is sufficient for the team to account for a second starter missing time.
If everything works out this season with Simmons and Smith — and Jaylon Moore holds up acceptably at right tackle — there is a world where Patrick Mahomes enjoys best overall offensive line play of his career in 2026. However, the floor could still bottom out very quickly with even below-average injury luck.
mainstream asks:
Was this offseason the first step of a two year rebuild?
I do not think the Chiefs have any eyes on a traditional rebuild process that ends with a mountain of future cap space and a high draft pick. Surprisingly, the same teams seem to begin this path over and over.
Tight end Travis Kelce probably isn’t taking a month off of his celebrity lifestyle for his 14th training camp spent in the Missouri Western dorms if he is not convinced the team is all in.
Head coach Andy Reid and defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo — both closing in on 70 years old — probably have no intention of being part of a slow process. The pair also appears to have no priority in training up young coaches (other than running backs coach DeMarco Murray). Returning offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy is 57. New wide receiver coach Chad O’Shea is 53. Spagnuolo’s new safeties coach Andre Curtis will turn 50 during the season. This is a staff built to win now.
For 2026, Reid and Spags appear to legitimately be embracing radically different paths to hopefully quickly get to the mountain one more time. On offense, the scheme will clearly be more centered on a rushing attack than in the past. On defense, Spagnuolo appears set to rely on rookie pass rusher R Mason Thomas — who falls well outside of the coach’s historical preferences — to bring back Kansas City’s defensive swagger.
Whether the moves will pan out remains to be seen. But I don’t get the sense expectations in the building are diminished.
TBT asks:
Defensive tackle Marcus Harris was constantly in the backfield blowing up plays. Can Bryson Eason do the same consistently or is he only here to plug holes?
Harris was dealt one of the toughest breaks in the NFL on Monday after he was waived to add a different option at his position a day after being told he’d made the initial roster.
Sadly, this decision probably came down to a matter of girth.
Harris had an outstanding preseason and deserved his spot on the roster. Unfortunately, at under 300 pounds, the former Kansas Jayhawk is better suited to a role that the Chiefs largely have spoken for between veteran Chris Jones and rookie Peter Woods. Former first-round pick Felix Anudike-Uzomah also looks like a legitimate option to kick inside on obvious passing downs.
Harris showed willingness in run support, but he would likely struggle if asked to step in as a one-tech in relief of Khyiris Tonga.
Eason also had a great preseason. At 323 pounds, he better fits the profile of what Kansas City needed to fill out the defensive tackle rotation. Plugging holes will sound like the more boring option, but that is more the job the Chiefs were looking to hire.
Harris cleared waivers on Tuesday and hopefully will return to Kansas City’s practice squad soon.
CoachJA asks:
So my UDFA crush, wide receiver Jeff Caldwell is on IR. Gehrig Dieter was on IR in 2019, but he got back onto the practice squad. If Caldwell is a project, won’t they want to do the same with him? He can’t practice with the team while his on IR, but can rehab, correct?
Going back to that magical 2019 NFL season (ending with a moment I never thought I would see), Dieter was placed on the Reserve/Injured list on the August 31 cutdown day. He was released from IR with an injury settlement on September 7. Dieter returned to Kansas City’s practice squad in October and later appeared in two games.
Caldwell officially reverted to the Chiefs’ IR on August 26 because he was waived with an injury designation. The stated injury of “hyperextended knee” has a wide range of possible scenarios, and the severity of Caldwell’s is completely unknown. Injury settlements are supposed to be negotiated within five days for a player to be released from IR, but it is not always apparent (or seemingly consistent) when the clock for negotiation begins. At any rate, the Chiefs and Caldwell would probably have agreed to a settlement by now if one was coming, though it is possible we could still see the move happen.
The Chiefs will probably reach multiple settlements in the coming days after waiving three players on Sunday with injury designation. Injury settlements aren’t really a negotiation over money, since the player is paid his prorated base salary for any weeks covered. The negotiation is in finding common ground on how long recovery from the injury will take.
I would say Caldwell is likely to stay on IR at this point and try camp again next year. He wouldn’t be able to practice, but he could benefit from having the team in control of his rehab.
Any players who reach an injury settlement to be waived from IR will be ineligible to return to the Chiefs’ active roster or practice squad for the duration of the weeks covered — plus an additional 21 days when they would be free to sign with the 31 other teams.
EPF asks
Outside of injuries to certain position groups (which are impossible to predict), who do you see as first up for any practice squad elevations?
I think the answer is fullback Ben VanSumeren. The Chiefs do not have a fullback on the roster, and none of their four tight ends stand out as strong run game blockers. With a significant portion of the offense being put on Kenneth Walker’s legs, VanSumeren’s skills may be needed. I suspect he chose Kansas City’s practice squad after being sold on the potential to carve out a significant role, despite not attending training camp with the team.
That answer probably disappoints fans of wideout Andrew Armstrong. I never saw Armstrong as a likely candidate to be lost on waivers due to age, lack of special teams versatility, and failing to stick on a practice squad in 2025. Wide receivers are also rarely claimed on roster deadline cut waivers because every team has its own project at the position it’s trying to protect. No wideouts were claimed this week as teams tinkered with their active rosters.
Armstrong’s preseason efforts made him deserving of a roster spot, but he would have been a hard player to fit onto Kansas City’s game day roster. He probably would have been a frequent gameday inactive barring injury at the position. His two best paths to the roster are either the Chiefs having a receiver go down — or Kansas City deciding he is worth protecting after other injuries league-wide at the position start stacking.
Thank you for reading this week’s Arrowhead Pride Mailbag! We will be back after the Chiefs’ season opener reacting to what happened against theDenver Broncos on “Monday Night Football.” Keep watchingThe Feed for an opportunity to ask your questions.
