The front office of the Kansas City Chiefs has worked diligently to reload the roster with enough talent to make a third consecutive trip to the Super Bowl possible. Roughly four weeks from now, the team will pack their bags and report to Western Missouri State University in St. Joseph for the first day of training camp. There, young NFL hopefuls will compete to make their dream a reality while certain veterans look to avoid the roster bubble.
The following are five players who will need to give everything they’ve got to avoid becoming the odd man out when final roster cuts arrive in mid-August.
Darwin Thompson – In his first two seasons, former sixth-round Darwin Thompson has shown flashes of being a productive piece to Kansas City’s offense. The problem? Thompson plays a position that gets rotated a little more often and is currently buried at the bottom end of a running back depth chart with talent.
In his first two seasons, Thompson has struggled to climb up the depth chart, and additions of veteran backs LeSean McCoy and Le’Veon Bell only made it tougher for him. Meanwhile, teammate Darrel Williams has steadily climbed the chart to the point he’s competing with Clyde Edwards-Helaire for a starting role. Kansas City has also added veteran Jerick McKinnon to compete for a spot on the roster.
Depending on how many backs General Manager Brett Veach decides to keep, Thompson is easier looking at a ‘make or break’ year in 2021 and is definitely on the roster bubble going into training camp.
Gehrig Dieter – Since making his NFL debut in 2018 and making a few solid plays during the postseason that year, Gehrig Dieter is a guy that has struggled to make the active roster but has found a way to remain a member of the Chiefs, mostly as a practice squad player.
All that could come to an end in 2021. While the Chiefs’ wide receivers room is normally one that is highly talented, this year looks to be more competitive than ever. With the additions of Cornell Powell, Darius Sheppard, and Antonio Callaway to go along with the return of Maurice Ffrench, Jody Fortson, Marcus Kemp, and Byron Pringle, Dieter’s journey to make the active roster appears to be a very steep climb.
With only 10 catches in three seasons, it isn’t unrealistic to believe Dieter is currently sitting on the roster bubble as camp approaches.
Khalen Saunders – Khalen Sauders was a third-round selection from 2019 that received high expectations that would be a nasty addition to the Chiefs defensive line. So far, that just hasn’t happened, and now faces a potential ‘make or break’ situation going into camp. With only 24 career tackles and a sack, Saunders is falling further down the depth chart.
Factor in the emergence of Tershawn Wharton last season and the addition of veteran Jarran Reed, Saunders risks being the odd man out if he doesn’t give the coaching staff a good reason to believe he should keep his spot on the roster.
Ben Niemann – Ben Niemann was brutal to watch at times last season and there isn’t much reason at the moment to believe 2021 won’t be much different if he remains one of the starters. However, the expectation of a potential second-year jump from Willie Gay Jr. and the addition of Nick Bolton gives a reason for optimism that Kansas City’s linebacking core should be much better.
That doesn’t necessarily mean Niemann is an odd man out, the Chiefs happen to be very thin at linebacker, especially when it comes to providing depth at the position, which is the only reason to believe Niemann has a shot to make the team.
That being said, Kansas City could still find somebody in free agency or wait till the end of the preseason to pick someone up off the waiver wire.
Dorian O’Daniel – Back in 2018, Dorian O’Daniel was a rookie that was supposed to be a new breed of linebacker/safety hybrid that just never came to be outside of turning into a contributor on special teams.
Going into the 2021 campaign, O’Daniel enters a contract year on the roster bubble with every reason to step up and show the Chiefs coaching staff why deserves to stick around. As mentioned before, Kansas City is thin at linebacker depth, so there’s a real chance O’Daniel may return for at least one more season before his rookie contract expires.
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