Chiefs hold off on final cuts

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Chiefs hold off on final cuts
Team facing decision on how many offensive-line prospects it will keep.
By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star
The Chiefs initially planned to make their final roster cuts Friday, but they will go down to today’s NFL deadline to pare to the league-mandated 53 players.

Blame it, in part, on Ryan Lilja.

The Chiefs two years ago tried to sneak Lilja, a young offensive-line prospect from Shawnee Mission Northwest and Kansas State, onto their practice squad.

He never made it there. Indianapolis grabbed Lilja off waivers, and he’s now a starter for the Colts.

The Chiefs have since been skittish about exposing good prospects to other teams. The Chiefs were wrestling with exactly how many offensive-line prospects such as tackles Will Svitek and Jeremy Parquet and guards Tre Stallings and Rudy Niswanger they will keep.

“We’ve got some good young offensive linemen,” Chiefs president/general manager Carl Peterson said. “We’ll make a decision there of keeping nine, maybe 10.”

Otherwise, this year’s cuts aren’t overly taxing for the Chiefs.

“I don’t think there are any (particularly) difficult decisions,” Peterson said.

In another year, perhaps, halfback McKenzi Smith might have made the Chiefs think hard about keeping him. Smith had 51 yards and a touchdown in Thursday night’s 10-9 win over New Orleans and finished the preseason as the Chiefs’ leading rusher.

He has virtually no chance to stick. Larry Johnson is solid as the starter, the Chiefs traded a fourth-round draft pick for Michael Bennett, and they like Dee Brown because of his special-teams skills. The Chiefs don’t have roster space to carry four halfbacks.

Easy decisions materialized for the Chiefs at other positions for other reasons. None of the young cornerbacks proved to coach Herm Edwards that they were ready to play, so the Chiefs will keep veterans Ty Law, Patrick Surtain, Lenny Walls and Benny Sapp.

They may also keep fifth-round draft pick Marcus Maxey, but only as a developmental prospect.

On the defensive line, Carlos Hall, John Browning and Junior Siavii were injured throughout the preseason. Their inability to play means the roster spots of tackles Ron Edwards, James Reed, Ryan Sims and Lional Dalton and ends Tamba Hali, Jared Allen, Eric Hicks and Jimmy Wilkerson are safe.

Edwards might have initially held out hope of keeping four quarterbacks, but Casey Printers probably played his way off the roster.

“It’s not tough because I think you can only realistically carry three (quarterbacks) on your 53,” Peterson said. “Now you can carry one on your developmental squad. That’s a possibility. That’s always a question for any young player you want to bring on developmental. If he’s claimed, you can’t. If he’s not, most of them want to stay right here because they know the system.”

Edwards said last week he believed the Chiefs would have as many as 15 new players by the time they trimmed to 53 players. After giving it further thought, Edwards upped the count this week.

“We’ve got some young players who are probably going to make this football team,” he said. “I said there were probably going to be 15 (new) players. I was wrong. There will probably be 20 new players on this team with free-agency and the draft choices we’ve acquired.

“That’s a lot of players, but, hey, that’s kind of good, too, because what we’re trying to do is obviously keep the best players. I said it was going to be a competition, and I think we had a very competitive camp.”

Even after making their cuts, the Chiefs will scan the list of roster moves from around the league and perhaps make another move or two of their own. They are looking for help at wide receiver and on the defensive line.

Then the Chiefs would have even more cuts to make, as the Colts did two years ago when they claimed Lilja.

“That’s the nature of the game,” Peterson said. “Everybody’s got the same problem.”

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/football/nfl/kansas_city_chiefs/15421893.htm
 
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