Where's the Beef?

When arriving in Kansas City last season, there was a lot of talk from head coach Todd Haley about trimming the fat. And with nearly half of the cuts coming on either the defensive or offensive line, the Chiefs are looking very thin on both.

The Chiefs kept eight offensive linemen on the 53-man roster, including both centers Casey Wiegmann and Rudy Niswanger. This is very interesting because the Chiefs cut some notable names from the roster when getting down to their temporary 53. Second year guard Colin Brown may be somewhat of a shock, being that he was a fifth-round pick in last year’s draft, but Darryl Harris is a bit of a surprise.

Harris filled in very well the first couple weeks of training camp while Brian Waters nursed a sore ankle, but was injured shortly before Waters returned to practice.

With the release of Harris and Ikechukwu Ndukwe, the Chiefs aren’t leaving much depth on the left side of the line with only rookie Jon Asomoah getting reps during the preseason on that side.

Some of the most glaring of the cuts, however, were on the defensive line.

On the other side of the ball, with the release of Dion Gales, Derek Lokey, and Garrett Brown, the Chiefs have left themselves very light on defensive lineman. Although Brown was a favorite of many of us at Warpaint Illustrated when he signed shortly after the draft, he never really came on and was mostly disappointing during the preseason.

Gales, however, surprises me. He popped up often in all preseason games as a defensive end, but was unable to work himself into the NT battle. With five of the six defensive lineman being true ends, the Chiefs just didn't have a spot for Gales.

Cutting Lokey was a big surprise.
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The most surprising of the cuts was Lokey. He appeared to be coming into his own and was often praised by his coaches for his hard work on and off the field in the weight room. With his release, it leaves veteran Ron Edwards as the only true NT on the Chiefs roster.

Although Shaun Smith was brought in to compete for a starting NT position, the Chiefs quickly settled him at defensive end throughout training camp and preseason. It’s a safe bet to say that the Chiefs already have a plan to fill what has instantly become their weakest position on the depth chart.

With these cuts the Chiefs got much lighter, but not in the areas they want.

On paper, some of Saturday’s moves leave me scratching my head a bit. But I am going to give the Chiefs’ brass the benefit of the doubt and assume there is more than meets the eye.

I think we all need to watch the waiver wire throughout the holiday weekend. There has to be more moves on the horizon.