LB Pierre Walters
DL Dion Gales
WR Jeremy Horne
G Darryl Harris
LB Micah Johnson
LB Justin Cole
OL Bobby Greenwood
TE Cody Slate

Once the Chiefs were eliminated from the playoffs, the club had an exclusive seven-day negotiating window with each of its practice squad players.  After seven days, the eight members of Kansas City’s practice squad would have been free to negotiate with the rest of the NFL’s 31 franchises.

Last year, the Chiefs signed five players to reserve/future contracts.  Of those five, two currently remain with the Chiefs; Greenwood and CB Jackie Bates.

After only keeping five last year, it has to be a good sign that Todd Haley and Scott Pioli want to get a look at all eight over the offseason.

The two guys we should watch closely are Horne and Greenwood, but for very different reasons.

Horne showed early on he has the raw tools to be a playmaker at wide receiver, but when he was slowed with a lower leg injury, Verran Tucker took his spot on the active roster and was immediately a heavy contributor, especially on special teams.  With all the help the Chiefs still need in the passing game, Horne is still the fastest receiver on the roster — though I’d like to see a foot race with Dexter McCluster — and could have an impact as he continues to progress this offseason.

Greenwood, on the other had, is still learning a new position after switching from defensive to offensive line.  He’s a big guy that is playing a position that has no starter penciled in for next season and little depth overall.  The only issue is that he has virtually no game experience as an offensive tackle.  So unlike Horne, who has shown the abilities he posseses and just needs to harness those abilities, Greenwood is a project top to bottom.

Talking about the potential of practice squad players?  Yup, it’s the offseason alright.

DT Garrett Brown, DE/DT Dion Gales, T Bobby Greenwood, G Darryl Harris, QB Tyler Palko, S Ricky Price, WR Verran Tucker and LB Pierre Walters.

The Chiefs have talked a lot about continuing to improve the team and if you compare this squad with last year’s, it’s pretty clear the franchise has taken a step forward.  When you have six players that all could line up and play next Monday in Brown, Gales, Harris, Palko, Price and Walters, that’s not a bad place to be.

Being able to keep Palko around on the practice squad will allow the team to stick with two quarterbacks on the active roster, giving the Chiefs valuable flexibility.

If Harris can get back on the field over the next couple of weeks, he is probably the most likely to be the first player signed to the active roster.  He showed at the beginning of training camp that he could hold his own on the first team and just needs to get himself back into game shape.

The most intriguing of the whole squad could be Greenwood.  Still young in his transition from defense to offense, he will get a chance to learn how to play tackle while putting in some reps on the scout team.  He’s the perfect example of the type of project that should develop on the practice squad.

The Kansas City Chiefs needed to clear 15 roster spots by 6pm EST to get down to the league maximum of 53.  They did that by releasing 13 and placing 2 on injured reserve, the team announced.

Released:

DT Garrett Brown, T Colin Brown, DT Dion Gales, OL/DL Bobby Greenwood, G Darryl Harris, LB David Herron, DT Derek Lokey, S DaJuan Morgan, QB Tyler Palko, S Ricky Price, WR Verran Tucker, LB Pierre Walters and RB Javarris Williams.

Placed on IR:

DB Maurice Leggett and WR Jerheme Urban.

The names that jump out immediately are Leggett and Urban.

We saw Leggett carted off the field with a neck injury, but were told that he would be back “sooner rather than later”.  To me, being placed on season-ending IR is most definitely “later”.

In Urban’s case, when was he hurt?  I don’t ever remember seeing him limping around the field, so it’s obviously surprising to see him end up on injured reserve.  The Chiefs receivers are suddenly one of the least experienced groups on the team.  Once you get past Chris Chambers and Dwayne Bowe, Quinten Lawrence is in his second year and both Dexter McCluster and Jeremy Horne are rookies.  Terrence Copper is a veteran, but is almost strictly a special teamer.

After surviving all of 2009 on the active roster, it’s somewhat surprising that Walters was cut.  More shocking is that the Chiefs are holding onto 10 linebackers and he still didn’t make the cut.  Undrafted free agents Justin Cole and Cory Greenwood came out of nowhere to make the final (for now) roster.  I liked Cole’s chances early, but didn’t see anything spectacular from him during the preseason and figured he was a likely cut.

Colin Brown was a guy that looked like he would get a chance to stick when Ike Ndukwe was released, but instead Todd Haley and Scott Pioli have decided to go with only 8 offensive linemen for now.  Expect that number to go up by at least one between now and next Monday night.

The Chiefs have also decided to only go with 6 defensive linemen with Lokey as the odd man out.  After seeing him on the field with the offense for both of the touchdowns on Thursday night, it appeared he would stick as well.

As Haley and Pioli look through the cuts from around the league, keep an eye out for a handful of more moves over the next couple of days.

“I spent a little time with the coaches before practice and if they tell me to play offensive line, then I’m playing offensive line,” Greenwood said.

Greenwood took part in some of the pass rush drills and looked to hold his own during the session.  A casual observer wouldn’t have been able to tell that it was Greenwood’s debut on the offensive front.

“I practiced (offensive line) on scout team in practice last year,” Greenwood said.  “Just working will Bill Muir and Pat Perles beforehand really helped me out.”

For now, Greenwood is an offensive lineman.  He said that the coaches haven’t indicated future plans for him to move back over to defense, or even possibly play on both sides of the football.

“They’ve told me offensive line right now and that’s it,” Greenwood said.  “If they tell me to play quarterback, then I’ll throw the deep ball.”

You have to love the “do anything” attitude by Greenwood, but it’s really his only hope of making the team at this point.  There’s very little room along the defensive line for reps right now, but too many on the other side of the ball.  So even if he can prove to competent on offense at tackle, Greenwood has an outside shot at a roster spot thanks to his potential to backup two positions in practice.

Greenwood still has a huge mountain to climb, but the peak on the offensive line is a whole lot easier to reach right now.

Signing were CB Jackie Bates, DE Bobby Greenwood, RB Kestahn Moore, OL Jermail Porter and WR Chandler Williams.  Both Bates and Greenwood joined the team during the 2009 offseason as rookie free agents and attended training camp with the Chiefs in 2009.  Both players also spent the entire 17-week NFL season Kansas City’s development team.

Moore and Porter are both rookies who joined the Chiefs practice squad mid-season, while Williams is a first-year player that came to Kansas City’s practice squad on December 23rd.

WR Logan Payne is the only player who finished the season on Kansas City’s practice squad that remains unsigned.  Typically the Chiefs have all eight practice squad slots occupied during the season, but DT Derek Lokey and S Ricky Price were promoted from the practice squad on December 26th when LB Justin Rogers and S DaJuan Morgan landed on injured reserve.  Kansas City didn’t fill those two remaining slots for the final week of the season.

Of the five, I’m most interested in seeing how Moore responds to Haley’s demanding OTAs and hopefully training camp.  He showed flashes during his time at Florida that make me think he could be a solid contributor for this team next season on special teams and the occasional carry in place of Jamaal Charles.

The Chiefs added seven players to the practice squad: CB Jackie Bates, TE Tom Crabtree, DE Dion Gales, DE Bobby Greenwood, G Darryl Harris, RB Javarris Williams and WR Rodney Wright.

The team also waived OT Barry Richardson to make room for Ryan O’Callaghan.  The team claimed O’Callaghan off waivers earlier in the day.

A good group of players on the practice squad for the Chiefs to keep around and it leaves them one extra spot to work through as teams continue adding and cutting players.

It’s about time Richardson got his walking papers.  I was surprised he survived the first two rounds of cuts after he spent most of the preseason games on his backside.  I have to imagine that O’Callaghan will immediately become the starting right tackle, barring the Chiefs picking up a guy like Tony Pashos.

Of the 14 players cut, 6 were from the offensive side of the ball:

TE Tom Crabtree, G Darryl Harris, WR Taurus Johnson, WR Ashley Lelie, RB Javarris Williams and WR Rodney Wright.

Also from the offense, G Colin Brown was placed on IR.

The remaining cuts, from the defense, were:

CB Jackie Bates, DE Dion Gales, DE Bobby Greenwood, DT Derek Lokey, S Bernard Pollard, S Ricky Price and LB Zach Thomas.

I am 99% sure that these are not actually their “final” cuts, thus the oxymoronic title.  Not only has Todd  Haley been clear that the current Chiefs are competing against every player in the league, but also Kansas City sits third on the waiver wire so they will get most players they put claims on.

Pollard is obviously the name that jumps out.  He should have plenty of teams lining up for his services.  I’m really bummed, he’s a solid player.

The other cuts on defense were expected.  Once the retirement rumors started with Thomas you knew his time was up here.  I thought Lokey might get some run in the middle, but it looks like the team will go with just Edwards and Tyler and rotate in the ends on passing downs.

On offense, I really thought Lelie did enough to make the team.  The Chiefs are still in dire need of a burner that can hold onto the ball (meaning Quinten Lawrence doesn’t count).

Colin Brown wouldn’t get through waivers, so the Chiefs stash him on IR for the season…  Smart move by Scott Pioli.