Brain Fertilizer

Chiefs President Carl Peterson announced on Saturday that the club has made 21 transactions in order to comply with today’s NFL mandatory roster cutdown to 53 players. NFL teams can designate an eight-man practice squad beginning on Sunday, September 2nd.

Kansas City placed RB Priest Holmes on the Reserve/Non-Football Injury List (NFI). The Chiefs released WR Brad Ekwerekwu, S Marlon Fair, DT Kiki Gonzalez, WR Chris Hannon, FB Gilbert Harris, DE Michael Heard, G Rob Hunt, DT Patrice Majondo-Mwamba, DE Montez Murphy, T James Newby, RB Marcus O’Keith, CB Justin Phinisee, CB Will Poole, QB Casey Printers, WR Ean Randolph, LB Nick Reid, LB Rich Scanlon, G Tre Stallings, QB Jeff Terrell and TE Keith Willis

Here's the new depth chart.

So I was wrong about Hannon keeping the job over Sippio; I'm not surprised they kept Parker, although that still isn't the choice I would have made, and I think I will be shown to be correct. I was right about Boomer Grigsby making the team. I was wrong about the Chiefs keeping Chad Williams...I can only think that move was because they still expect to deal Wesley to another team, and want to make sure no one takes their designated backup S (which is Chad Williams). I was wrong about them keeping Derrick Ross; I guess they figure they can fix his fumbling problem, because I figured that made him undependable and a sure cut. I was surprised they cut Casey Printers; the Chiefs must want to bring in another QB from somewhere else...maybe Byron Leftwich, about whose trade/release from the Jags there are rumors floating? I was not surprised they kept Kendrell Bell over Scanlon, even though I still wanted Bell to be cut; I'm mildly surprised that Nate Harris made the team over Scanlon, but I guess Scanlon's versatility isn't necessary with him being no higher than the 3rd option at every LB position. I was wrong about the Chiefs keeping Tre Stallings; I guess they don't expect to have injury problems at both RG and C at the same time; in an emergency, Herb Taylor could probably play RG, too.

Bottom line: the Chiefs went lighter than I expected (than the NFL norm) on QBs, and O-line. That allowed the team to go slightly heavy on RB/FB/TE (although there is some overlap with Kris Wilson, which is why I can't say they went heavy on each position), allowed them maintain the standard numbers at D-line (8), LB (7), CB (5) and WR (5), while still carrying an extra S (not many teams carry 5, and we won't do so for more than a few weeks, I'm sure).

Practice Squad:
-Either Brad Ekwerekwu or Chris Hannon (WR), but probably not both
-Marcus O'Keith (RB)
-James Newby (T/G)
-Jeff Terrell (QB), since Printers has supposedly refused to be on our practice squad
-Patrice Majondo-Mwamba (DT) or Kiki Gonzalez (DT), but not both
-Montez Murphy (DE)
-Gilbert Harris (FB) to keep practicing at FB in case Grigsby doesn't mature into a fully-capable blocking back

I know that's 7...but those are my top choices. I don't think Harris makes the cut, but predicting what an NFL team wants from the PS is something I don't really understand yet.