What are the Chiefs options at running back?
Tyler Brown
Each Kansas City Chiefs team has had a definite identity throughout the Patrick Mahomes era. In those six seasons, they have made the AFC Championship game every year and hoisted three Lombardi’s, but no team was made equal. In 2024, when the Chiefs attempt to be the first team in NFL History to win three Super Bowls in a row, it truly feels like both their offense and defense could be top-five units.
2018 was one of the best offenses of all time with a porous defense. 2019 was probably the best all-around team. 2020 was a juggernaut through most of the season before ultimately being derailed by offensive line injuries. 2021 was the team where defenses figured out how to defend the Chiefs' speed by playing two-high shell looks. In 2022, the Chiefs had an incredibly efficient and methodical offense. Last year, the Chiefs were completely defined by a dominant defense while the offense suffered major regression at the hands of unreliable receivers.
Following last weekend's draft, it is really hard to poke holes in the Chiefs 53-man roster, even down to player 53. The Chiefs accomplished every single checkmark while gaining value compared to consensus on nearly every pick.
They found a receiver in Xavier Worthy who should not be compared to Tyreek Hill, but the speed is undeniable and he was a highly productive receiver all three years he was in college. He is not just a speed threat who was crowned at the NFL Combine. The Chiefs have had speed at receiver in recent years, but none that were nuanced route runners with tracking ability.
In the second round, the Chiefs drafted Kingsley Suamataia, who could be set to protect Mahomes blindside for many years to come. After churning through left tackles from Orlando Brown Jr., Donovan Smith to Wanya Morris, it is a position they have been attempting to fill since Eric Fisher. The 21-year-old from BYU may be the guy they have sought after.
The rest of the draft was all about adding depth to all of the holes on the roster, other than the holes at running back and the defensive tackle position. Jared Wiley, the fourth-round tight end out of TCU, will likely be longer than Travis Kelce. He will not be Kelce but he has a nearly identical size and combine testing numbers to Kelce. He may never even be a starting tight end, but the talent is there for him to take his career as far as he wants it to go. In the meantime, he can fit right into being a big-time red zone threat immediately.
Just two picks later in the fourth round the Chiefs drafted a safety who was a consensus first or second safety on nearly everyone's boards. Jaden Hicks out of Washington State looks to fit the bill of a safety that can step in year one and play in the box, the slot or on the back end.
Speaking of the defensive back room, sixth-rounder out of Tennessee Kamal Hadden was a top-five cornerback according to PFF, earning over a 90 score in coverage grade. It would not shock anybody at this point if he found his way to contribute as a rookie. Unlike many of the Chiefs' DBs, he has good ball skills, along with being very sticky in coverage. Had he not injured his shoulder last season, he might have been able to train and compete in the combine to post better athletic testing numbers and would have been taken higher than the sixth round.
The Chiefs had a giant hole in the interior offensive line depth, so the Chiefs went ahead and drafted two in Penn State’s Hunter Nourzad and Holy Cross’ C.J. Hanson. Nourzad is a one-for-one fill-in for Nick Allegretti, as he has significant experience across all three interior positions. He even played left tackle for a few years at Cornell before transferring to the Nittany Lions. Hanson is a small school flyer, but has good size and had a historically good combine as a guard.
Those are just the drafted rookies, not even to mention some of the extremely interesting undrafted free agents the Chiefs brought in. They have verbal agreements with some talented running backs in TCU’s Emani Bailey and UCLA’s Carson Steele. They also have an agreement with an interior defensive lineman in Florida Sates Fabian Lovett, whom many thought would get drafted, as well as Charlotte’s defensive end Eyabi Okie-Anoma, who is a former five-star recruit and had productive seasons the past two years.
They also signed an all-conference linebacker in Penn State’s Curtis Jacobs. They even brought in one of the nation's best punters, BYU’s Ryan Rehkow who is set to compete with college football’s former top punter, Matt Araiza.
With just the newcomers alone, the wide receiver, offensive line, tight end and defensive backfield groups seem ready to play a game tomorrow. After signing Carson Wentz, the quarterback depth is good to go. The linebacking core was already set before the draft. The only real question mark is the running back position and the special teams unit is drumming up a starting punter battle.
Keaontay Ingram, Emani Bailey and Carson Steele will duke it out for the final running back spot on the depth chart. Isaiah Pacheco and Clyde Edwards-Helaire have the top two spots covered. Whale Edwards-Helaire is uninspiring, he is a perfectly capable backup if you do not think of him as a first-round pick, but rather a veteran minimum type of signing.
There is a chance the Chiefs keep two of the formerly mentioned backs if they determine Steele is more of a fullback and head coach Andy Reid wanted to implement the position back into the offense. If none of the three perform, then they will turn to the free agent market. Former rugby star Louis Rees-Zammit will need to stand out on special teams to make the roster and even then that would likely mean the Chiefs would carry four tailbacks.
There is a case to be made for bringing in a veteran to compete for a wide receiver spot, or at least force Kadarius Toney and Skyy Moore to earn a spot. Rice, Hollywood Brown, Xavier Worthy and Justin Watson all appear to be locks. I would imagine the Chiefs roll with six receivers this year, as they never really found use for keeping seven last year.
Another reason to bring a veteran in would be if Rice is suspended for a large chunk of the season. Other than these six, Justyn Ross, Nikko Remigio, Montrell Washington and Reggie Brown are names to keep an eye on in the preseason – especially if one stands out as a special teamer, which is something Moore and Toney do not necessarily thrive at.
The only way the Chiefs add to the offensive line room at this point is if Wanya Morris and Suamataia prove that they are not ready to be day-one starters. If that is the case, I would expect them to resign 2023 starter Donovan Smith. With Morris, Suamataia, Joe Thuney, Creed Humphrey, Trey Smith, Jawaan Taylor, Mike Caliendo, Lucas Niang, Nourzad and Hanson, they are already up to 10 and I would expect they only keep nine of them from a 53-man standpoint. Two of Hanson, Niang and Caliendo would likely be battling for those spots. They did keep 10 last year, though.
Veteran Irv Smith Jr. will need to have a strong training camp to make the roster. He brings speed to the room and while the Chiefs have opted for four tight ends before, they kept three last season. Kelce, Noah Gray and Wiley are all but locks, so Smith Jr. will have to flash to warrant a roster spot with all of the other positions being so deep already.
I would not think there will be an addition to the defensive line at this point. Being that Derick Nnadi is slated to be their nose guard again, the Chiefs would love to add another one-tech. The issue is there are none available that are better than Nnadi. With Mike Pennel, Isaiah Buggs and Neil Farrell, they at least have depth. Hopefully, Lovett earns a spot there. Backing up Chris Jones is veteran Tershawn Wharton and his fully guaranteed contract would suggest he is safe in that spot.
As far as the defensive end group, they are pretty deep as well. They are returning starters George Karlaftis and Mike Danna. Former first-round pick Felix Anudike-Uzomah and 2023 fifth-round B.J. Thompson are seeking to take a step forward as the team's speed rushers. One of the Chiefs' better players, defensive end Charles Omenihu is returning but is recovering from a torn ACL he suffered in January. Malik Herring, who has shown some juice against the run and the pass is returning, too. Okie-Anoma is the dark horse name to watch here, but he is probably destined for the practice squad as a developmental prospect. Last year the Chiefs kept five from each D-line group.
Nick Bolton, Drue Tranquill and Leo Chenal are returning to the linebacker unit after losing Willie Gay in free agency. With Tranquill’s versatility, they should not skip a beat at this position. The Chiefs love to keep six linebackers for special teams purposes and they are returning special teams standouts Cam Jones, Jack Cochrane and Cole Christiansen. The issue for those latter three is Jacobs was known as one of the best special teamers in the entire 2024 class. It would not be shocking if he took one of their spots.
The Chiefs will surely miss L’Jarius Sneed, but the reason they felt comfortable moving on is because they have an enormous amount of depth. They just added to it when they selected Hadden, who will now be suiting up with Trent McDuffie, Joshua Williams, Jaylen Watson, Nazhee Johnson, Nic Jones and Ekow Boye-Doe. Two of these players could be a numbers crunch casualty as Kansas City only kept five CBs last year.
Other than McDuffie, and Williams and Watson to some extent, this group is largely unproven as starters, but they are so deep that it is a good bet that two or three of them will step up enough to fill the void left by Sneed. Defensive back coach Dave Merritt is a magician when it comes to this.
The only question about the safety room is whether they will keep four or five. Last year they kept four. They were able to let Deon Bush sit on the practice squad for most of the season in 2023, which may be in play again in 2024. The other four are locks though after securing one of the biggest NFL Draft steals in Jaden Hicks. Reid is entering a contract season, so I would expect his best play in his age-27 season. Bryan Cook should be fully healed from his high ankle sprain and Chamarri Conner will be entering year two after a promising rookie season.
Special teams positions are not completely chalky this year after losing all-pro punter, Tommy Townsend to the Houston Texans. That will come down to Rehkow and Araiza, but there is enough talent between the two that Chiefs Kingdom should rest easy that the one that comes out on top will have earned the job rather than one of them defaulting to it. Kicker Harrison Butker is coming off his best season yet and with 2024 being the last one he is under contract, I would not expect much to change there. Long-time long-snapper James Winchester is returning for his 10th season.
Normally after the draft fans of teams are begging for their team to continue to fill out the rest of the roster with the remaining free agents. The Chiefs on the other hand will truly have a hard time deciding who is deserving of a 53-man roster spot as it is. As you can see after going through all of the positions, there is not much wiggle room after general manager Brett Veach has built a spectacularly deep roster on paper. The game will not be won on paper though, it will be one on the field but I think this team has proven they live up to the hype. This could be Mahomes' best-supporting cast yet, which should be scary to the rest of the league.
