The Kansas City Chiefs added plenty of new pieces to their roster via the 2023 NFL draft, making a single selection in each of the seven rounds of the draft. They also added several undrafted free agents who will have a chance to compete for a roster spot this summer.
Some of the players added could even challenge established veterans for their jobs, be it a starting position or otherwise. Training camp and the preseason will present some fierce position battles and competition that make the roster better in the long run.
From Clyde Edwards-Helaire to Joshua Kaindoh, here’s a look at some of the Chiefs’ veterans who should be on alert with rookies coming in to challenge them for a roster spot.
Clyde Edwards-Helaire
Isiah Pacheco said he was going to take a grown man’s job last season — and he did. By season’s end, Edwards-Helaire was low on the depth chart in Kansas City. Both Pacheco and Jerick McKinnon were safely ahead of him in the pecking order. Could the former first-round draft pick fall even further in 2023? There’s a lot of early buzz surrounding undrafted RB Deneric Prince, with some high praise from Andy Reid after rookie minicamp. It’s certainly possible that Edwards-Helaire could have a Ronald Jones-esque reserve role during the 2023 NFL season.
Derrick Nnadi
Nnadi enters his sixth year in the league in 2023. While he certainly will serve a role in the rotation, his performance has been on a steady decline since 2020. He did have a sharp increase in sack production in 2021, but his run defense and tackling suffered. Last season, he played the fewest defensive snaps of his career and with Keondre Coburn entering the picture, his role could be even further diminished during the course of the upcoming season.
Lucas Niang
Ideally, third-round pick Wanya Morris will play his way into a starting role in 2023. Given what we’ve been told about Donovan Smith, I think it’s more likely that Morris will find himself competing with Lucas Niang for the role of swing tackle in Kansas City. Niang and Morris are both third-round picks, but the former has been anything but reliable during his career. The former 2020 draft pick has appeared in just 19 games with nine starts over three seasons with the team due to opt-out and injury.
Deon Bush
The Chiefs typically carry just four safeties during the regular season and that could spell bad news for Bush. With Justin Reid, Bryan Cook and Mike Edwards considered locks for the 53-man roster, that could put fourth-round pick Chamarri Conner in direct competition with Bush for the No. 4 safety spot. Not only did he seem to be a favorite of Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo, but Conner is also a noted special teams ace, with multiphase capability and production on kick and punt block units.
Joshua Kaindoh
Kaindoh has done virtually nothing since entering the league as a fourth-round pick in 2021. He’s appeared in just three games with the Chiefs and has recorded no official statistics. Last season, he was a healthy scratch in all 17 regular season games and three postseason games. With the Chiefs making a first-round investment in Felix Anudike-Uzomah, plus a fifth-round selection of BJ Thompson (who is a clear favorite of DL coach Joe Cullen), the writing is on the wall. Kaindoh needs to prove himself this offseason or he could find himself off the 53-man roster sooner than on gridiron.
