The Kansas City Chiefs have always given undrafted free agents an opportunity to come in and have a chance to make the 53-man roster.
If you can play football at a high level, the coaching staff and front office won’t be overly concerned with draft status. Look no further than the Super Bowl LIV squad and you’ll find it littered with players who started their careers as undrafted free agents. Not just role players either, we’re talking big-time contributors like Damien Williams, Daniel Sorensen, and Charvarius Ward.
The Chiefs have a history of finding diamonds in the rough every year in undrafted free agency. The 2019 season was one of the first in recent memory where Kansas City didn’t have a newly-signed undrafted free agent make the 53-man roster. In the years prior they’ve had at least one newly-signed undrafted free agent make the team.
The 2020 roster is decorated and there are a lot of established players that will draw fierce competition from this UDFA class. This year they signed a total of 19 undrafted free agents to round out their 53-man roster. Whether it’s from outstanding talent or a weak position group, these X players have the best chance to make the Chiefs’ 53-man roster in 2020.
Florida P Tommy Townsend
Special teams coordinator Dave Toub maintains that there will be a “true competition” between Townsend and second-year punter Tyler Newsome for the Chiefs’ punting job. At the same time, he didn’t parse his words talking about Townsend and what the team thought of him coming out of Florida.
“The kid’s got a lot of talent,” Toub said of Townsend. “We really liked him coming out. I had him rated as the best punter coming out this year and he was available for us, and those guys got it done to get him. So that was a pretty good deal.”
On top of Townsend’s ability as a punter, he’s also an experienced holder, which is something the Chiefs also need with the departure of Dustin Colquitt. Another added bonus to his game is that he’s shown the ability to run fake punts successfully.
I’m under the impression that Toub will go with his top-rated punter in this draft class over Newsome, who couldn’t win a job during the 2019 season. It’d take an all-time poor performance from Townsend or another player they like becoming available for something else to happen here.
Mississippi State OL Darryl Williams
Williams landed the third-most guaranteed money of any undrafted free agent that signed with the Chiefs this year. He landed $107K in guaranteed money when he signed his contract.
Maybe I’m reading into things too much here, but Williams was one of the players that Kansas City made available to speak with the media following their virtual rookie minicamp. He’s clearly a very competitive guy that is ready to assert his will in the NFL, just as he did in college.
When you look at the center position in Kansas City, the team could use an upgrade. Austin Reiter only has one year left on his contract, and while Nick Allegretti might be the future at the center position, I could see Williams in the mix as well. Another benefit that Williams has going for him is that a former teammate, Martinas Rankin, will be competing for a starting job as well.
Mizzou OL Yasir Durant
Durant received the most guaranteed money of any undrafted free agent the Chiefs signed this year, with $150K of his contract being fully guaranteed at signing. The 22-year-old athlete has the versatility to play both tackle and guard, which makes him a valuable asset for the Kansas City offensive line.
Durant feels like the type of player that the Chiefs have converted from a tackle into a guard in the past. It also seems like the Chiefs are looking to add more size to the offensive interior in the hopes of protecting Patrick Mahomes, but also sparking the run game a bit more during the 2020 season.
Vanderbilt WR Justice Shelton-Mosley
I’ve gone back and forth quite a bit on which receiver has the best chances of making the Chiefs’ roster. Shelton-Mosley’s teammate Kalija Lipscomb tied the second-most guaranteed money, so he’d be a good bet. At the same time, the thing that will earn a UDFA a roster spot at the wide receiver position in Kansas City is a standout performance on special teams.
Dave Toub has already said that he doesn’t know if Mecole Hardman will be utilized much on special teams this season, so the Chiefs are in need of a return specialist. They specifically told Shelton-Mosley that’s what they were looking for too.
Shelton-Mosley was an All-Ivy first-team return specialist at Harvard in 2017. He was a standout in the return game throughout his career at Harvard with 30 kickoff returns for 739 yards and 44 punt returns for 634 yards and three touchdowns during his career. He didn’t see much action when he transferred to Vanderbilt, but the Chiefs clearly see something they like here.
Michigan CB Lavert Hill
The big thing that pops out with Hill is his interception numbers. He had six interceptions in just 36 games played with the Michigan Wolverines. When Hill gets the football, he is a threat to score, with two interceptions returned for touchdowns during that span.
The Chiefs have often found themselves looking for a backup slot cornerback during the past few seasons. It seems they may have found that player in Hill, but he’ll need to prove that he can be an asset on special teams units if he’s going to make the team. His lack of size and length might hurt his ability to make the team, but he also has some really good performances against top tier competition.
Hill tied for the second-most guaranteed money handed out to Chiefs UDFA’s in this class with $110K in earnings. While guaranteed money is a good indicator of who the team most wanted to sign, it isn’t always an indicator of who will perform the best. We’ll just have to see how things play out once the players can finally get on the football field and practice together for the first time.
