The Kansas City Chiefs announced a pair of roster moves on Sunday.
After passing his physical and returning from the non-football injury list earlier this week, Chiefs TE Nick Keizer has retired from the NFL. Keizer was dealing with a back injury suffered away from the team. Clearly, it’s something more severe than initially let on. The team described Keizer’s injury as back spasms on the first day of training camp.
Placement on the Reserve/Retired list means that the Chiefs maintain Keizer’s rights if he were to return and play. Keizer was tendered a restricted free agent contract this offseason and set to make $780K this season in Kansas City.
We have placed TE Nick Keizer on Reserve/Retired.
We have signed G Bryan Witzmann. pic.twitter.com/XwW4MAdYLM
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) August 8, 2021
In addition to Keizer’s retirement, the Chiefs announced that they had signed OG Bryan Witzmann. The veteran guard had been on the Chiefs’ roster earlier in the offseason but was released ahead of rookie minicamp.
Witzmann has a long history with Kansas City. He played with the Chiefs from 2016-2017, appearing in 27 regular-season games, starting 13 games at left guard for the team in 2017. He was released shortly after the beginning of the 2018 NFL season but returned to the practice squad in 2020.
Witzmann’s return likely has to do with Darryl Williams’ placement on Reserve/COVID-19 list. With Nick Allegretti and Austin Blythe seeing more snaps at center and an injury to Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, there was a clear need for another guard in the mix.
The Chiefs should still have one vacant roster spot after Keizer’s retirement. With injuries to DTs Derrick Nnadi and Tyler Clark today, expect the team to perhaps bring in a free agent defensive tackle to join the team.
