The Kansas City Chiefs have made a pair of roster moves ahead of their Week 12 matchup with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
As first reported by NFL Network’s Tom Pelisserro and confirmed by KC Star beat writer Herbie Teope, the Chiefs plan to release defensive back Tedric Thompson. Over the past two games, Thompson had been a healthy scratch for the Chiefs. He played 71 defensive snaps in the first four games of the season, but his snaps have fallen off since with the exception of a 17-snap game in Week 7.
Thompson joined the team as a free agent this offseason, signing a one-year deal with Kansas City. The former Seattle Seahawk was really used to help get Juan Thornhill healthy and acclimated in his return from injury early in the season.
#Chiefs are releasing S Tedric Thompson, per source and as @TomPelissero first reported.
Thompson was a healthy inactive the past two games, so not a big surprise. I'd expect the Chiefs to elevate a WR from the practice squad since Byron Pringle landed on IR earlier in week.
— Herbie Teope (@HerbieTeope) November 28, 2020
Chiefs Digest’s Matt Derrick confirmed that in a corresponding move the team will sign WR Marcus Kemp off of the practice squad. The team no longer had the ability to elevate Kemp to the 53-man roster using this year’s practice squad elevation rules as he’d already been elevated twice earlier in the season.
The Chiefs are signing WR Marcus Kemp to the active roster from the practice squad, per source. The club is waiving S Tedric Thompson to free up roster space, as first reported by @TomPelissero and @HerbieTeope.
— Matt Derrick (@mattderrick) November 28, 2020
Kemp makes a lot of sense when it comes to replacing some of the snaps lost with Byron Pringle’s move to injured reserve. At 6-4 and 210 pounds, he offers the team a different type of receiver than they currently have on the 53-man roster. He’s been called the best gunner on the team by Dave Toub before, so his impact on special teams is obvious.
Kemp was also a budding star on offense before a season-ending knee injury during the 2019 preseason. If he had to step in and play snaps on offense, there’s no doubt that he’d take full advantage of that opportunity.
There could be more roster moves on the way for Kansas City. We’ll find out about those later today when the league officially releases the transaction report.
