After releasing four players from the practice squad on Tuesday, the Kansas City Chiefs continue to tinker with their practice squad. They have now made some new additions to their practice squad. They also released another player and restored a player from the practice squad COVID-19 list.
Let’s start with the additions, though.
According to the NFL’s personnel notice for Wednesday, the Chiefs signed DT Andrew Billings and OT Roderick Johnson to the practice squad. Both fill two of six veteran spots permitted on the practice squad.
Billings, 26, was a fourth-round draft pick by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 2016 NFL draft out of Baylor. He spent four seasons with the Bengals, starting 37 games, recording 80 combined tackles, 14 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks. Billings signed with the Cleveland Browns in 2020, but he opted out of the season due to COVID-19. The Browns waived Billings in November of this season and he would get picked up by the Miami Dolphins, signing to their practice squad.
Johnson, 26, was a fifth-round draft pick by the Cleveland Browns in 2017 out of Florida State. The St. Louis, Missouri native never appeared in a game for the Browns, but he would go on to earn a shot with the Houston Texans from 2018-2020, where he has played right tackle, left tackle and guard.
While Billings and Johnson can provide some immediate depth for the Chiefs on the practice squad, they also could be players retained for 2022 as well. Billings is particularly intriguing given the pending free agents at the defensive tackle position (Derrick Nnadi and Jarran Reed).
In addition to the players signed to the practice squad, the Chiefs released RB Elijah McGuire. The acquisition of former 2019 sixth-round draft pick, Darwin Thompson, made McGuire expendable.
Finally, the Chiefs also restored TE Mark Vital back to the practice squad. He was placed on the practice squad COVID-19 list seven days ago and is now cleared to return.
In terms of non-practice squad moves, the Chiefs signed WR Chris Finke to a reserve/future contract. The team hosted Finke, who was with Kansas City during the 2021 offseason, on a visit on Tuesday.
