The Kansas City Chiefs released their first depth chart of the 2019 regular season. They’ve trimmed their roster to 53 players since their last depth chart, so there are definitely a few changes.
Generally speaking, these depth charts give you an idea of where a player is in the pecking order. They’re assembled by the team’s PR staff and not the coaching staff. Some things may not accurately reflect what happens on game day because of that. However, the PR staff does have access to the teams’ closed practices and wouldn’t purposely mislead with the depth chart.
Let’s take a look at this first depth chart and see what we can learn.
Offense
| Pos. | First | Second | Third | Fourth |
| QB | Patrick Mahomes | Matt Moore | ||
| RB | Damien Williams | LeSean McCoy | Darwin Thompson | Darrel Williams |
| FB | Anthony Sherman | |||
| WR | Tyreek Hill | Demarcus Robinson | ||
| WR | Sammy Watkins | Mecole Hardman | Byron Pringle | |
| TE | Travis Kelce | Deon Yelder | Blake Bell | |
| LT | Eric Fisher | Cameron Erving | ||
| LG | Andrew Wylie | Jeff Allen | ||
| C | Austin Reiter | Nick Allegretti | ||
| RG | Laurent Duvernay-Tardif | Ryan Hunter | ||
| RT | Mitchell Schwartz | Martinas Rankin |
Observations:
- LeSean McCoy comes in and instantly unseats Darwin Thompson for RB No. 2 on the depth chart. This isn’t a big surprise given his salary and history with Andy Reid.
- Darrel Williams is now the fourth-string RB. He’s the only player on both offense and defense that is considered fourth-string. You have to wonder if he won’t be on the roster bubble moving forward.
- On the offensive line, Andrew Wylie is listed as a starter. There had been some question as to whether Cameron Erving had won that job. They’re pretty much viewed as interchangeable by the Chiefs.
- Allen backs up the LG spot, Allegretti back up the C spot and Hunter the RG spot.
- New trade acquisition Martinas Rankin will work as the swing tackle as opposed to a spot on the interior.
Continue…
Defense
| Pos. | First | Second | Third |
| LDE | Alex Okafor | Emmanuel Ogbah | |
| LDT | Chris Jones | Joey Ivie | Khalen Saunders |
| RDT | Derrick Nnadi | Xavier Williams | |
| RDE | Frank Clark | Tanoh Kpassagnon | |
| LB | Anthony Hitchens | Reggie Ragland | Ben Niemann |
| LB | Damien Wilson | Darron Lee | Dorian O’Daniel |
| LCB | Charvarius Ward | Rashad Fenton | Tremon Smith |
| RCB | Bashaud Breeland | Rashad Fenton | |
| CB | Kendall Fuller | Rashad Fenton | |
| FS | Daniel Sorensen | Juan Thornhill | |
| SS | Tyrann Mathieu | Jordan Lucas | Armani Watts |
Observations:
- Welcome to modern football, where Chiefs’ depth charts have three cornerback spots and one less linebacker spot. Nickel defense is really the base personnel in the NFL now, so it makes sense to update the depth chart accordingly.
- Damien Wilson and Anthony Hitchens are listed as starters, and as we learned recently, Darron Lee will likely also play a lot.
- Joey Ivie will be the primary backup to Chris Jones after beating out Justin Hamilton.
- You may have noticed that Tremon Smith is no longer listed at RB on the depth chart. He’s moved back to CB, where he’s listed as a third-string LCB.
- Rashad Fenton is the backup at every CB position if any injuries occur to the starters. This might not be entirely accurate with Tyrann Mathieu capable of stepping in and playing the slot corner.
- Daniel Sorensen is still the starter at free safety. That’ll probably disappoint some folks, but Juan Thornhill isn’t the guy just yet.
Continue…
Special teams
| Pos. | First | Second |
| P | Dustin Colquitt | |
| K | Harrison Butker | Dustin Colquitt |
| KO | Harrison Butker | |
| LS | James Winchester | |
| H | Dustin Colquitt | |
| PR | Tyreek Hill | Mecole Hardman |
| KR | Tremon Smith | Tyreek Hill |
Observations:
- This is the only portion of the depth chart that is basically unchanged from the preseason. The lone difference is that Jack Fox is no longer on the team. Tyreek Hill and Tremon Smith remain the starting return men, though, I suspect the Chiefs may not use Hill unless they’re down in a game.
Go back…
