3 Chiefs who won’t be on the roster after training camp
By Kristen Wong
Chiefs’ training camp cut candidate No. 2: Malik Herring, DE
After the Chiefs went out and added three new players to their defensive end unit this offseason, that positional group has been put on high alert. Someone is getting cut.
Last year, Kansas City kept six edge-rushers and four interior defensive linemen on the roster. Following that structure, two edge-rushers will lose their jobs in this year’s training camp. George Karlaftis and veteran Charles Omenihu are locks, as is 2023 first-round pick Felix Anudike-Uzomah. 2020 fifth-rounder Mike Danna may get one more campaign to prove his worth, and 2023 fifth-rounder B.J. Thompson will be given appropriate time to develop.
That leaves undrafted free agents Malik Herring and Truman Jones along with veteran Joshua Kaindoh fighting for the lone last spot.
At this point, it’s a toss-up. Any of those three could perform even slightly better than the others to nab the spot, but our money’s not on Herring.
We love a good undrafted free agent success story as much as anybody, and truth be told, Herring somewhat shockingly made the active roster in 2022; he was active for seven games. But our guess is that the ACL injury he suffered in 2021 is going to haunt him, and just because he’s a familiar face in Kansas City doesn’t mean history will repeat itself. Up against a three-year vet (Kaindoh) and a rising Ivy League gem (Jones), Herring might get sent down to practice squad limbo this time around.