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After the final round of Kansas City Chiefs roster cuts, the 53-man roster is set. That doesn’t necessarily mean that Andy Reid and Brett Veach's wheeling and dealing is done ahead of the team’s Week 1 matchup with the Arizona Cardinals. The final roster still contains players who likely won’t see much action for Kansas City, but could provide value for other NFL teams (and some future draft capital for the Chiefs as well). Here are the best Chiefs trade assets following the final 53-man roster cuts.
Chiefs' best trade assets
Ronald Jones II
The biggest surprise of the last round of Chiefs roster cuts was that veteran running back Ronald Jones II made the squad. The back came to the chiefs from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a third back behind starter Clyde Edwards-Helaire and third-down back Jerick McKinnon.
However, in training camp, seventh-round rookie from Rutgers Isiah Pacheco burst onto the scene and made a case to become the team’s third back and maybe even compete with Edwards-Helaire for playing time.
Pacheco’s emergence seemed to spell the end of Jones’ time with the team, but, low and behold, he made the Chiefs 53-man roster.
One thought is that running backs — and maybe even Edwards-Helaire and McKinnon more than most — are oft-injured. Having four halfbacks on the roster is an insurance policy against this reality.
That said, the other reason for keeping Jones is that he is now a Chiefs trade asset.
Right now, most NFL teams have set RB depth charts. If not, they can still supplement what they have with the RBS available on waivers after the league’s cut-down day. There are eight NFL Weeks, though, before the 2022 trade deadline on November 1. And as mentioned above, there are always running backs injures.
If a contender has a back or two go down in the first half of the season, a Chiefs trade of Jones could net a nice mid- to late-round pick, depending on the trading team’s desperation level.
Malik Herring/Joshua Kaindoh
The other two major Chiefs trade assets after the final Chiefs roster cuts are defensive ends Malik Herring and Joshua Kaindoh.
Kansas City’s top four pass-rushers heading into the season are Frank Clark, Mike Danna, recent free-agent signing Carlos Dunlap, and rookie first-round pick George Karlaftis. These are the main players who will be getting after the opposing QBs in Arrowhead this season.
Behind them are fifth and sixth DEs Malik Herring and Joshua Kaindoh.
For most teams, carrying six defensive ends is excessive. That said, defensive coordinator, Steve Spagnuolo does like to rotate fresh pass-rushers in his system. His biggest success came with the Super-Bowl-winning 2007 New York Giants, and that squad carried six edge rushers.
Both Malik Herring and Joshua Kaindoh came into the league in 2021. Kaindoh was a fourth-round pick out of Florida State, and Herring was an undrafted free agent out of Georgia.
Herring spent all of 2021 on IR after tearing his ACL in the Senior Bowl. Kaidoh went on IR on October 5, 2021, with an ankle injury and didn’t return again.
Both these players flashed tantalizing signs of potential in the preseason. But neither did anything to put themselves above Clark, Danna, Dunlop, or Karlaftis on the Chiefs depth chart.
Heading into Week 1, the team is fine having six DEs on the roster. Spagnuolo probably loves (and fought for) this scenario. If another team thinks they can get a diamond in the rough, though, and can give one of these prospects more playing time in a less-crowded rotation, Herring and Kaindoh could be nice Chiefs trade assets.
