Chiefs Final Roster Is SET: The Moves We LOVE and Question

The Chiefs' roster is taking shape, and Sterling Holmes and Josh Brisco are breaking down the moves that matter most. But there are still questions. Did KC make the right call at running back? Why keep four tight ends? What does the Pounds move tell us about the offensive line? And after another offseason of special teams roster considerations, Sterling explains why it's time for Dave Toub's unit to deliver.

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Video Transcript

Welcome to the Arrowhead Addict podcast on this Tuesday.

Sterling Holmes, Josh Briscoe, follow him on the exit JB Briscoe, myself at home stretch KC.

JB Briscoe smelled like he smelled something horrible.

What was that smell?

The smell of Esapole no longer being on the Chiefs practice squad or Amari DeMarcardo being picked up by a different team?

What was that stank face you just gave?

I was just realizing that my little chain necklaces here just gotten kind of tangled, and it didn't, I didn't think it was like that right before the show started.

So I was just trying to, I was taking note of my own appearance, which oftentimes meets me with a a little bit of disdain, and I was just trying to look as fresh as the mustachioed mullet man, uh, to my Left, I guess, kind of to my right, if I was doing it.

Oh, the flow is ridiculous, too.

We're just a couple of, of freshly haircutted flow having lettuce sporters here to talk about a 53-man roster, a 16, not 17, but a 16-man practice squad.

It's good to be here talking about all these, uh, all these roster moves too.

Yeah, well, I'm glad because some of those guys on waivers had to go past the emotional, the physical, the, uh, if you didn't hear the Dejon Love story, that is what I'm alluding to.

Look it up.

uh, Forty-Niners, uh, I don't wanna, I wanna say player in quotations who fooled a lot of people.

Uh, the people that got fooled, I don't think quite find it as funny, but if you've not seen it.

It's pretty damn funny.

Uh, of course, everyone is, is roasting Dejon Love.

So if you've not heard about that story, maybe at the very end, we'll give more updates on that because it is fairly humorous.

Uh, but let's get into the 53-man roster.

Again, we had it.

We knew it wasn't gonna be the same.

We knew waivers were gonna come down, some surprising names, some less surprising names for all the folks up in Armstrong about Armstrong not making the 53.

Uh, well, he's in the practice squad.

So, For all of y'all who thought that they made the wrong decision, that how can you keep Nika Ramio and move on from Armstrong because he's clearly going to get picked up by another team's active 53, not the case, and the Chiefs played it correctly.

Chiefs didn't play it correctly when it came to, well, I don't want to say didn't because Amari DeMarcardo, I think they knew what they had.

Esapole didn't really matter because he was not claimed on waivers.

He just chose to go to the commanders, which maybe you have some insight here, maybe you don't.

No idea if the Chiefs offered him a practice squad spot or if he thought, you know what?

I have multiple practice squad offers.

Let me go to the one that I think I have a better chance of playing for.

Uh, it could be the case there with Esapole, but overall, not a ton of surprises.

Melvin Smith Jr. who I think some of us, I did, thought was going to be picked up and placed on the, Uh, 53 originally over Kevin Knowles, didn't matter.

He was claimed by a team.

Kevin Knowles was waived.

We'll talk about the two players specifically on defense, on the defensive line that the Chiefs claimed.

Uh, but anything that really stood out to you so far as it's still been a semi-whirlwind of the 53-man rosters being solidified?

Yeah, you mentioned several of them there, and there's like, there's, there's one little place where I've taken a couple of victory laps that then turns into me, you know, stepping on a rake.

So I'll say the, like, the two players that we talked about quite a bit over these last few weeks, and I even did a mailbag over on Chiefs on SI where somebody said, hey, what What are the odds that there is a sort of surprise free agent cut, kinda like Elijah Mitchell last year with Amari DiMarercado or Kater Cohu.

And just minutes ago, the Chiefs announced that Kater Cohu is back on their practice squad.

Um, so, that also worked out, all things considered.

But I wrote a couple of weeks ago, my, my case for why it did actually feel like Kater Cohu was probably going towards the outside of the roster bubble in favor of either Kevin Knowles or Melvin Smith, and, and one of those guys being a special teams demon, and Kater Cohu just kind of Being, being a little bit redundant in terms of a slot corner, if the Chiefs preferred Chris Roland Wallace, maybe even Lagerius Snead in that spot, and then obviously Jaden Kennedy is your multi-year hopeful answer in the slot.

So Kater Cohu getting cut was like interesting , but not really surprising to me.

In that same mailbag, I explained why Amari DiMarcado was certainly still on my 53.

I, I thought, since, since training camp opened, I thought this was a 4-man running back room.

And, and frankly, like, I'm a little disappointed because I, I liked the vision of the 4-man running back room.

This has very, very little to do with Emmett Johnson or Breshard Smith.

They both had really good preseasons.

I'm pretty high on both of them, but neither one of them has ever really gotten a meaningful uh blitz pickup snap at the NFL level.

Obviously, one's a rookie, so he hasn't had an opportunity, and Smith is in the 2nd year and never got a lot of real running back opportunities last season.

And so, I thought Amari DiMarercado was pretty safe as the best pass protector behind Kenneth Walker, a guy who can't play 100% of the snaps.

Kenneth Walker is probably going to be a perfectly fine pass protector when he's back there, but you don't want that to be one of the important parts of his job, the load-bearing parts of his job, cause you need him to run and catch the football and then get a breather when he can.

So, DeMarco Murray, a few weeks ago now, two-ish weeks, very near the end of camp, did talk about how impressed he'd been with how Burchard Smith had handled some past pro work in training camp, and, and I think Emmett Johnson seems like a guy who has the want to, um, to be able to do that.

But whenever you've got a pretty Light, not in numbers, but in like weight and blocking ability, a pretty light tight end room, an offensive line that still has a few questions, and Patrick Mahomes coming off the ACL.

One of the places where I was willing to try to carve out a roster spot for, for even a pass protecting specialist at running back.

I, I would have, I would have probably been OK parting with a couple of different players who we might talk about in the rest of the show today in favor of keeping DeMercado on the 53, cause I thought that was a specific role.

Again, not that he was even gonna be RB2, but that he could be the guy out there on 3rd and 8th, where maybe he's going out for a route, maybe he's standing to protect Patrick Mahomes, but you can trust that he won't have his head spinning at any point.

Point and it's, it's just still projection that Emmett Johnson and Breshard Smith can do that.

Maybe they can, but it's an if.

We've seen, uh, Amari DeMarcado do that.

So, that, that was the only move that I was like, truly, truly surprised by.

Um, and again, a little disappointed, not cause the season's over now, but I thought that 4-man running back room was pretty exciting.

The 3-man running back room is pretty exciting, but I thought DeMercado was gonna play.

Yeah, I actually thought it was a good sign or at least a vote of confidence in Breshard Smith specifically as well as Emmett Johnson, um.

Maybe more in Brochard as that 3rd-down back because I do feel like Emmett Johnson is the quote-unquote, RB2.

If you want him on early downs.

I think he has the want to, as you mentioned, but Broshard Smith feels more of the 3rd-down receiving back if there is one on this roster.

And again, maybe it's just they think that Kenneth Walker might be a damn bell cow.

We'll find out.

I don't believe that.

I think Emmett Johnson is going to get more run.

Then people think, but it's still, this is a vote of confidence in the young dudes over DeMarcado.

Again, we can look back to preseason game one when he was getting carries in the 4th quarter, DeMarcado, and, and maybe the writing wasn't the one.

We, we had questions then, and then game, preseason game 2 happened.

We thought, OK, he's like the first RB out there.

Well, Didn't matter.

Uh, two guys the Chiefs claimed on waivers, Bryson Eason and Jack Pieburn.

Uh, Pieburn was the preseason sacks leader.

He was with the Buccaneers, was going to go back to LSU.

Uh, now we no longer have to deal with that conundrum.

So thank you, Kansas City for that.

He is Outside linebacker-ish slash defensive end can kind of line up in that role.

I don't want to say a Leo Chanal replacement, but I think Briscoe was maybe alluding to that.

He's a white guy wearing 54.

I mean, come on.

We're gonna call him Leo Chanel until, until he's not, until he's not.

Uh, I do love Lance Zerlein, by the way, because he gives those reports, right?

You know how he does the little breakdowns on the NFL draft.

And Jack Pieburn's is very sensual.

So we're gonna do a little bit of 50 Shades of Grey, 50 Shades of Pieburn.

I don't really have a sultry song to play underneath, so I'll play, I'll play this one instead.

Densely muscled with thick limbs and a burly neck.

Sturdy bass.

Plenty of experience.

Easy to find.

Wn to take them out.

Below average length.

That's the one that you're like, oh man, that's a, that's a bummer .

Yeah, that's, that's all those good save that for pretty late in the report, yeah, dude, I just, I just laugh at like the Lance Zurle reports when he writes the breakdown.

I just couldn't get over.

Densely muscled with thick limbs and a burly neck.

I'm like, dude, Lance, come on, brother.

Do you think, you think he's got a pen name somewhere else?

He's making his real big bucks as a, as a romanticsy author right now.

That's pretty big, right?

Dude is writing smut guaranteed.

That's all I'm saying.

That's all I'm saying.

Do it.

Absolutely good for him.

So what, what, what did you make of Jack Pyburn coming in?

Obviously it's not necessarily a one for one, but, uh, we saw Marcus Harris get.

Waived.

We saw Kevin Knowles, who I thought Kevin Knowles was the, was the guy.

I mean, they had 7 corners, 11 defensive backs overall.

It didn't look good.

Uh, Marcus Harris, though , I thought was a surprise.

Yeah, and, and so, as we do this show right now, they have a full practice squad that doesn't include either of those guys, and unfortunately, I think that if they go unclaimed, a couple of current practice squad members are probably going to have a really frustrating meeting in it, maybe tomorrow, um, because if Marcus Harris and Kevin Knowles can come back, I, I have to assume the Chiefs would have them back.

Like, why would you have them on the 53 but not invite them back to the practice squad?

And presumably, that's a conversation that, that maybe they had ahead of time.

Um, so for Eason , it is pretty 1 to 1, and for him and Harris, and like with Omar Norman Lott being a TBD right now, he's, he's on the PUP, don't get your acronyms mixed up.

But with not really knowing exactly what his return to the field is gonna look like.

I, I'll tell you this, I, I don't wanna overrate too many preseason snaps, but Bryson Eason's preseason snaps, he looks like an NFL defensive tackle to me.

Like, he, he looks like he belongs out there, even going up against, I think it was the Titans starters, which is not an elite group, but it was their starters, and I go, you know what, that's, there's something there.

So I'm, I'm intrigued by him, and Pieburn makes sense because, again, I, I do think this comparison is only gonna get us all in trouble because there.

Leo Chanel didn't lack anything as an athlete, like he, he is truly, I, I don't, I, I don't talk about the NFL here, we're talking about 32 teams with 53 man rosters and 16-player practice squads.

I don't know if there's anybody in the NFL who's actually like Leo Chanel, um, and, and sometimes to his advantage and sometimes it just, it doesn't mean he's the best player in football, but he is one of the most unique defensive pieces that the league has had in the last couple of years.

It's, it's just a very unique build.

But, I think the Chiefs have been trying to find from some of the linebackers to even like Ashton Glati.

Figure out, can you do a few of the more mobile Leo things that, that gave us another dimension to the defense.

So, I, I think that Pier and having a path for that makes sense, and even to him just being a potential defensive end on the level of an Ethan Downs, being a step above and significantly younger than an Emmanuel Ogba, who's back on the practice squad now, those are all good things.

This, this team has needed a body of some sort for a little while.

Ogba's preseason.

Season was a little bit rusty and, and I don't need him to have, investing snaps in Emmanuel Ogba does not help you in 2027.

Investing some snaps in Pyburn might.

So, I, I thought both of those moves made total sense.

I would assume that Harris is back.

I would assume that Knowles is back and probably getting activated.

Maybe just through the 1st 3 weeks of the season as a standard elevation, and then you see if Lagerius Snead or anybody else in the secondary suffers any sort of injury setback.

I, I think Knowles is there for special teams.

And that's another reason that Kater Coe who didn't make the roster.

He was not gonna play teams.

Christian Fulton and Laerrius Snead are not, they're not gunners on special teams for you, so how do you fill out all three phases that way?

But, um, yeah, I'm, I would say that I'm like interested in Pyburn .

I'm glad to have him on the roster.

I think he's, he's instantly one of the more unique pieces of this 53, um, and I'm, I'm like finding myself maybe.

Being a little too optimistic about Eason because I think you can never have enough defensive tackles who can eat a couple of blocks and hold the line.

Like the Chiefs had a hard time finding guys who looked as stout in a very small sample size as Eason did over the last couple of seasons.

So, I, I find reason for optimism for a lot of those guys, and with a chat that came through earlier, like that Xavier Wamka uh made the team.

There are a ton of rookies and a lot of UDFAs on this team right now.

It's the 3rd youngest roster in football.

It might be younger than that now, that was after the initial 53, and they got a little younger after adding the two UDFAs and, and Knowles being a tiny bit older.

So, um, I'm, I'm intrigued by it in a lot of places.

I think the, the defense right now is kind of like fun and exciting, and the offense is the side where I have a couple of questions about the, the last few guys on the 53, I think.

Yeah, we'll get into that in a moment.

I do want to talk Bryce and Eason as well, just finishing up with Pieburn.

I am a little surprised that, I don't know how the final one, it's, again, it wasn't a one for one, but I thought maybe that's bad for Cooper McDonald.

I know McDonald is strictly a linebacker, but he was going to play the quote, Leo role.

He was going to be a core special teamer.

It sounds like Pieburn would be a core special teamer as well.

I don't know how that breakdown is going to transpire, but we will find out.

Uh, moving forward, what that looks like.

Going to Bryce and Eason, I do got to read again some of Lance Zerlein's, uh, smut written about the, the big fella.

So let me get that music back up for the squad.

Yeah.

OK.

Here's Bryce and East and according to Lance Zerlein.

Slightly squatty, but stout at the point.

Uses leverage and leg drive to penetrate gaps.

I mean, come on, man.

You should do an audiobook for scouting reports for next season for attacking and splitting double teams.

Um, Not quite as erotic as the piper one.

Come on, gets his edges engulfed and sealed.

Brother, Lance.

Sounds like a football player to me.

Lance, come on, man.

I just thought that slightly squatty but stout at the point was hilarious.

That's just.

I don't, I don't know if it's a positive or not, but, uh, it's in his strength it was slightly squatty.

Well, yeah, I mean, you know, again, you got, you want that low leverage sometimes.

You want, you need to be a big body with some, with some leverage opportunities to, to eat double teams with.

He, uh, oh, here we go.

Eason excels at the dirty work.

So good for him.

I honestly, again, I, I, I think he, he might have, he might have like played real snaps on this roster last year.

Yeah, he's missing the size and length though.

That's the negative.

Uh, I will say he came in as an oversized linebacker.

He's 323.

He's a run up.

Yes.

Came into what as an oversized linebacker?

Apparently college.

He was playing linebacker in high school?

I guess so, dude.

Imagine getting tackled by that guy.

And also, how big is the oversized linebacker?

It's like one of those, it literally, like, he was playing linebacker, I'm sure he was wearing, you know, 52, and then on the back of his, on the back of his jersey, they just had one of those oversized load signs you see on the back of, of trucks on the interstate that are just, like, moving propellers for wind turbines or whatever.

That's crazy.

I love Megan.

Not safe for warning, she, sheesh.

I'm sorry.

I, I tried telling you guys.

I tried telling you that Lance wrote this, not me, OK?

I'm just reading what he said, and I assume you guys he wanted me to do it in a smutty voice.

He should collaborate with you next year.

You should be narrating Lance Zerlein's scouting reports, and I feel like you could serve several different.

Nichees that way.

Aaron goes kind of movie promo voice going there erling just for a spicy rom-com.

Yeah, you know, when you, you know, like when you hear the announcers and they do it and it's out of context and it sounds super sexual, it's like, oh wow, and Kelsey and Mahomes hooked up in the end zone and you're like, whoa.

But if you give it that , if you give it that voice, way different.

Kelsey and Mahomes hooked up in the end zone.

Like just, that's what you need to do.

Just, just say what they said, but do it in a sultry voice.

I don't know, Jim.

Uh, when it comes to Eason, it made more sense than Harris.

Harris was not a big run-stepping guy.

I mean, he looked pretty good.

He looked great.

Let's be real.

He looked really good in the preseason.

He was really good, but he wasn't necessarily the type of guy I feel like the Chiefs were looking for to back up Tonga.

This is Tonga depth, as Joshua in the chat alludes to.

And They've looked for that guy.

They drafted Ke'Andre Coburn in the 6th round a couple of years ago.

It, it didn't work.

They tried last year with Naughty and Pinnell and not really Jerry Terry, but Hillary kind of, but not really.

Yeah, he's kind of a 3, but kind of a nothing, yeah.

And then I actually like the Cole Breevard pickup.

But then he's probably the one that's in danger right now if they do make a practice squad shuffle to bring Harris back.

I would imagine that's the case.

So either way, I, I, I like the move here of bringing in a run stuffing the tackle.

From all reports of Forty-Niners camp from a lot of those folks, it sounded like he actually was the best of some of the younger defensive tackles, but he was also the UDFA.

And so they went with the guys that they spent draft capital on.

It's kind of exciting.

It's a good reason why if you're gonna suck, and you do have a higher waiver wire, uh, your, your 9th, if you're Kansas City, you have a chance to get better UDFAs and waiver wire cuts.

Again, not saying that this guy is going to turn into , you know, Vince Wilfork out here, but it at least is giving you a better chance of getting a rotational piece than maybe if you were picking 32nd in the waiver wire.

Well, here's, here's like a weird, a weird comp.

You know what would be awesome, if he was Kyris Tonga, cause like right now, the Chiefs are paying a relative premium, a good, a fair amount of money.

But they're not overpaying, but Tonga has stacked good seasons, as, as originally a 7th-round pick.

He stacked good seasons, he's climbed throughout the NFL and then he had free agency, and the Chiefs gave him real money to come in and solve a problem for him.

If you get the first few years of that kind of player on his rookie contract, that's enormous value that you can find.

So, I, I think, I think throwing numbers both at like developmental tackles as they've done a little bit, and then developmental D-linemen.

It's that's just a game worth playing.

Yeah.

Uh, wow, I just wanted to look up, you know, Kyris Tonga, what Lance said about him.

Uh, there are some good ones.

Yeah Uh, 250th overall pick.

He was drafted one slot after Garrett Nussmeyer, not obviously the same draft class, everybody, you all know that.

Big, burly, and wide.

Here we go.

Yeah, we're done.

Yeah, we're done.

I, I just, I just find it, uh, entertaining and maybe because I'm a slight child, but also, come on, it is pretty funny.

Uh, I, I think the move for Diego Pounds was, You're not gonna go find, you're not gonna go find the resume for, for Mr.

Pounds.

You're not gonna go find Lance Zerle on Mr.

Pounds.

OK, I'll look up Diego Pounds.

Fine.

Here, here's my, here, you want my Diego, you want my Digo Pounds take?

Here it is.

Diego Pounds.

I sure hope he does.

He's an offensive tackle.

That stall for long enough.

Uh, brings energy from hips to hands.

Initial knockback power widens the edge.

Heavy hands uses grip strength to control.

Not as inherently, not as inherently horned up , but I feel like maybe Lance buttoned it up because he was like, all right, this guy's name is Pounds.

I don't need to, I need to get too obvious with this one.

Yeah, exactly.

I gotta, I gotta use this as a as a character name for one of my upcoming alter ego books.

But I think This tells you what the Chiefs thought of Esapole.

I know it wasn't a high draft pick, but they gave him a draft pick.

To acquire him and also move on from Esapole.

And the NFL told you what they thought of Esapole.

He didn't get claimed originally.

So, as much as we may have liked Eapole a year ago, clearly there's a disconnect somewhere because the Chiefs are willing to give up at least draft capital to say, we still don't trust him.

Uh, does this mean anything for Josh Simmons in the back or whatever is going on behind the scenes, which still seems, A Little weird He's at the luncheon today.

That was good.

That was good to see.

He wasn't blocking anybody, but he was up there on the stage.

Happy to see that.

Did, did he look scrunched over?

Yeah, I didn't, I didn't do the film.

I didn't do the film analysis, but.

Yeah Uh, I, you're overall with your ear offensive line.

Yeah, your earlier question about Eel Pole, I, I don't know, uh, who broke up with who necessarily.

Um, I, I think Trey Watson, someone had the report that he chose Miami instead of returning to the Chiefs.

For Pole, I just saw that he was going to Washington, so I don't know, I think it's probably fair to say that again, like that, that somebody was more done with the other party than, or maybe it was just like truly mutual, like, hey.

Uh, we don't really have a spot for you here.

You've probably got a better chance going somewhere else, and maybe they just parted ways.

It bums me out, cause I, I, I, adding to the disconnect here.

I liked Eapole.

I'm not sure that Khalil Benson's tape has been inherently better than Esapole's tape to this point in their respective careers.

Clearly, the Chiefs love Benson and did not feel anything in particular for Pole, um, and.

I, in my perfect world, I'm, and also they did bring back Ethan Driscoll, by the way, today as well, so another developmental tackle on the practice squad.

I think Pole has a better chance of, of playing real snaps than Driscoll .

I, I think that he has a better chance of being a, a future starter than Mike Caliendo does.

I know that's not totally 1 to 1 cause Pole is purely a guard and Caliendo is purely interior, but when the Chiefs also traded for Joshua Izutu.

But, OK, well, that's probably the move that lets you move on from either Kaliendo or Hunter Norzad.

Um, you need to keep at least one of them cause one of them's gotta be a backup to Creed Humphrey, and I don't think Ozuda's ever really played center, but he, I think he's a guard as things stand right now.

So, the, when I mentioned players earlier that I was a little surprised by, I'm a little surprised that they kept 5 linebackers, um, and I'm, I'm pretty surprised that they kept both Caliendo and Norzad.

I I don't think that, and maybe I'm wrong, I don't think Mike Caliendo was getting waiver claimed.

I, I think you could have shuffled him right down to the practice squad and, and could have kept, kept a guy in the system that way.

Um, they didn't, they, they keep him on the active roster, and Pole is out of the picture, which again, bums me out a little bit cause I, I like the, the kind of higher upside of Vanessa Pole type, but they've replaced that type with the guy in, in Diego Pounds who had a much better preseason than Pole did.

He had a better preseason than Khalil Benson did.

Uh, I think Matty Lane said he might have had a better preseason than Jalen Moore did.

It's not the same thing as, as being the starter right now, but, um, so I'm fully, fully, fully good with the Diego Pounds trade.

Uh, it, it does bum me out a little bit for the, the Pole experiment to kind of ended so abruptly.

Yeah, I, I do think.

Especially in today's NFL 6th and 7th-rounders are less valuable.

We've talked about it going back a while now, but even now with the 5 for 5, that's gonna start being implemented into college football, dude, you're gonna start seeing like 23 and 24-year-olds coming out in that 6th and 7th round.

And they're just not quite as important.

I'm not saying that you want to just get rid of them by any means, but if you think you can make your better, your team better now, well, then go get pounds and move on from Esapole if you truly think that there is a, at least incremental improvement by doing that.

So that's what Veach did.

In this situation, I, I don't mind the move at all, especially with the value of those later on picks.

I think being devalued by college football.

Um, real quick, uh, last one of the Lance Zer lines because Essa Pole's is pretty good, especially because his last name I'm sure he thought was Pole.

Yeah, for sure, yeah.

Sturdy build with proportional thickness.

Improved at swinging hips into place.

Still raw and in need of much more technique work, someone has to teach him.

Still learning to utilize his size and impose his will.

OK, we're good there.

But I just thought that that was Lance for a guy that probably thought his last name was Pole.

Um, pretty dirty, man.

Just, just saying, Lance.

Just saying.

Uh, a couple more things we want to get into, especially on the offensive side because I think Briscoe has some stronger thoughts on offense as far as what the Chiefs did or did not do.

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All right , offense Hit me.

Uh, by the way, uh, Joshua wanted more sexual innuendos.

Aaron said sponsored by the Notebook 7.

This time it gets kinky.

Uh, Rich Cooper said just no ASMR please.

OK, sorry, sorry, I'll stop.

That was the last one.

That's the poll was the last one.

Listening to Sterling, you just, you might.

Sometimes you might get a little ASMR.

Yeah.

OK, so the offense, you said you had some questions.

You said defensively, you, you, you somewhat like what they're getting younger, they're getting faster, they're getting quicker.

They're, I think, bringing in a, a couple of new stylistic players are Mason Thomas.

I, I think even, uh, the guy they brought in from, from.

Tampa Bay, right, on waivers.

Like I, I think he is a, a different style than we've traditionally seen in Kansas City.

I think FAU getting more run, he's still a different style than we've traditionally seen in Kansas City.

So, there is some fun there, but on offense, What was your takeaway?

Well, we, we opened with the Amari Di Mercado thing, and I, I do think that your optimism of it having something positive to do with their trust levels for Emmett Johnson and Burchard Smith, I think is, is very fair.

I was a little surprised, and, and I don't know, this mean, uh, I guess very little surprised.

But I was a little surprised by them keeping these 4 tight ends.

I don't, I don't just say 4 tight ends, but I'm saying specifically these 4 tight ends, because if you ended up in the roster crunch for me of Amari DeMarcado or titan 4, I think I would have kept DeMarcado, knowing that he had a role on this team.

I don't know exactly.

First of all, I don't know who Titan 3 is.

I don't know if it's Jared Wiley or Jake Brenningstool.

They're both on the roster.

I don't know who the Chiefs intend to use more.

I, I don't know if they believe that Brenningstool is a little more capable blocker, is Wiley a little more capable receiver.

They, they have, you know, Jared Wiley so far, obviously at the ACL pretty early on, but his, his pro career has been minimally on the field and Brenningstool hasn't played in a regular season game yet.

So I understand wanting to keep both guys around in hopes that you do catch a little bit of lightning from one of them, but I, like, I would think there's a pretty good chance one of them is a healthy scratch week one, you have to have inactives for, for week one, and I think your 4th tight end is probably one of them.

So I was a little bit, it, it feels like they, they could just be a little bit redundant if the roster did in fact get squeezed that way.

Um, I never thought that Andrew Armstrong was making this team or that Niico was going to miss it.

Um, again, I don't , I don't love.

Sure-handed being your number one character trait for your kick returner or punt returner in this instance, I should say, like, I'd love for us to talk about the speed or an explosive player, but I understand that there's there's value in that.

It's like telling, you know, you're telling your, your boy like, hey, you should go on a date with this girl, and, and he goes, is she hot?

And the first thing he's saying, she's really nice.

Like, or like, you know, what you're, you're telling your friend, hey, go on a date with this guy.

Well, attractive, super good person.

He's got a great job.

Yeah, like that's, but so does he, does he, does he have, does he share some hobbies with me?

He's got a great family.

Like, OK, I mean, that matters, but yeah, it's , or, or, you know, it, it's, it's signing, it's signing a kicker that's like super, you know, oh, you, you, you brought in a new kicker, that's, that's, that's exciting.

Never misses from inside 40.

Like, OK, well, that's, that's better than the alternative, I guess, but that's not what you say if you're excited to have him go trot out there for 52 yarder.

So, you know, again, I, I think that there's, there's a larger conversation probably to be had about how that all comes together, but, you know, Nico Armilo, he seems really nice, he seems like a nice guy, a good dude, and uh sure-handed, so, I, I don't, I don't feel good , like, you know, piling on there or whatever.

And also, your number 6 or 7 wide receivers shouldn't see the field until week 18, so him not being out there doesn't really move the needle much for me.

I wish, I wish Brishard Smith would have won the punt return job, that would be more exciting.

And that's where it is because wide receiver 6, it's not Andrew Armstrong necessarily.

And I think you and I are pretty lockstep here because I like Andrew Armstrong too.

I think he's a better wide receiver than Nika Ramijio, but wide receiver 67, and 8 last year for KC, he'll be wide receiver 6 combined for 25 yards on 3 catches.

Jason Brownlee played in 6 games, 1 target, Nika Ramijio, and then you had, um, Oh, who is the 3rd?

Who was it, Sterling?

What, what's, what's happening?

My memories of last season are, are fading into the abyss because they Jalen Royals was, was, was that.

Oh, OK. You're counting Royals in that.

OK, got you.

Yeah, so somebody else in the preseason too, but I'm starting to blend years together.

It's all bad .

It was Brownlee, not, not Dere Fountain or Maurice French or one of those guys.

Yeah, I, I, I know, it's difficult.

But that's the point.

That's what we're talking about.

Nico will be a guy who will make an impact on each game.

That's the difference of wide receiver 6 versus the punt returner.

I would have liked DeMarcotto too.

I thought Brendan Stool and Jared Wiley were very overlapping, and I thought Brendan Sto was better.

Uh, I do think Ronson Trait brings up a good point.

Brendan Stole clearly the most useful of the non-Kelsey trio, but it feels like Wiley was getting the draft pick treatment.

I actually do agree with that too a little bit, to at least to an extent there.

Um, I would have liked DeMarcato over Wiley.

Uh, I wanted Bershard Smith to win the, the punt return job too.

I don't think he did.

I, I don't think he did.

Like, I, I thought, I wonder, I wonder if he got a legitimate opportunity, you know, like I wonder if he had, did he have to win it by a lot to take it from Nico, or was it, did they start off neck and neck, and that, like, we can never really know that answer.

Yeah, and I would have liked Brouchard, but he, he didn't show a lot.

I mean, at least Nico, I'll give him this.

He catches it, gets his 6 yards, and that's it.

You trust him.

If we go back 34 years ago, we wanted anyone to do that.

But also, the Chiefs' offense was incredible in 2022, right?

And so to an extent to get a spark from special teams sometimes.

Yeah.

Last year, a spark would have been helpful.

And who knows?

I think the offense will be good this year, but a spark doesn't hurt.

Uh, but you had a, a sign of you have to be this good to make it over Remijio.

I don't know if anyone was because I do think maybe DeJesus was the best, but it still wasn't quite good enough.

I don't think we saw enough and whether it's the shortened preseason of only 3 instead of 4 games, that's what it came down to.

Um.

And I see this from Aaron in the chat, Dave Tobe trying to wait to get his guys.

I have a thought on this that is starting to.

Irritate me a little bit.

Because I do think special teams deserves at times to get your guys.

That does matter.

Like your returners, that matters.

But they have to be better.

You can't have special teams penalties.

Right?

Like you can't say, I need these guys, and then all they're doing is getting penalties.

Because at that point, why?

If you guys, if your guys are just gonna get penalties, can't Andy's guys do that?

Can't Spag's guys do that?

Like, what, what, what's the difference then?

That's been my frustration, I think over the past couple of years with Dave Tobe.

I think Dave Tobe was a really, really good special teams coach for a very long time.

But the past couple of years have been trending the wrong way.

Part of it is you got a new punter.

I didn't think Ariza improved last year or the year prior.

That was a positive.

But Harrison Butler's now struggled over the past couple of years.

Your return game has not been great over the past couple of seasons.

We thought with the new kick return rules, right?

I thought, hey, at that time, Dave Tobe, he's normally on the cutting edge of things.

We'll see, we'll see some explosive situations back there.

No, we sure didn't.

So, at some point, You having your guys, it doesn't really matter.

Right.

Uh, I, I think you said it well, that you can, you can, you can have other guys who aren't quite like pure specialists on the punter, kicker, long snapper level, but if you're wide receiver 6, and you're last corner, and your last couple of linebackers, if those are all guys that really want a job because of the special teams, great.

Again, having some of those guys on your roster will help you win those, those special teams battles over the course of the season.

But like, And I shouldn't, I'm not really surprised that he's on the roster, but Jack Cochran, being on this roster as a core special teamer, who was also a penalty machine last year, doesn't really, doesn't really add up to me and kind of the whole like accountability, winning on the margins, and being, being better where it counts.

Kevin Knowles, just being on the 53 did not bother me because he's a very good special teamer, and I don't remember an.

Avalanche of penalties following him, following him everywhere he goes.

Um, again, Nico is like on the bubble of that sometimes, not for penalties, but like, hey, you can have a roster spot as a return specialist, but, but what, what is your top gear?

What, what can you do to affect the game?

Um, You don't, you don't have to be Kadarius Tony back there, but you can't be Sky Moore, you know, you don't have to be Dante Hall, but I'd love for you to have a chance to take one to the house, and, and maybe, maybe Nico will with more years of experience of being able to see blockers ahead of him, maybe, maybe he'll clear that.

But the , the Cochran thing is, is kind of confusing because you're really starting two linebackers , Cooper McDonald and Jeffrey Bassa are both also heavy special teams players.

Is Cochran there as a pure teamer, or maybe he, honestly, maybe he's linebacker 3, and if that's the case, like, is Cooper McDonald just there for special teams and.

I'm, I'm very curious to see how some of that pans out, cause I think based on what you saw last year, you would not look at Jack Cochran and go, that's a special teams ace that we need to keep around.

Yeah, I would concur with all of that.

Uh, again, maybe we'll see some takeaways from now until game one at Denver, but this is at least some fun to talk about with the 53 man roster as it sits right now on September 1st, 13.

Days away, right?

Next, not this Monday, but the Monday following.

Yeah, we're getting closer, getting closer, baby.

Uh, a lot of fun .

Make sure you check out more of Josh Briscoe at JB Briscoe on Twitter and just most places and in general.

Thanks to everyone hanging out with us.

It's nice seeing everyone back now that the season is starting.

To get underway.

A lot of familiar faces, some new ones as well.

Give us a like or review wherever you get your podcast.

So much more coming from AA airhead addict to you before game one of the Chiefs regular season.

Until next time, we are, we are out.

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