The Kansas City Chiefs begin training camp for the 2020 NFL season on Saturday at their practice facility in Kansas City. The defending Super Bowl champions finished the 2019 regular season 12-4 and in first place in the AFC West, earning the No. 2 overall seed in the AFC playoffs. The Chiefs return 22 starters from that team as well as head coach Andy Reid and coordinators Eric Bieniemy (offense), Steve Spagnuolo (defense) and Dave Toub (special teams). Here's a 53-player roster projection:
QUARTERBACK (3): Patrick Mahomes, Chad Henne, Jordan Ta'amu
I'm really curious about the recent re-signing of Matt Moore. There seems to be no place for him to fit, but why sign Moore now if the Chiefs didn't have plans to keep him? I'm tempted to give the Chiefs four quarterbacks, but that's just too many in a season where they're going to need a lot of roster flexibility.
RUNNING BACK (5): Damien Williams, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Darrel Williams, DeAndre Washington, Anthony Sherman
Edwards-Helaire, this year's first-round draft pick, adds another dimension to the offense. He and Damien Williams should get most of the work, but the Chiefs were hit hard by injuries last season. If that is a guide, they'll need their depth.
WIDE RECEIVER (6): Tyreek Hill, Sammy Watkins, Mecole Hardman, Demarcus Robinson, Byron Pringle, Kalija Lipscomb
The top five pass-catching wideouts from last year's team are back, so there's not a lot of opportunity for younger, developmental players. But they signed six rookie receivers after the draft and with an eye toward the future (Watkins and Robinson can leave as free agents at the end of the season), they'll keep Lipscomb.
TIGHT END (2): Travis Kelce, Ricky Seals-Jones
With so much depth at wide receiver, the Chiefs don't utilize as many of the three-tight end formations they once favored. So I don't see the Chiefs keeping more than two unless a younger player such as Deon Yelder or Nick Keizer proves too good to part with.
OFFENSIVE LINE (9): Eric Fisher, Nick Allegretti, Austin Reiter, Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, Mitchell Schwartz, Lucas Niang, Mike Remmers, Martinas Rankin, Darryl Williams
The Chiefs face some difficult decisions here. But this scenario makes sense as it leaves the Chiefs with rookies Niang and Williams as backups and in the pipeline should the team need them as starters in 2021 or beyond.
DEFENSIVE LINE (9): Frank Clark, Alex Okafor, Chris Jones, Derrick Nnadi, Tanoh Kpassagnon, Breeland Speaks, Mike Danna, Khalen Saunders, Mike Pennel
The Chiefs have a lot of roster candidates at end, including Taco Charlton, and all of them won't make the team.
LINEBACKER (6): Anthony Hitchens, Damien Wilson, Willie Gay, Ben Niemann, Dorian O'Daniel, Darius Harris
The Chiefs are hopeful Gay, their second-round pick and one of the fastest linebackers at the combine, can solve their problem of pass coverage at linebacker.
DEFENSIVE BACK (10): Charvarius Ward, Bashaud Breeland, Rashad Fenton, Antonio Hamilton, L'Jarius Sneed, BoPete Keyes, Tyrann Mathieu, Juan Thornhill, Daniel Sorensen, Armani Watts
Don't be surprised if the Chiefs acquire another cornerback soon, particularly if Breeland is suspended by the league for violating the substance abuse policy. It will be interesting to see whether Thornhill, who tore his ACL in the final regular-season game last year, can make it back to the starting lineup at safety in time for the season opener.
SPECIALISTS (3): Harrison Butker, Tommy Townsend, James Winchester
The only position battle here is at punter, where the Chiefs have the rookie Townsend and Tyler Newsome competing to replace Dustin Colquitt.