**UPDATE SAT. 5 PM** Final cuts have been made. Head here.

Of course, the 53 players on the team after 5 PM central time tonight won't be the exact roster for opening day. After the NFL roster deadline hits this evening, expect the Kansas City Chiefs to pick up one or two players off of the waiver wire.

I've run through the roster and made my decisions on who I think will be cut. Interestingly enough, while researching this and reading others cut lists, most of them are in agreement about 95% of the time.

The only differences I've seen in people's cut lists are the tail ends of the linebacker and line rotations. A little LeRue Rumph here. A little Anthony Alabi there. Maybe throw in some Sippio. (Update: Sippio apparently has been cut)

There isn't anything groundbreaking in this post because it's pretty easy to pick about 90% of this roster with about that same certainty.

QB: Brodie Croyle, Tyler Thigpen and Damon Huard

No surprises here. The Chiefs will carry three quarterbacks on the final roster no matter what and these are almost assuredly the three they will keep.

Cut: None

RB: Larry Johnson, Kolby Smith, Jamaal Charles, Jackie Battle and Dantrell Savage

Dantrell Savage hopefully makes this team as a kick returner but I've included him in the running backs section. LJ, Kolby and Jamaal Charles are all 100% safe. Battle may not make it because of roster numbers but he's probably safe too.

Cut: None

WR: Dwayne Bowe, Devard Darling, Will Franklin, Maurice Price and Jeff Webb

Despite not catching a pass this preseason, Devard Darling is still accomplished enough to get the nod over Arthur, Joachim, McMahan and Sippio. If you make an argument against Darling, you have to make an argument for one of those guys making the team and I don't think you can. Maybe you can make an argument for Bobby Sippio but I think you're splitting hairs at that point.(Update: Sippio has apparently been cut)

Cut: Jabari Arthur, Sergio Joachim, Kevin McMahan and Bobby Sippio

FB:Mike Cox and Chris Manderino

Word on the street is that the Chiefs like Manderino's special teams play, which is great for him because Mike Cox has the starting fullback spot nailed.

Cut: None

TE: Tony Gonzalez, Brad Cottam and J.P. Foschi

TG and Cottam are locks to make the roster and we'll give Foschi and his GA Tech roots the nod over the injured Mike Merritt and Michael "What happened to people being excited about me?" Allan. Allan may spend his final year on the practice squad before permanently falling off into obscurity. My future money says this is another D3 experiment that will not succeed.

Cut: Michael Allan and Mike Merritt

O-Line: Branden Albert, Brian Waters, Rudy Niswanger, Adrian Jones, Damion McIntosh, Herb Taylor, Barry Richardson and Wade Smith

I think those first eight offensive linemen I listed are definitely going to make the team. Beyond that, I think we could see another player dropped at a different position in favor of another offensive linemen. That linemen may not even be on the team right now and there is no way the Chiefs are satisfied with the depth they have on the offensive line.

Cut: Travis Leffew, Tre Stallings, Will Svitek, Anthony Alabi, Edwin Harrison and Rob Smith

D-Line: Turk McBride, Tank Tyler, Glenn Dorsey, Tamba Hali, Alfonso Boone, Ron Edwards. T.J. Jackson and Brian Johnston

After Ron Edwards, you're entering a pretty blurry area on the defensive line. TJ Jackson and Brian Johnston both had their names called more than a few times last Thursday against the Rams and that may be enough to distinguish themselves from the other defensive linemen.

Cut: Johnny Dingle, Jason Parker and Derek Lokey

LB: Derrick Johnson, Pat Thomas, Donnie Edwards, Demorrio Williams, Weston Dacus and Nap Harris (Int'l player Aden Durde will be on the practice squad but not count for a spot)

Nap Harris seems to be on everyone else's cut list and he certainly is a possible roster casualty. One of the cuts listed below could out value Harris on special teams, making the decision to keep him even more difficult. Donnie Edwards of course makes the final cut but how durable will he be in his 13th season? He's already tweaked a hamstring.

Cut: EJ Kuale, Steve Octavien and LeRue Rumph

CB: Patrick Surtain, Brandon Flowers, Brandon Carr, Dimitri Patterson, Tyron Brackenridge and Maurice Leggett

The first four CB spots are taken with Brackenridge, Barksdale and Leggett battling for the final one or even two spots. Can't say I've seen much of any of those three this preseason, making my analysis a bit strained. Brackenridge will probably get the nod because the Chiefs liked him enough last year as an UDFA to play him a bit and neither Barksdale nor Leggett has distinguished themselves.

Cut: Rashard Barksdale

S: Jarrad Page, Bernard Pollard, Jon McGraw and DaJuan Morgan

The safety position isn't difficult to figure out. Page and Pollard will start with McGraw and Morgan rotating in and out. The Chiefs don't need five safeties on the team.

Cut: Khayyam Burns

Special Teams: Nick Novak, Dustin Colquitt and J.P. Darche

Again, no surprises here. The Sams v. Savage competition is pretty much even but I'll throw my support behind the younger, less Drummond-like Dantrell Savage. My gut says Sams makes the team though but I can't bring myself to post that.

Cut: BJ Sams and Connor Barth (he's still on the roster so we'll include him for good measure)

We've already had a few threads about the roster cuts so use this spot to make any last minute predictions. I'll update you on the cuts as soon as I hear about them.

Of course, the 53 players on the team after 5 PM central time tonight won't be the exact roster for opening day. After the NFL roster deadline hits this evening, expect the Chiefs to pick up one or two players off of the waiver wire.

I've run through the roster and made my decisions on who I think will be cut. Interestingly enough, while researching this and reading others cut lists, most of them are in agreement about 95% of the time.

The only differences I've seen in people's cut lists are the tail ends of the linebacker and line rotations. A little LeRue Rumph here. A little Anthony Alabi there. Maybe throw in some Sippio.

QB: Brodie Croyle, Tyler Thigpen and Damon Huard

No surprises here. The Chiefs will carry three quarterbacks on the final roster no matter what and these are almost assuredly the three they will keep.

Cut: None

RB: Larry Johnson, Kolby Smith, Jamaal Charles, Jackie Battle and Dantrell Savage

Dantrell Savage hopefully makes this team as a kick returner but I've included him in the running backs section. LJ, Kolby and Jamaal Charles are all 100% safe. Battle may not make it because of roster numbers but he's probably safe too.

Cut: None

WR: Dwayne Bowe, Devard Darling, Will Franklin, Maurice Price and Jeff Webb

Despite not catching a pass this preseason, Devard Darling is still accomplished enough to get the nod over Arthur, Joachim, McMahan and Sippio. If you make an argument against Darling, you have to make an argument for one of those guys making the team and I don't think you can. Maybe you can make an argument for Bobby Sippio but I think you're splitting hairs at that point.

Cut: Jabari Arthur, Sergio Joachim, Kevin McMahan and Bobby Sippio

FB:Mike Cox and Chris Manderino

Word on the street is that the Chiefs like Manderino's special teams play, which is great for him because Mike Cox has the starting fullback spot nailed.

Cut: None

TE: Tony Gonzalez, Brad Cottam and J.P. Foschi

TG and Cottam are locks to make the roster and we'll give Foschi and his GA Tech roots the nod over the injured Mike Merritt and Michael "What happened to people being excited about me?" Allan. Allan may spend his final year on the practice squad before permanently falling off into obscurity. My future money says this is another D3 experiment that will not succeed.

Cut: Michael Allan and Mike Merritt

O-Line: Branden Albert, Brian Waters, Rudy Niswanger, Adrian Jones, Damion McIntosh, Herb Taylor, Barry Richardson and Wade Smith

I think those first eight offensive linemen I listed are definitely going to make the team. Beyond that, I think we could see another player dropped at a different position in favor of another offensive linemen. That linemen may not even be on the team right now and there is no way the Chiefs are satisfied with the depth they have on the offensive line.

Cut: Travis Leffew, Tre Stallings, Will Svitek, Anthony Alabi, Edwin Harrison and Rob Smith

D-Line: Turk McBride, Tank Tyler, Glenn Dorsey, Tamba Hali, Alfonso Boone, Ron Edwards. T.J. Jackson and Brian Johnston

After Ron Edwards, you're entering a pretty blurry area on the defensive line. TJ Jackson and Brian Johnston both had their names called more than a few times last Thursday against the Rams and that may be enough to distinguish themselves from the other defensive linemen.

Cut: Johnny Dingle, Jason Parker and Derek Lokey

LB: Derrick Johnson, Pat Thomas, Donnie Edwards, Demorrio Williams, Weston Dacus and Nap Harris (Int'l player Aden Durde will be on the practice squad but not count for a spot)

Nap Harris seems to be on everyone else's cut list and he certainly is a possible roster casualty. One of the cuts listed below could out value Harris on special teams, making the decision to keep him even more difficult. Donnie Edwards of course makes the final cut but how durable will he be in his 13th season? He's already tweaked a hamstring.

Cut: EJ Kuale, Steve Octavien and LeRue Rumph

CB: Patrick Surtain, Brandon Flowers, Brandon Carr, Dimitri Patterson, Tyron Brackenridge and Maurice Leggett

The first four CB spots are taken with Brackenridge, Barksdale and Leggett battling for the final one or even two spots. Can't say I've seen much of any of those three this preseason, making my analysis a bit strained. Brackenridge will probably get the nod because the Chiefs liked him enough last year as an UDFA to play him a bit and neither Barksdale nor Leggett has distinguished themselves.

Cut: Rashard Barksdale

S: Jarrad Page, Bernard Pollard, Jon McGraw and DaJuan Morgan

The safety position isn't difficult to figure out. Page and Pollard will start with McGraw and Morgan rotating in and out. The Chiefs don't need five safeties on the team.

Cut: Khayyam Burns

Special Teams: Nick Novak, Dustin Colquitt and J.P. Darche

Again, no surprises here. The Sams v. Savage competition is pretty much even but I'll throw my support behind the younger, less Drummond-like Dantrell Savage.

Cut: BJ Sams and Connor Barth (he's still on the roster so we'll include him for good measure)

We've already had a few threads about the roster cuts today so use this spot to make any last minute predictions. I'll update you on the cuts as soon as I hear about them.

I don't know about you but I'm more than ready to start talking about the New England Patriots and the start of the regular season. Last night, Larry Johnson and Tony Gonzalez didn't play. Brodie Croyle was in the game for sixteen plays, only attempting four passes within that period. The Rams made similar personnel decisions - the majority of what will be their regular season starters did not play.

In other words, this Kansas City Chiefs team will not resemble the one that will take the field two Sundays from now at 12 o'clock.

Regardless, here's quick rundown of what happened last night.

Offense

The Chiefs rolled in the first half and most notably in the first quarter. After halftime, the offense was basically a no-show.

Calling the offense a no-show isn't a criticism. This was the final half of a painful preseason and I'm sure everyone on the field, aside from the bubble players, were ready to leave at any time.

The running game was the most pleasant surprise of last night. Jamaal Charles, Jackie Battle and Kolby Smith all ran the ball effectively. Smith scored two touchdowns in the first quarter on runs of fourteen and four yards. Get used to Chiefs fans saying Jamaal Charles is fast. Charles zigged and zagged his way past a number of Rams defenders on his way to rushing for 43 yards on six carries.

One stat that makes me overjoyed to see was the thirteen rushing first downs versus the three passing first downs. Usually, the ratio has been reversed.

Defense

The defense was able to force two turnovers, one on a big hit delivered by Bernard Pollard and the other on a fourth quarter interception by DaJuan Morgan. Nothing about the play of the defense was especially spectacular. The game leaders in the box score are all second to third string players. Like with the offense, the Chiefs starting defense didn't spend much time on the field.

Kicking Game

Connor Barth kicked two successful extra points and Nick Novak kicked one. Both made all of their attempts and I suspect had their been another touchdown scored by the Chiefs, Novak would have come in and kicked that point after. It appeared that the coaching staff was going to rotate the kickers as opportunities arose. The race for the starting spot is still a dead heat. And Nick Novak has just been announced as the Chiefs kicker in Week 1. Barth will be put on waivers.

It's finally time to look forward to a meaningful, regular season game.

We'll be monitoring the cut situation throughout the day and the weekend so stay tuned.

Must watch Philip Rivers lose....

I'd probably be a little pissed off too.

"We’re shocked, baffled, disappointed," said his agent, Glenn Schwartzman. "It was not our understanding that they were just going to give the job to Jay. We in no way thought that. We knew he would have to win the job.

"While no one promised him the job, we were under the impression he would be given a better opportunity to win it. If they’re going to base it off two days of kicking, they probably shouldn’t have signed him. It makes no sense to make a decision about Jay without letting him kick in the preseason game."

Feely has to feel a bit used after this. He was essentially brought in to jazz up our current kickers, although I feel like if Feely had out kicked either Barth or Novak over the last two days that it would have been one of them getting the boot.

This is the business of the NFL. I'm glad to see the coaching staff isn't keeping any player around to save face, even in the kicking position. Football players are the number one priority in Herm's Kansas City.

Plus, we already had way too many former Miami players on our roster. And, anyone else realize how incestuous the kicking game is in the NFL? Lawrence Tynes replaced Jay Feely in New York and then we bring Feely in for a visit. Nick Novak has been on Washington's and Chicago's roster. Twice. Former Chiefs kicker Dave Rayner even signed with the Dolphins earlier this year before being released.

It's a small world when you've got unbelievable legs. (Guess the sports movie reference!)

Poll

Who will be the Chiefs kicker Week 1 against the New England Patriots?

74%

Connor Barth

206 votes

21%

Nick Novak

59 votes

4%

Someone else

12 votes

277 votes | Poll has closed

Say hello to Jay Feely. H/T to UCrawford in the FanPosts.

Feely (5-10, 206) has played in 112 regular season games with Atlanta (2001-04), the N.Y. Giants (2005-06) and Miami (2007). He has converted 177 of 219 field goals (80.8%) and 249 of 251 PATs (99.2%) for 780 points. He has also appeared in six postseason contests, connecting on eight of 11 FGs (72.7%) and all 12 of his PATs for 36 points.

That makes three kickers on the Kansas City Chiefs roster, as of right now. Neither Nick Novak nor Connor Barth distinguished themselves in the offseason and preseason. And with Novak missing the only field goal attempt during Saturday's game, bringing in a veteran was a no-brainer for the coaching staff.

The roster has to be trimmed to 75 players by tomorrow afternoon so expect either Barth or Novak to get the boot.

I make no promises that this is going to be a regular segment. Absolutely none.

1. Finally, we face a real offense! Are we about to be exposed? I believe this team is on the path to redemption, but it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better. Particularly for our defense: we boast little passrush, our best DT is a rookie, our LB corps is thin and may have a massive hole at MLB, and our secondary is talented but incredibly young. Everybody could hold their own against the laughably lousy Bears offense, but the Cardinals offense is another level of trouble: their QBs are uniformly more talented, their OL is bigger and better, their rungame doesn't depend on a rookie, and little needs to be said about their WRs. This unit may be too much to handle.

2. Will we generate any pass rush? The biggest deficiency in the Chiefs' solid defensive effort against the woeful offense of the Bears was a complete lack of pressure on the QBs. Demoting Boone and placing McBride on the strong side will definitely help matters, but it will not fix them. Our pass rush is in serious condition, folks. Hali will do what he does, but this far in his career he's proven to be an every-down DE that's good at a lot of things, but not great at any. He is no sack specialist. McBride has not generated much excitement (from anyone other than Adam Best). And if Johnston emerges as a DE in this league, it won't be this year. He needs time. If you want to keep your eye out on a sleeper, there's been some buzz around the quick Jason Parker, so keep your eyes on #92.

3. Will the right side of the line get their act together? The only obvious sack that the Croyle-led offense gave up against the Bears' blitz-free, vanilla defense was McIntosh simply getting beat around the corner. The only stuff of LJ occurred when Adrian Jones allowed a DT to slide through completely untouched to slam into Two-Sev six yards behind the line of scrimmage. This right side is leaky, and for their one game so far, they've struggled.

4. Can our corners handle the best WR tandem in the NFL? Boldin and Fitzgerald are Pro Bowlers, with a pair of good QBs to get the ball out. They will likely only suit up for a couple series before retiring for the evening. But the time they are on the field will tell us a lot about the character of our young guys. It seems inevitable to me that someone is going to get utterly embarrassed. That's not the issue for me. I'm more concerned with how our young guys would react. It helps to have a short memory at corner, and we're going to see exactly how tough, how focused, and how intense our corners can be. (For the record, Flowers has a great record of rising to the occasion.)

5. Will Herb continue to play well? The most pleasant surprise of the Chicago game last week was the emergence of Herb Taylor at LT, filling in for the still-injured Brandon Albert. It was pointed out to me tonight that Mike Lombardi agrees. The possibilities behind this are serious. We may actually have legit starting talent in Herb Taylor. What if we have starting talent in Barry Richardson? Dare I dream of the day that the Chiefs actually fastened down the right side of their line with a pair of 6th rounders?

6. Will Darling finally emerge? Among the many reports emanating from River Falls, and the performance we witnessed against the Bears, Devard "DVD" Darling has not generated much excitement from anybody that I can tell outside of Warpaint. Here at AP, we've all lost a degree of faith in him as we continue to be underwhelmed. The good news, really to all of this, is that it's just one preseason game into the league. But DVD's route-running looked sluggish and I never spied a moment, rewatching the game, where he had shaken off his coverage.

7. How many minds will Sippio have blown by the final whistle? After Gretz's enthusiastic defense of reserve WR Bobby Sippio, how can you not pull for this guy? The battle for the 5th receiving spot is still completely up for grabs. (Bowe, Franklin, Darling, and probably Webb are locks.) Price has looked fast and great at running routes. Jabari Arthur and Kevin McMahan got on the board last week. Hell, the Chiefs might elect to fill the 5th spot with either BJ Sams or currently-injured rookie Kevin Robinson, who are returners but teams virtually never keep five receivers + a returning specialist. Can Sippio fend them all off? My brain says Price... my heart says differently.

8. Can Savage or Battle make enough happen to sneak onto the roster? After studying my crystal ball, I suspect that the Chiefs are going to be working the hell out of Savage for the remainder of preseason. He will probably garner more carries than any other RB, as the Chiefs either wonder if he's worth moving the earth to try and fit him in our crowded backfield, or to dangle him as preseason trade bait. Jackie Battle has run strong, but that's why I suspect we've got no room for him. We've already got a guy who can run that strong, maybe you've heard of him. I see Battle and I think practice squad.

9. Which kicker will make the most of his chances? Second verse, same as the first. Neither kicker has been able to reach the endzone on kickoffs, which hasn't been pleasant. Barth has had his game opportunity so far, and nailed a decent 37-yarder. Here's hoping for more chances come this evening. I'm sure the Chiefs have Feeley (and worse yet... Morten Andereson) on speed dial.

10. Who can make a name for himself returning kicks? Nobody has really shown a Justin Phinisee-like presense returning kicks this preseason, which has got to make Kevin Robinson happy. Sams doesn't even appear to want the job. C'mon BJ! Throw caution to the wind! (Phinisee, who looked phenomenal in the 2007 preseason returning kicks for the Chiefs, is a free agent. I'm just saying...)

Since I love lists of ten, let's do that, shall we?

Provide me feedback, let me know if you agree or disagree.

1. First string offense has a lot of promise. Hard to tell if Herb Taylor or the right side was up to the job because Gailey's playcalls didn't trust them at all. Lots of misdirection, lots of bootlegs. Croyle and Thigpen have proven to be effective when mobile. When Huard comes in, the offense reverts to 2007. That's not coincidence, and it leads me to believe that pass protection will still be a problem.

2. All RBs look solid, almost all WRs looked solid, too. Only significant WR I was not impressed with was Darling, who was invisible. But the depth of WRs who made plays yesterday was mindboggling. Sure, Sippio(!!!) won the game, but he had another tough catch-and-run earlier in the game. Franklin looked like the best non-Bowe WR. Webb got waaaaay open a couple times. Maurice Price looks like he's in incredible shape after recovering from a broken collarbone. Even Jabari Arthur and Kevin McMahon looked great.

3. I think Lovie and Herm had a gentleman's agreement to not blitz each other's QB. I don't think I saw a single blitz.

4. LJ is going to LOVE the zone blocking system. The guy gets to crunch linebackers and secondaries way more often, now. LJ finally gets to earn yards the way he likes: initial explosion, crunch some folks at the second level, and take off. Loved that touchdown run.

5. DJ looked good, but all other linebackers failed to play the right gap or play tough. Only DJ made a truly powerful play, and he made several. Pat Thomas just about embarrassed himself at the Mike. I think the Chiefs will be stewing over putting Donnie in the middle of the field and putting DeMorrio and DJ on either side. This team will struggle with depth at LB all year.

6. Our secondary was schooled several times over, but not without promise. Maurice Leggett was beat on two obvious plays (one of them being a TD), but only because he made minor, correctable mistakes. His coverage was otherwise pretty strong. Morgan got beat a couple times as well, but his speed is undeniable. Page needs to wrap up better, still. Flowers and Carr both look like rookies, and I continue to have high hopes.

7. Our DL is in trouble, even if Dorsey returns. We might be okay in the middle when he returns (a rotation of Edwards, Tank, Dorsey, and sometimes Boone could be a LOT of fun, although our scrub DTs -- particularly Lokey and T.J. Jackson -- were slaughtered), but we're going to be hurting on the outside all year. Boone is not fast enough to get around the corner at DE, Hali was shut down on sacks but he didn't play too bad, and no other DE made noise other than Turk and Jason Parker on a couple of chases.

8. Barth was money on his kick, so that's good. But neither kicker could get the ball to the endzone on kickoffs.

9. No major kick returns. Sams didn't even return one. Charles was iffy. Savage was actually the best returner of the night.

10. I think our offense will get into the lower 20s or upper teens, and I think our defense is going to be in the mid to lower 20s. I think our defense has lots of talent, especially in the secondary, but we're going to get killed from having no depth at LB, and no talent other than Hali at DE.

Update: Bob Gretz's post on the morning practice is here.

This really isn't much of an update from the UW-RF site but it's all we've got this morning. Remember a lot of these UDFAs the Kansas City Chiefs signed will be trying to make their name on special teams.

Kickers Nick Novak and Connor Barth were out on Ramer Field early to warm up for the special teams practice. The stadium was quiet and fans waited patiently in the stands for the other players to make their ways to the field. Blocking pads, footballs and Aqualift portable drinking systems were all lined up on the sideline. At 9:49 Novak started kicking field goals from the 27-yard line and Barth stretched out his legs. On the other practice fields the grounds crew touched up the yard lines with white paint.

Players began to trickle onto the field in bigger groups at 10:25. At 10:27, two blows from an air horn signaled that it was time for the team to begin running through line drills and stretching. The line drills were run under the instruction of Strength and Conditioning Coach Cedric Smith on the north end of Ramer Field. The players went down and back 20 yards from the end zone. On the opposite end of the field kickers Nick Novak and Connor Barth, punter Dustin Colquitt and long snapper Jean-Philippe Darche stretched and warmed up on their own.

Linebackers Steve Octavien and Aden Durde jogged onto the field at 10:31. They were followed by a group of seven other players just seconds later. One blow for an air horn at 10:37 started practice.

Let's say the competition between Barth and Novak is pretty much dead even. Do the Chiefs keep Barth for his youth or Novak for his experience? I think I like an experienced guy kicking during crunch time.

CB Jason Horton	DE Jason Parker	S Khayyam Burns	LB E.J. Kuale	K Conner Barth
CB Maurice Leggett	DE Johnny Dingle	S Ron Girault	LB Lerue Rumph
CB Will Poole	DE Jonal Saint-Dic		LB Steve Octavien
	DT Derek Lokey		LB Weston Dacus
	DT Maurice Murray
***	***	***	***	***
G Chris McDuffie	RB Dantrell Savage	FB Mike Cox	T Ken Shackleford	WR Jabari Arthur
G Edwin Harrison	RB Kalvin McRae	FB Steven Jackson		WR Kevin McMahan
G Ian-Yates Cunningham
G L.J. Anderson

 

Above are the current undrafted free agents on the Kansas City Chiefs roster. There may be one or two guys in the waiver wire flux but we can manage for now.

I'm only going to say two of these players make it - FB Mike Cox and K Connor Barth. Cox because he's a former Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket and played under Chan Gailey. Barth, because, well, we don't have many other options at this point. We need to invest in a kicker and that investment will be mainly one of time. Barth seems to have that mental stability that Justin Medlock did not.

So, in my opinion, only two of these guys make it on to the roster. History says that number is about average when it comes to undrafted free agents.