Kansas City Chiefs 53-man roster prediction: 2014 NFL roster cuts edition

When the Kansas City Chiefs release their 2014 NFL roster cuts on Saturday , the first 53-man roster will not include Dwayne Bowe and Donald Stephenson. Because of their suspensions, the Chiefs will get a roster exemption, which means they won't count against the active roster. For Bowe, that's Week 1 and for Stephenson that's Week 1-4.

The Chiefs roster sits at 75 players. They will cut down to 53 players by Saturday afternoon. After that, they will create a 10-man practice squad.

This is my first 53-man roster in a few weeks. A lot has changed.

QB (3)

1. Alex Smith

2. Chase Daniel

3. Tyler Bray

Cut: Aaron Murray

I should probably start off with something other than quarterback so the top of this post isn't always, "I don't know." Because I really don't know. It would be a surprise if the Chiefs kept four quarterbacks but it would be a surprise if any of them were cut. The Chiefs can't cut Murray at this point and expose him to waivers. I don't know here.

HB (4)

1. Jamaal Charles

2. Knile Davis

3. De'Anthony Thomas

4. Cyrus Gray

Cut: Joe McKnight, Charcandrick West

Nick Jacobs is a fan of Joe McKnight, who was hurt for a large portion of training camp. I'm going to stick with Cyrus Gray here because the Chiefs have been able to see him practice more. Chiefs special teams coach Dave Toub was recently asked about Gray's importance to the team and he said, "Critical. He's captain of our special teams unit right now. He's played all the key spots for us and he's playing at a high level."

FB (1)

1. Anthony Sherman

Cut: Jordan Campbell

Asked Travis Crittenden, #Chiefs strength/cond coach, who is strongest guy pound for pound on team: Anthony Sherman.

— Jeff Rosen (@jeff_rosen88) August 27, 2014

WR (5)

1. Donnie Avery

2. Junior Hemingway

3. Albert Wilson

4. Frankie Hammond

5. Kyle Williams

Roster exemption: Dwayne Bowe (suspension)

Cut: AJ Jenkins, Mark Harrison, Fred Williams

I said this on 610 Sports on Wednesday but if you watched all of training camp and the Chiefs preseason games without knowing the names on the jersey, AJ Jenkins would be pretty far down the list. He has some guaranteed money in his salary, which is the biggest reason to keep him. And when you're keeping someone because of money ...

Junior Hemingway's injury concerns me. If that's an issue in Week 1, I could see the Chiefs keep another receiver.

TE (3)

1. Anthony Fasano

2. Travis Kelce

3. Demetrius Harris

Cut: Richard Gordon

Pretty straight-forward here.

OL (10)

1. Zach Fulton

2. Rodney Hudson

3. Jeff Allen

4. Eric Fisher

5. Ryan Harris

6. Eric Kush

7. Jeff Linkenbach

8. Mike McGlynn

9. Ricky Henry

10. Laurent Duvernay-Tardif

Roster exemption: Donald Stephenson (suspension)

Cut: J'Marcus Webb

10 offensive linemen is a lot, just so you know. With the line in the shape that it is, the Chiefs are still figuring out their options so I keep 10 knowing that Donald Stephenson will be back in a month. To be honest, my thinking here is "Ehh, screw it, keep 'em all!" If cuts have to be made, 10 offensive linemen is probably where you start.

DE (4)

1. Mike DeVito

2. Allen Bailey

3. Jaye Howard

4. Mike Catapano

Cut: Kona Schwenke

Mike Catapano has been out for almost a month with a mysterious illness. Andy Reid indicated recently they didn't know what was wrong. So that's something to consider here. Jaye Howard has been replacing Mike DeVito, who broke his hand, so he gets on the roster. Vance Walker can fill in here if needed.

NT (2)

1. Dontari Poe

2. Vance Walker

Cut: Kyle Love, Dominique Hamilton

Just not enough roster spots to keep either of these guys, especially when Dontari Poe is going to be playing a million snaps. Keep their phone numbers in case something bad happens during the season.

OLB (5)

1. Justin Houston

2. Tamba Hali

3. Dee Ford

4. Josh Martin

5. Frank Zombo

You keep young pass rushing talent like Josh Martin. I was on the fence about Frank Zombo, but he worked some at inside linebacker last week. Makes me think they're considering him for their options with Joe Mays out an extended period.

ILB (4)

1. Derrick Johnson

2. Nico Johnson

3. Josh Mauga

4. James Michael-Johnson

IR designated to return: Joe Mays

Cut: Alonzo Highsmith

Joe Mays is the Chiefs starting inside linebacker. He's going to miss "at least" six weeks. This is the perfect opportunity to use the IR designated to return. Important note on that, which kind of makes my 53-man roster prediction wrong: The Chiefs can't put a player on IR designated to return until September 2. So they would have to carry Mays' roster spot until then.

CB (5)

1. Marcus Cooper

2. Sean Smith

3. Chris Owens

4. Ron Parker

5. Phillip Gaines

Cut: DeMarcus Van Dyke, Justin Rogers

Nick Jacobs had Van Dyke on the roster but I felt another offensive lineman was more important.

FS (2)

1. Husain Abdullah

2. Malcolm Bronson

Cut: Kelcie McCray

Don't know much about Kelcie McCray but the Chiefs traded for him last week for a reason. Worth watching.

SS (2)

1. Eric Berry

2. Daniel Sorensen

Cut: Jonathon Amaya

Daniel Sorensen has been regularly replacing Eric Berry who has been injured.

Special Teams (3)

1. Cairo Santos

2. Dustin Colquitt

3. Thomas Gafford

Ah, the kicker decision. I have been going with Ryan Succop to this point. But the Chiefs are possibly looking to trade a kicker. If that's the case, Succop seems like a better player to trade considering he has five years of tape for other teams to evaluate.