Report: Chiefs activate defensive end Tim Ward to 53-man roster

The Kansas City Chiefs have activated defensive end Tim Ward to their 53-man roster, according to Eric Edholm of Yahoo! Sports. The Chiefs had an open roster spot after they placed wide receiver Mecole Hardman on their Reserve/COVID-19 list.

Ward, 23, first joined the Chiefs as an undrafted free agent out of Old Dominion in 2019. The 6-foot-6, 255-pound defensive end red-shirted the championship season on the team’s reserve/non-football injury list.

Chiefs general manager Brett Veach was notably high on Ward coming out of college.

“He was a guy that tore his knee, I don’t know that he’ll be ready this year, but he’s going to be a prototypical Steve Spagnuolo defensive end,” he said back in May of 2019. “[Ward is] long, athletic, started playing football late, and everyone kind of went in there to evaluate the (Oshane) Ximines kid who got drafted at Old Dominion, this was a kid that one of our scouts, Mike Davis, had mentioned, ‘Hey, they’ve got this other defensive end and he’s raw as all get-out, started playing football late.’ The late tape at Old Dominion he really started coming on, we had him in here for one of the workouts here. The NFL conducted another combine here that we had and he had come to that. Spent a lot of time with him. You may not see him this year, but we’re going to take our time with his rehab, we’re not going to rush him, and he could be a guy that could really develop and be a player in the future.”

Ward did not make the Chiefs’ initial 53-man roster in 2020 but was quickly added to the team’s practice squad. Ward could help fill the void left by Taco Charlton, who fractured his ankle in the Chiefs’ 33-31 win over the Carolina Panthers and is expected to miss time.