Chiefs waive six, trimming roster to 80 players

The Kansas City Chiefs have decided not to wait until the mandated August 16 deadline to trim their roster to 80 players. Through their official Twitter account, the team has announced they are waiving six players:

With starting guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif — and as of Wednesday, starting running back Damien Williams — on the reserve/exempt list after exercising their options to opt-out of the 2020 season, this brings the team’s roster to 80 players. Under the COVID-19 modifications to the NFL/NFLPA Collective Bargaining Agreement for the 2020 season, that is the maximum number of players who can simultaneously be in the team’s facility during the training camp period.

The initial list came with two small surprises: punter Tyler Newsome and H-back John Lovett.

Special teams coordinator Dave Toub had called the battle between Newsome and undrafted free agent Tommy Townsend a “true punter competition.” That competition is now over; there just isn’t enough room on an 80-man roster for two punters.

We know the Chiefs liked Lovett a lot last year — so much so that we placed him on our initial 53-man roster projection. That was an incorrect prediction, but we still might not have seen the last of him in Kansas City. Keeping in mind Andy Reid’s affinity for a three-tight end package, look for the Chiefs to keep Travis Kelce and two players out of Nick Keizer, Ricky Seals-Jones and Deon Yelder.

Defensive tackle Braxton Hoyett spent the 2019 season on Kansas City’s practice squad.