Chiefs made three roster moves on Saturday

On Saturday — as the Kansas City Chiefs were completing their final preparations to host the Chicago Bears on Sunday — the NFL’s official transaction report showed that the team had made three roster moves.

The first was to place former New York Giants (and San Francisco 49ers) wide receiver Richie James on the team’s Reserve/Injured (injured reserve) list. On Wednesday, head coach Andy Reid revealed that James was among five Chiefs players who would miss practice that afternoon — and that the 28-year-old was dealing with an MCL (knee) injury that could keep him out for more than just the coming Bears game.

Once a player has been placed on a Reserve/Injured list, they must miss at least four games before they are eligible to return to the active roster. In his analysis of the team’s recent injuries on Friday, our Dakota Watson noted that the wideout’s injury is likely to be a Grade I or Grade II sprain from which James could recover in a matter of weeks — but the Chiefs have given no official word on a timeline for his return.

Kansas City made no corresponding roster move; it is now carrying only 52 players on its active roster — and we currently estimate the team has $6.8 million in cap space.

The Chiefs also elevated two players from its practice squad: linebacker Cole Christiansen and wide receiver Montrell Washington, giving them a total of 54 players from which they can assemble Sunday’s game-day roster. As elevated players, both will automatically be returned to Kansas City’s practice squad on Monday.