Ethan Hurkett arrived in Kansas City as a deep long shot, but one week before roster cuts he has done enough to complicate what once looked like one of the Chiefs’ simpler decisions.
That was hardly the script when Hurkett first joined the team. He came in as one of 20 rookie free-agent signings after the draft, a weekend in which all 32 teams passed on the former Iowa pass rusher in all seven rounds.
Even after landing with the Chiefs, his first stop in camp ended quickly: he showed up to rookie minicamp with 103 other players, then was released. Kansas City had been impressed by three tryout players from its group of 70, and Hurkett was among the names moved out to create space for offensive tackle Kahlil Benson and others.
He stayed on the outside looking in for months, sitting through OTAs, mandatory minicamp and the start of training camp without a roster spot. His path back opened only after second-year defensive end Ethan Downs suffered a season-ending ACL tear.
No one is pretending Hurkett has suddenly become a lock. He’s still an August addition, and August additions usually don’t stick. But he has shown enough in a short burst to make himself harder to dismiss than expected.
The Chiefs also have not treated him like an afterthought. When the team made room for veteran linebacker Cam Jones to reunite with Dave Toub a week ago, Anthony Dunn was the defensive end who got cut, not Hurkett. That alone suggested Hurkett was already ahead of someone in the pecking order.
And then came the preseason tape.
Against the L.A. Rams, Hurkett logged 30 percent of the defensive snaps just days after arriving in St.
Joseph for camp. He followed that up Saturday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers by playing 55 percent of the snaps, giving the Chiefs plenty more film to evaluate.
On those reps, he flashed steady pressure, kept working through the whistle and brought the kind of nonstop effort that stands out even when the stat sheet stays quiet.
He was never billed as a freak athlete, though his 1.84-second 10-yard split shows real burst. He also wasn’t coming in with eye-popping production, but he did rank No. 7 in the Big Ten in sacks with 8 last year. For Kansas City, the point has been less about résumé and more about what he looks like in the building, and the answer so far is a player whose floor feels sturdier than anyone expected.
The roster math still works against him. The Chiefs have multiple players ahead of Hurkett in the race for the 53-man roster.
But for someone who didn’t even join camp until a week after it started, he has put himself in the conversation for a practice squad spot. If that doesn’t happen, he has at least built enough preseason film to make another team take a look.
In Other News...
Chiefs Roster Shuffle Already Sent One Defender To A New AFC Team
The Chiefs linebacker depth took another turn this week when the club released Anthony Dunn, a defensive end-linebacker who quickly landed with the New York Jets. Kansas City needed the roster space to make room for Cam Jones, with injuries already thinning the linebacking corps and forcing another adjustment as the team tries to stabilize that part of the defense.
Dunns move gives the Jets a fresh look at a player who was pushed out of a crowded Chiefs roster situation rather than a lack of interest elsewhere. New York brought him in to replace Nate Voorhis with one week left before active roster cuts, a reminder of how quickly the bottom of the roster can change as teams across the league sort through injuries, depth concerns and the final evaluation window. [Read more 🡒]
Chiefs Changed The NFL Spotlight In A Way That Raises Questions
Taylor Swifts presence at Chiefs games has done more than add another star to the suites. It has pushed Kansas City and the NFL into a brighter, broader spotlight, drawing more media attention and clearly widening the leagues reach with younger and more casual viewers. For a franchise that already sits at the center of the sports modern conversation, the added attention has become part of the weekly routine.
The bigger question is what the league does with it now. The commercial pull of the Swift effect is obvious, but so is the risk of the conversation drifting away from the players and the game itself. League observers see a chance to turn temporary curiosity into longer-term football interest, even as they acknowledge the bump may not last forever. [Read more 🡒]
Chiefs Fans Will Love Disneys Pick For Kansas City
Disney has rolled out a new apparel collection that blends its characters with all 32 NFL teams, giving each franchise a themed match-up for fans to sort through. The lineup includes the Browns with Pluto, the Raiders with Darth Vader, the Broncos with Maximus and the Chargers with Hercules and Pegasus, while Kansas City landed one of the more playful pairings in the set.
For Chiefs fans, the choice stands out for a reason, and it fits right into the kind of offbeat cross-promotional moment that tends to travel fast on social media. With official announcements confirming the collection is available, the response in Kansas City is likely to be less about the merchandise itself than about the character Disney chose to associate with the team. [Read more 🡒]