The Kansas City Chiefs have one last preseason test before the real thing arrives, and Friday night against the Seattle Seahawks is giving a handful of players a final, valuable stage. The result won’t move the needle much. What happens individually absolutely can.
With roster cutdown day just two days away, this is the kind of game where every snap matters. For some players, it’s about locking in a spot. For others, it’s about forcing the team to rethink the depth chart.
Garrett Nussmeier is one of the biggest names to watch. Kansas City surprised plenty of people when it used a seventh-round pick on the LSU quarterback in April, especially since he had once been viewed as one of the top quarterback prospects in the 2026 draft. Instead of going early, he slid all the way to the final round.
The expectation had been that Nussmeier would open the season as the third quarterback. That made sense on paper.
He’s a rookie dealing with recent injuries, and the Chiefs had already traded for Justin Fields with the idea that he would back up Patrick Mahomes. But preseason has a way of changing the conversation, and Nussmeier has looked better through two games than Fields has.
The belief still seems to be that Fields will win the backup job, but Nussmeier has given himself a real shot to stay in the mix. He’s expected to get the bulk of the work against Seattle, which means he’ll have every chance to prove he belongs on the 53-man roster and maybe even push his way up the depth chart.
The Chiefs also have a tight end battle that still hasn’t been settled. Jared Wiley and Jake Briningstool are both fighting for the TE3 role, and neither can afford a quiet night.
Chiefs fans once thought Wiley might be Travis Kelce’s eventual successor after Kansas City drafted him in the fourth round, but that has not come close to happening. He missed his rookie season with an ACL injury and then barely made a dent in his second year, finishing with just two catches for 11 yards.
Briningstool entered the picture with plenty of buzz after joining the Chiefs last summer as an undrafted standout from Clemson, but his rookie year was derailed quickly. He landed on IR after suffering a season-ending injury in training camp.
Now both players are trying to show they deserve the job, because the Chiefs could also decide to bring in another tight end during roster cutdowns and move on from both of them. Friday night is their chance to make that idea less appealing.
Then there’s Kahlil Benson, who has gone from afterthought to one of the summer’s most interesting stories. Kansas City signed him as an undrafted free agent out of Indiana, and at the time, most fans probably didn’t give it much thought.
That hasn’t held up. Benson has been one of the standouts of camp and has done enough to make the roster.
In fact, he may have played his way into a much bigger role than anyone expected. Benson will start at left tackle in the preseason finale, and this game gives him another opportunity to show he can handle himself there.
Ideally, he would be the Chiefs’ right tackle, but with Josh Simmons dealing with a back injury, having another option next to Jaylon Moore would give the team more flexibility. Benson has already done enough to earn a spot.
Now he gets a chance to prove he can be trusted at either tackle spot.
In Other News...
Former Chiefs Fan Favorite Faces New Doubts In Detroit
The Chiefs decision not to bring back Isiah Pacheco closed the book on one of the more popular pieces of their recent offense, and his move to Detroit has already become a reminder of how quickly running back fortunes can change. Pacheco landed with the Lions on a one-year deal, a low-risk chance for a player who once gave Kansas City plenty of juice between the tackles and brought an edge that resonated with fans.
Availability has been the issue, though, as a series of injuries have taken their toll, including an MCL sprain and a recent back injury. Lions coach Dan Campbell has already acknowledged the uncertainty around Pachecos back, leaving Detroit to wait and see how much he can offer as the season approaches. [Read more 🡒]
Chiefs Suddenly Have A Josh Simmons Problem They Cant Ignore
Josh Simmons has already become one of the more important figures on the Chiefs offensive line conversation, and now his status is suddenly under a microscope. The rookie left tackle has missed practice and a recent preseason game because of a back injury, leaving Kansas City to treat him as day-to-day while it waits for more clarity on how much time he might actually miss.
Andy Reid said Simmons will go through further testing to determine whether the issue is long-term, even though the early word is that the injury is not considered significant at the moment. Still, given Simmons injury history and the role he is expected to play moving forward, the Chiefs do not have much choice but to monitor this closely as they try to protect their plans up front. [Read more 🡒]
Chiefs May Need An Early D-Line Fix From An Unexpected Rival
Omarr Norman-Lott was supposed to be part of the defensive line answer in Kansas City after the Chiefs used a second-round pick on him, but the rookie has spent all of training camp and the preseason on the physically unable to perform list as he works back from the ACL injury he suffered in Week 7 last season. For a defense that has long valued depth up front, his absence has created a little more pressure on the rest of the rotation and left the Chiefs watching the market for ways to shore up the interior before he is ready.
One name that has surfaced is a familiar one from a division rival, Bengals defensive tackle Kris Jenkins. Jenkins was also a second-round pick and has not carved out a major role in Cincinnati, which is why he is being mentioned as a possible trade or acquisition target if Kansas City wants another body in the mix. It is the kind of move the Chiefs have not been afraid to explore when the depth chart needs a quick boost, and it speaks to how much Norman-Lott's timeline could shape the early part of their season. [Read more 🡒]