The Chiefs have moved on from the quarterback who once kept their season afloat in the most unlikely spot on the depth chart.
Kansas City waived Chris Oladokun on Sunday with an injury designation, a decision that all but shuts the door on his 2026 chances with the team unless he later lands a separate injury settlement. If he clears waivers, he’ll revert straight to injured reserve.
That ends a four-year run in Kansas City that was defined by constant shuffling between the active roster and the practice squad. Oladokun first joined the Chiefs’ practice squad in August 2022 after Pittsburgh drafted him and then cut him as a seventh-round pick. He later re-signed on reserve/futures deals in both 2023 and 2025, and the waivers-and-rejoins cycle had become a familiar part of his time with the franchise.
His biggest moment came last season, when he started the final two regular-season games after both Patrick Mahomes and Gardner Minshew suffered season-ending injuries. That emergency stretch was the high point of his Chiefs tenure.
This offseason, though, Kansas City reshaped the quarterback room. The team traded for veteran Justin Fields to back up Mahomes and used its first quarterback draft pick since 2017 on LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier, who slipped to the seventh round before the Chiefs took him. Nussmeier showed enough in the preseason to claim the third-quarterback job, throwing for 98 yards on 13-of-19 passing against the Rams before later starting against Seattle once Oladokun entered concussion protocol.
Oladokun’s preseason work didn’t strengthen his case. He completed 10 of 17 passes for 78 yards across two appearances and then missed the finale because of the concussion evaluation.
Kansas City also wasted little time in handing out his old number. Nussmeier, who wore No. 14 throughout camp and the preseason, received Oladokun’s No. 19 just one day after the move.
With Mahomes expected to be healthy for Week 1, the Chiefs decided they didn’t need a fourth quarterback on the roster anymore.
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