The NFL’s transaction wire always gets busy after Week 1, and a few former Chiefs have already been caught up in the churn.
Some are landing jobs. Some are taking auditions.
Some are getting squeezed out again. For Kansas City fans, it’s a familiar mix of names moving through the league as teams patch holes and sort out the back end of their rosters.
Marquez Valdes-Scantling is one of the latest to find a new spot. The veteran wide receiver signed with the L.A.
Chargers this week, giving them another option at receiver after their surprising loss to Arizona in Week 1. The move comes as the Chargers try to cover for injuries to KeAndre Lambert-Smith and Ladd McConkey.
Since the Chiefs released him after the ’23 season, MVS has now signed with seven different franchises.
JuJu Smith-Schuster is still looking for his next stop. The Giants brought him in before training camp, but the veteran-heavy receiver room became crowded fast, and he was cut at the end of camp.
There’s still a chance he stays in the New York area, though, if the Jets decide to make room. Smith-Schuster worked out with Sterling Shepard and others on Tuesday as teams shifted their attention to Week 2.
After Week 1, veteran deals are no sure thing, so his next opportunity could come soon.
Ihmir Smith-Marsette’s path has taken plenty of turns, too. Chiefs fans remember him from that buzz-filled training camp in St.
Joseph three years ago, when he became a fan favorite and drew interest from other teams. Brett Veach later sent him to the Panthers in a preseason trade that gave him a clearer path as a receiver and returner.
He played all 17 games and brought back a 79-yard punt return for a touchdown. In 2024, he handled return duties for the Giants and even scored on a 100-yard kickoff return.
He sat out all of last season before joining the Cardinals this offseason, but on Tuesday Arizona terminated his contract.
Cole Brevard is another familiar name from more recent Chiefs business. He was on the offseason roster just a few weeks ago, and now he’s already on the move again after a tryout with the Raiders on Tuesday.
The Bills also gave him a look after Kansas City released him from the practice squad only days earlier. His exit came when defensive tackle Marcus Harris was brought back into the fold, sending Brevard back into the search for work.
Given the interest he’s drawing, the former Purdue/Texas product should have chances to catch on elsewhere.
Darius Rush, meanwhile, is still floating around the league as well. He’s a name only the more devoted Chiefs followers will likely remember, but he actually had two separate runs with Kansas City.
The Chiefs first claimed him off waivers from the Colts, who moved on from their fifth-round corner just four months after drafting him. The Steelers later signed him off the Chiefs’ practice squad, then Rush returned to Kansas City a year later after Pittsburgh cut him in 2024.
Earlier this week, he tried out for the Washington Commanders.
In Other News...
Travis Kelce Shared A Tom Cruise Detail Chiefs Fans Will Love
Fresh off the Chiefs win over the Broncos, Jason and Travis Kelce stayed close to home for a recent New Heights episode recorded in Kansas City, and the conversation quickly drifted into the kind of off-field details that keep their podcast such a draw. One of the more eye-catching moments from the game itself was Tom Cruise showing up in Travis Kelces suite, a scene that already had Chiefs fans buzzing before the podcast even went up.
Now Cruise is set to return as a guest on a special episode, giving the whole moment a little extra star power for Kansas City followers who have gotten used to the Chiefs being part of a much bigger pop-culture orbit. Travis also added a lighter family note, saying his nieces first called Taylor Swift by her full name before being told to use Aunt Tay Tay, another small reminder of how much the Kelce family story keeps spilling beyond the football field. [Read more 🡒]
Chiefs Are Suddenly Tied To A Steelers Trade Rumor Worth Watching
The early-season noise around Joey Porter Jr. has started to spill beyond Pittsburgh, where the Steelers have not been able to get a contract extension done with the young cornerback and he was inactive in Week 1 because of a back injury. For a Chiefs team that is always alert for help on the back end, any credible cornerback chatter tends to get attention quickly, especially when the player in question is already viewed as a potential long-term piece.
Kansas City is reportedly among the teams monitoring Porters situation, along with Detroit, but the whole thing remains firmly in rumor territory for now. Still, when a player of his profile becomes the subject of trade speculation this early, it is the kind of development front offices keep on the radar, even if nothing is close to concrete yet. [Read more 🡒]
Travis Kelce Is Suddenly Tied To A Strange Off-Field Legal Case
A federal case in Missouri that started as a sprawling Ponzi scheme has now put Travis Kelces name into the mix. Sid Jawahar was sentenced to 11 years in prison after admitting to federal wire fraud charges tied to a multi-million dollar fraud, and court records identified the Chiefs tight end as one of the victims, even though the details of Kelces involvement were not disclosed.
For Kansas City, the football side of Kelces story still dwarfs everything else, but the off-field wrinkle is hard to ignore because of who it involves and how unusual it is. Jawahar is expected to be deported after serving his sentence, while the unresolved piece for Chiefs fans is simply how Kelce ended up caught in the scheme and what, if anything, that means beyond being named in the case. [Read more 🡒]