THE Kansas City Chiefs have have been forced to make a flurry of major roster decisions after suffering a wave of training camp injuries.
Coach Andy Reid’s Chiefs hosted seven players on tryouts over the past two days amid the injury trouble.
Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid[/caption]
Jawaan Taylor, Hollywood Brown, Xavier Worthy, Skyy Moore, Jake Briningstool, Jeffrey Bassa, Kristian Fulton, Darius Rush, Eric Scott, and Deon Bush were among those missing from practice on Wednesday.
Most did return by Friday but Rush – who has a hamstring injury – and Scott Jr – due to his bad knee – were both waived with an injury designation.
The Chiefs have to make the proper cuts in order to slowly work their way to a 53-man roster.
So they waived rookie punter Eddie Czaplicki, per the NFL personnel notice.
In a corresponding move, the Chiefs signed wide receiver Kwamie Lassiter.
Due to the decision, the Chiefs has essentially handed Matt Araiza the team’s starting punter job.
Kansas City had signed Czaplicki as an undrafted free agent back in April, intending to give him a chance to win the role over Araiza.
Special teams coordinator Dave Toub recently shared that he hoped for the competition to continue into the preseason, but the team would have to continue to stay relatively healthy for that to happen.
Numerous injuries occurred on Tuesday, which led to the USC product Czaplicki being waived.
The Chiefs signed Araiza last offseason after he was cleared of an off-the-field sexual allegation.
The San Diego State product was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the sixth round of the 2022 NFL Draft.
But Araiza’s allegation led to his ultimate Bills release in that year.
The 2024 campaign was essentially Araiza’s rookie season.
He started and was the replacement of two-time Super Bowl winner Tommy Townsend.
Araiza averaged 41.5 net yards per punt, which was 10th in the league, and posted an impressive 40.3 percent of his punts within the opponent’s 20-yard line.
He also finished tied for the most touchbacks given up with nine.
During Super Bowl 59, Araiza set a record for the most yards per punt average with 51.8 on six attempts.
The 25-year-old would, of course, punt plenty during the Chiefs’ devastating 40-22 big game loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Kansas City will look to bounce back as they will attempt to win their Super Bowl title in four seasons in the upcoming season.
But first, they’ll face the Arizona Cardinals in their first preseason game on August 9.
NFL WEEK 1 SCHEDULE
(All times ET)
Thur 4 Sept
8.20 pm – Dallas Cowboys at Philadelphia Eagles
Fri 5 Sept
8pm – Kansas City Chiefs at Los Angeles Chargers
Sun 7 Sept
1pm – Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Atlanta Falcons
1pm – Cincinnati Bengals at Cleveland Browns
1pm – Miami Dolphins at Indianapolis Colts
1pm – Las Vegas Raiders at New England Patriots
1pm – Arizona Cardinals at New Orleans Saints
1pm – Pittsburgh Steelers at New York Jets
1pm – New York Giants at Washington Commanders
1pm – Carolina Panthers at Jacksonville Jaguars
4.05 pm – Tennessee Titans at Denver Broncos
4.05 pm – San Francisco 49ers at Seattle Seahawks
4.25 pm – Detroit Lions at Green Bay Packers
4.25 pm – Houston Texans at Los Angeles Rams
8.20 pm – Baltimore Ravens at Buffalo Bills
Mon 8 Sept
8.15 pm – Minnesota Vikings at Chicago Bears
