Arrowhead Pride
This week, the Kansas City Chiefs released their initial 53-man roster and assembled the first edition of their practice squad.
As almost always happens, the Chiefs made a few surprising moves. However, it’s essential to note that as its needs change over the coming weeks, the team’s composition will continue to evolve.
Here are five things we learned from the first iteration of Kansas City’s 2025 roster.
After their final preseason game, I expected the Chiefs to keep seven wide receivers — which I thought was a high number. But Kansas City opted to keep eight wide receivers on its initial roster.
As soon as we learned that wide receiver Rashee Rice and the league had agreed on a six-game suspension for Rice’s role in a high-speed auto accident in March of 2024, this made sense. On Thursday, general manager Brett Veach acknowledged that before the cutdown, the team had been made aware that Rice’s suspension was imminent.
If that was the only problem the Chiefs were preparing to meet, seven wide receivers would have made sense. But they still kept eight.
This tells me that while they are hopeful rookie wide receiver Jalen Royals will be available to start the season against the Los Angeles Chargers next Friday in São Paulo, they have prepared for life without him if his knee tendonitis lingers longer than expected.
Last season, Pennel was Kansas City’s best run defender — so much so that the Chiefs chose to allow defensive tackle Derrick Nnadi to walk in free agency. But on Sunday, Kansas City brought Nnadi back through a trade with the Jets. Most assumed he would be a depth player behind Pennel.
So when the team released Pennel on Tuesday — and then didn’t add him to the practice squad — many observers were scratching their heads.
Throughout the offseason, the Chiefs had acted like the 34-year-old defensive tackle was in the plans for this season — and then in the 11th hour, they suddenly changed course.
Asked about it on Thursday, Veach said the team was trying to get younger on the defensive line — and then praised Pennel for his play in limited games last season.
It’s not hard to decipher the GM’s comments. Kansas City appears to be concerned about Pennel’s ability to play a full 17-game season — potentially followed, of course, by a three or four-game postseason. So this might not be the last we’ll see of the Topeka native — but we might have to wait a couple of months before we see him in a Chiefs uniform again.
If this is the end of the road for Pennel, he will forever have a place in the hearts of Chiefs’ fans. He has played a significant role in Kansas City’s title runs.
