Arrowhead Pride
As they prepare to open their season against the Los Angeles Chargers next Friday, September 5 in Saõ Paulo, Brazil, the Kansas City Chiefs have announced the players who have been signed to their initial practice squad.
In its 2020 Collective Bargaining Agreement with the NFLPA, the league planned a gradual transition from 10 to 16-man practice squads. But once the coronavirus pandemic was underway, the league and the union agreed to immediately expand them — and it’s remained that way ever since. Teams can now sign up to six practice squad players who have an unlimited number of accrued professional seasons.
Teams are now allowed to elevate up to two players to their gameday rosters (up to three times for an individual player in the regular season) without the risk of a waiver claim. Clubs retain the ability to protect up to four players from being signed to other 53-man rosters. The Chiefs have used this ability only sparingly — generally, when there have been multiple injuries in a position group.
Read on to find out more about these players — and why Kansas City can actually have a 17th player on this year’s taxi squad.
After playing college football for Army, Christiansen has been on and off the Chiefs’ active roster and practice squad over the past three seasons. He appeared in nine games for the 2024 Chiefs, playing 141 snaps on special teams. He totaled six tackles this preseason.
Downs signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars in April as an undrafted free agent after four seasons at Oklahoma. He was waived in their final roster cuts. In 51 games with the Sooners, Downs accumulated 12.5 career sacks, along with a pair of forced fumbles and an interception.
A six-year veteran, Edwards has won a Super Bowl playing against the Chiefs (while with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2021) and another one playing with Kansas City as a member of 2023’s Super Bowl LVII squad. After splitting time between the Buffalo Bills and Buccaneers in 2024, he returned to the Chiefs in the offseason, although he did not make Tuesday’s 53-man roster. Edwards has eight career interceptions in 83 regular-season games.
The Chiefs’ first-round selection of the 2020 NFL Draft returns to Kansas City after a short sabbatical with the New Orleans Saints. Edwards-Helaire appeared in 48 Chiefs games over his first four seasons, totaling 2,610 yards from scrimmage and 16 touchdowns. After re-signing with Kansas City as a free agent last year, he did not see the field. He was released in December, finishing the season with the Saints.
Hailing from Lagos, Nigeria, Godrick has been with the Chiefs since 2022 as the team’s International Pathway Program player. The...
