Chiefs wrap preseason with win over Packers | KCSN Daily 8.26
Preseason WK 3 recap, Len Dawson tribute, roster cuts/trades and more Chiefs news.
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The Chiefs concluded the 2022 NFL preseason with a 17-10 win over the Green Bay Packers at Arrowhead Stadium. The game began with a touching tribute to the late Len Dawson — with Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes coming into the game for a single snap to lead the team in a “choir huddle.”
The team was charged with a delay of game penalty on No. 16, which of course was Dawson’s jersey number. The Packers declined the penalty out of respect, Mahomes was replaced by Chad Henne, and the match continued.
Henne would lead the team on the first scoring drive of the night, but it was Shane Buechele and Matt Bushman connecting twice on touchdowns that would lead to the Chiefs’ victory.
“It was a good game to get the young guys into,” Chiefs HC Andy Reid said following the game. “I thought they did a nice job of finishing it out. We were able to get the run game going a little bit which we needed to do coming off the last two games. I thought all in all (we) got a good evaluation of young players and stayed relatively healthy and working on the run game a little bit.”
The running game was a big focus on the offensive side of the ball this week after the team had struggled to get it going in each of their first two preseason outings. Both Ronald Jones and Isiah Pacheco averaged over five yards per carry, mostly working behind a backup offensive line. Pacheco set the team’s preseason long-run with a 13-yard carry in the third quarter. The rookie would have recorded an 18-yard carry behind the starting offensive line, but Creed Humphrey was called for holding on the play.
Roster cut deadline looms:
The coaches and front office staff in Kansas City will meet over the weekend and into next week to evaluate the 80 players remaining on the offseason roster. They’ll go through the daily grades they’ve been amassing all offseason long and come up with their initial plan for the 53-man roster. By Tuesday, Aug. 30 at 3:00 p.m. CT, the team will be required to trim the roster from 80 to 53 players. At 11:00 a.m. CT on Wednesday, Aug. 31, the claiming period will have passed and the Chiefs can assemble their 16-man practice squad.
An important note to remember about the 53-man roster as it relates to injuries. If the Chiefs want to be able to designate any injured player to return from injured reserve this season, those players must be on the initial 53-man roster on Tuesday. If they’re placed on injured reserve during 53-man roster cuts, it means they cannot be designated to return from injured reserve. This is something to monitor for Blake Bell, who recently underwent surgery to repair a hip flexor injury.
Transactions:
8/25 - Waived from IR with injury settlement - RB Derrick Gore (more here).
8/26 - Cleared waivers - RB Derrick Gore
Quick hits:
From ESPN: According to ESPN’s Field Yates, the Chiefs amended the contract of WR JuJu Smith-Schuster to increase his per-game roster bonus allocation from $30K to $60K. If Smith-Schuster is on the game-day active roster every week, he’ll earn an extra $510K on the season.
From NFL Network: Insider Ian Rapoport mentioned Chiefs RB Ronald Jones II as a potential trade candidate alongside the likes of QBs Jimmy Garoppolo and Mason Rudolph during a recent segment.
From KC Current: The Chiefs got the day off on Friday and several players took a trip down to the KC Current’s training complex to visit the local NWSL team during their practice. Patrick Mahomes even got some work in on the soccer pitch.
Mecole Hardman said he “Loved it” and Creed Humphrey said he “Had a blast!”
Chiefs vs. Packers Live Postgame Show:
Check out KCSN’s live postgame show recapping everything from the Chiefs vs. Packers preseason finale!
Quotable:
“I felt good. Yeah, you know it was a good night. First of all, I’m glad we got the win to finish preseason out, game three with a win is always big but we know the team did a great job. From start to finish, we didn’t score a lot of points offensively, but our defense played really well. Like I said, just glad we got a win.” - Chiefs QB Shane Buechle on his performance in preseason Week 3
“(It) felt great, felt great, yeah felt great. I should’ve cut back but I was like ‘ahhh, I don’t know.’ I’m going to try to score next time but it was just more of the little you know things like that, but it definitely felt good to have the ball in my hands. You know especially cause back then I used to play receiver in high school, so it felt good to have the ball in my hands again.” - Chiefs rookie S Bryan Cook on his interception vs. Packers
Important dates ahead:
Tuesday, Aug. 30 - Final roster cuts - 80 to 53 players (due 3:00 p.m. CT)
Wednesday, Aug. 31 - Waiver claiming period ends (due 11:00 a.m. CT)
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