Chiefs release 4 players ahead of Tuesday roster deadline

As Monday morning’s training camp practice was getting underway at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, the Kansas City Chiefs announced five roster moves: the signing of defensive tackle Danny Shelton and the waiver of four others: wide receivers Omar Bayless and Gary Jennings, tackle Evin Ksiezarczyk and cornerback Lonnie Johnson Jr.

Shelton’s signing was reported last week, but should now be considered official. He was on the field for Monday’s practice.

Jennings was waived with an injury designation. Should he clear waivers, Kansas City would have the option to place him on its Reserve/Injured list.

The Chiefs have until 3 p.m. Arrowhead Time on Tuesday to get their roster down to 85 players. With these moves, the team’s roster stands at 87 — so we should expect at least two more roster moves before then. The team will have to trim its roster to 80 players by the following Tuesday afternoon — and to 53 players by Tuesday afternoon, August 30.

The most interesting move is the waiver of Johnson, whom the team acquired by trading a conditional 2024 seventh-round pick to the Houston Texans following the NFL Draft. With Johnson’s waiver, that pick will now come back to the Chiefs. As Arrowhead Pride’s Pete Sweeney noted on Twitter, the move clearly shows the team is leaning into youth in its secondary.

On the final year of his rookie contract, Johnson brought a cap hit of $1.2 million to the Chiefs. So that money — minus the team’s 52nd-highest salary, which is currently $895,000 — gives Kansas City an additional $311,000 in cap space.

When Shelton was signed, we estimated that his contract would reduce the team’s cap space by no more than $225,000. So we now calculate that the Chiefs have between $6.0 million and $6.2 million in cap space — likely $6.1 million.