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KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Time to come clean. I recently made my final projections for the Kansas City Chiefs' regular season roster and I had 50 of the 53 right First, the good news. I sniffed out the release of Eric Kush, who began training camp as the starting center. Kush’s fall was precipitous and since he plays only one position, it wasn’t much of a gamble to think the Chiefs would release him. The Chiefs prefer their reserve offensive linemen to be able to play more than one spot. But I had the Chiefs keeping wide receiver Fred Williams, defensive end Mike Catapano and safety Kelcie McCray. I’ll take partial credit for McCray since it took a trade to Seattle to pry him away from the other two. No such partial credit for the other two. I suspected the Chiefs would keep seven wide receivers, including Williams, because they ended preseason with injuries to three receivers. Obviously the Chiefs are expecting Albert Wilson, De'Anthony Thomas and Jason Avant back sooner rather than later. At no point did I think the Chiefs would keep Williams instead of Frankie Hammond Jr., their last wide receiver. The Chiefs like Hammond’s ability on special teams. As for Catapano, there were signs the Chiefs were thrilled with him. Catapano struggled in an early preseason game when he played against the opponent’s starters. He was a standout against the opponent’s backups. Andy Reid pointed out this fact afterward. Defensive linemen Dontari Poe and Rakeem Nunez-Roches and linebacker D.J. Alexander were the players I didn’t expect to be on the roster. Poe had surgery in July to remove a herniated disk from his back. He hasn’t practiced or played since. I expected he would need a little more time and start the season on an injured list. I was wrong. Alexander and Nunez-Roches are rookies. I should have known the Chiefs wouldn’t give up so quickly on their draft picks. They kept eight of the nine, releasing only seventh-round wide receiver Da'Ron Brown.
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