The Kansas City Chiefs have added depth to a thin group of edge rushers.
KC made a trade late Tuesday, acquiring Arizona Cardinals edge rusher Cameron Thomas for a seventh-round pick, according to the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
The 6-foot-4, 267-pound Thomas — selected by the Cardinals with a third-round pick (87th overall) in 2022 — is a former teammate of Chiefs punter Matt Araiza at San Diego State. Both players earned All-America honors at the school in 2021.
In the last two seasons, Thomas has played 32 games for the Cardinals with three starts in 2023. Pro Football Focus has graded him as an above-average player each year in both “pass rush” and “tackling.”
The Arizona Republic’s Theo Mackie reported that Thomas, based on snaps in the preseason, was “quite low on the Cardinals’ depth chart, even with a weak edge rushing room.” Thomas was a draft pick of former Cardinals general manager Steve Keim.
Thomas still had some preseason highlights against the competition he faced. He had three sacks in three August games (tied for third-best in NFL), which included two in Week 2 against Indianapolis. His 86.6 Pro Football Focus grade in that contest was the 11th-highest out of 189 NFL edge rushers playing that week.
The addition fills a position that’s long been a depth concern for the Chiefs.
KC has George Karlaftis and Mike Danna as reliable edge players, while hoping 2023 first-round pick Felix Anudike-Uzomah can produce more in his second season. Malik Herring is also back, and the Chiefs will get some reinforcement late in the season when Charles Omenihu returns from a knee injury suffered in last year’s playoffs.
NFL teams typically need another rotation piece there, however, and 2023 undrafted free agent Truman Jones seemed like the next player in line before Monday’s trade. Jones has no NFL snaps after spending last season on the team’s practice squad.
Before the trade, KC was slated to have two 2025 seventh-round draft picks while also projected to add up to two seventh-round compensatory picks after losing numerous free agents this offseason.
Like all NFL teams, the Chiefs must shorten their roster to 53 players by Tuesday’s 3 p.m. Central deadline. They began trimming the roster with a series of cuts Monday.
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Publish date : 2024-08-27 01:55:00
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