The Kansas City Chiefs have made their first move towards whittling down all the players in the fold to a 90-man roster. With the additions of new players this offseason, Andy Reid and Co. have bid farewell to running back ShunDerrick Powell.

Powell is yet to get a chance to feature in the practice or active roster. He entered the league in 2025 as an undrafted free agent signed by the Philadelphia Eagles, but was cut from there, too. Kansas City picked him in January this year, signing him on a reserve/futures contract. Powell could have hoped for a spot on the roster since the team was planning to get reinforcements for the rushing attack. Sadly, he will not get that opportunity.

ShunDerrick Powell still has enough talent to land at another team. In his breakout 2021 season in college, he ran for 1,508 yards with 18 touchdowns, earning second-team FCS All-American honors. He ran for more than 200 yards four times that season. Powell also crossed the 1000-yard mark in his next two seasons and featured among the top ten in the country at the FCS level.

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It was tough for Powell to continue in the RB room after the Chiefs hauled in their picks from the 2026 draft. Nebraska Cornhuskers star Emmett Johnson was picked in the fifth round, and Oklahoma Sooners RB Jayden Ott was signed as an undrafted free agent. They both join as backups to the presumed starter and Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker, who was traded from the Seattle Seahawks. Then, there was also Emari Demarcado.

Improving the RB room was key for Kansas City, since they had among the worst rushing offenses in the league last year. But with the new roster moves, this unit looks like a solid threat on wheels.

Chiefs Re-calibrate Running Back Room 

The Chiefs’ rushing unit ranked 25th in the league, averaging just 106.6 rushing yards per game. Kareem Hunt ended up as their leading rusher, finishing with just 611 yards for the season. Hunt and Isiah Pacheco had been steady in the past, but 2025 was a bad year for both of them. Pacheco is now with the Detroit Lions, and Hunt is yet to be signed back by Kansas City, as his one-year contract has run through. That left the Chiefs to go big on finding their replacements.

Walker had been a revelation this past season. He rushed for more than 1,000 yards for the second time in his career after slipping to the 500-yard range in 2024. Kansas City is also paying him $43 million for three years, meaning they expect him to lead the charge in a now-revamped RB room.

Kansas City also got former Arizona Cardinals RB Emari Demarcado, who is the most experienced in the depth chart as of now. But the Chiefs also have an electric RB in Brashard Smith, who is in his second year. Rookie Emmett Johnson can also easily become RB2 in this offense, after reaching a total of 1,425 rushing yards last year at Nebraska. The backup reps should be amply rotated between these three.

With five RBs already in the mix, the Chiefs thought it better to cut ShunDerrick Powell ahead of the season.