As the inactives lists are made public before today’s games, Chiefs fans can get an idea of which younger players are performing well in practice, thus earning some playing time. The inactives are the players on the 53-man active roster who are not a part of the 45 active roster on game day.
The full list for the Chiefs includes:
WR Jonathan Baldwin
QB Ricky Stanzi
S Kendall Langford
OL Steve Maneri
WR Keary Colbert
DE Brandon Bair
DT Jerrell Powe
The surprises here are many, for me at least. It’s surprising to see Stanzi completely left off of the list assuming that Matt Cassel’s ribs are still a bit tender. If the Chiefs are in a position of blowing out the opponent or being blown out (the former being the most hoped for, obviously), it’d be nice to see Stanzi in some mop-up duty versus Tyler Palko, the Chiefs No. 2 quarterback.
In addition, it’d be nice to add Powe to the defensive line rotation in the hopes of developing him further with actual game play. Certainly the Chiefs could still use some help there alongside Kelly Gregg. Perhaps that will come later in the season for Powe after more conditioning and practice time to learn the playbook.
Of course, Jon Baldwin is still out and he was the one member of the team who everyone knew would not play. Still it’s tough to see such an dynamic playmaker not on the field for the Chiefs. Hopefully the thumb heals quickly to allow him to play in the next week or two.