Gordon on making Chiefs roster: "There's no telling"
Aug. 8—For the first time in nearly 28 weeks, the Chiefs will take the field for competition in their first preseason contest Saturday, but not without some training camp reps under their belts.
The first preseason game of 2022 will give opportunities to players looking to make the final 53-man roster. After the Chiefs finish up their first preseason appearance in Chicago, the team will have to cut five players from their current 90-man roster in order to meet the 85-player roster deadline set for Tuesday, Aug. 16.
One in particular who will try to crack the 53-man roster come Aug. 30 will be veteran wide receiver Josh Gordon. Gordon entered a Chiefs team that had space to take a chance on the up-and-down career that Gordon possessed when he signed with Kansas City last September. Gordon was reinstated by the NFL that same month after not playing for over a year.
"I think I'm just happy to be here. I couldn't ask for a better opportunity," Gordon said. "We got some time left here before the preseason. Maybe we'll see what happens and hopefully I do enough to make the team."
Gordon is in a competitive wide receiver room that includes likely starters Marquez Valdes-Scantling, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Mecole Hardman. Rookie Skyy Moore is expected to be in that mix too for first-team snaps. This means Gordon's chances of making the final cut gets more and more difficult since he hasn't played a significant amount of snaps with the first-team offense in camp.
"There's no telling," Gordon said. "I just want to go out with the opportunities I get and give it 110% percent. I wasn't a starter last year, so I'm fighting for a spot like everybody else."
Gordon finished last season with five catches on 14 targets for a total of 32 yards and a touchdown. Another year in an Andy Reid offensive system could prove beneficial for Gordon in order for him to make a bigger impact in 2022.
Coach Reid weighed in after practice on Gordon's contributions to the Chiefs in this brief time frame and being an experienced veteran.
"The last few days here, he's had really good days," Reid said. "I appreciate his effort. He's kind of the senior citizen of that group. He's the older receiver in that mix and has had success in this league. There's great competition, but for him to be in there doing what he's doing, I appreciate every snap he takes in there."
Jacob Meikel can be reached at jacob.meikel@newspressnow.com.
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