The Kansas City Chiefs will officially begin training camp on July 21, and the major topic of conversation from that point on will be roster cuts.
Along with the looming 53-man cutdown, this is the time of the year when fans gravitate toward training camp darlings and promising rookies, and one undrafted prospect has already caught the eye of the Chiefs community this spring.
Former University of Pittsburgh linebacker Brandon George was a fast riser throughout OTAs and minicamp. Still, he could be hard-pressed to make the Week 1 roster, according to Chiefs Digest beat reporter Matt Derrick on the July 13 edition of the “41 is the Mic” podcast.
“My only real concern with George is a minor financial concern,” Derrick noted, while discussing whether he’ll be able to claim the fifth linebacker role behind Nick Bolton, Drue Tranquill, Leo Chenal, and draft pick Jeffrey Bassa.
“This year, [veteran linebacker] Jack Cochrane’s got a [$2.088], almost $2.1 million cap hit, and $1.2 million of it is dead money,” the KC beat writer explained. “So, if you walk away from Jack Cochrane, you’re basically setting another $800,000 on fire.”
Derrick is referencing Cochrane’s $800,000 guaranteed salary. Coupled with the $400,000 prorated signing bonus that the Chiefs already paid the core special teamer and reserve linebacker, that’s $1.2 million worth of cap space that Kansas City will have wasted on a veteran cut if they part ways with Cochrane.
“That’s not a ton of money,” Derrick acknowledged. “[But] it is a ton of money when you’re the Chiefs and you only have [so much] cap space.”
KC did free up approximately $10 million when they extended Trey Smith, but the front office may still have other moves they want to make. And at the end of the day, every million counts.
Can Chiefs Sneak UDFA LB Brandon George Onto the Practice Squad After Roster Cuts?
The other question Derrick pondered on “41 is the Mic” was whether or not George would pass through waivers. The Chiefs lost a promising UDFA linebacker last year when the New England Patriots claimed Curtis Jacobs off waivers at the cutdown.
The same could easily happen with George, especially with opposing teams coming to know that the Chiefs have a knack for finding and developing UDFA linebackers.
With that being said, Derrick concluded that he’s “cautiously optimistic” that Kansas City could sneak George onto the practice squad to start the 2025 season, predicting that Cochrane would win the final roster spot due to his special teams impact and his cap hit.
Linebacker Is Once Again Shaping Up to Be a Competitive Roster Battle at Chiefs Training Camp
At the start of the offseason, it almost looked like the Chiefs would need to add a linebacker or two, with a couple of players potentially hitting the open market.
That changed very quickly when KC locked up Bolton and brought back Cochrane and practice squad veteran Cole Christiansen. Then, later in the spring, the Chiefs also drafted Bassa and signed UDFAs George and Cooper McDonald.
When you consider that Chenal, Tranquill, and former UDFA success story Cam Jones are all still on the 90-man roster, too, it becomes pretty clear that the Chiefs are absolutely loaded at linebacker heading into training camp once again.
Jones will be another special teamer that’s in the mix for that fifth or sixth linebacker role, if there is one, but Derrick and colleague Nick Jacobs (KSHB 41) seemed to have George above Jones already.
Jacobs even predicted that George would make the 53-man roster over Cochrane based on what he’s seen so far at OTAs and minicamp. Noting that he’s “a lot like” Chenal and could be groomed to eventually replace the 2026 free agent.
