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The Kansas City Chiefs have announced a number of roster moves ahead of their Week 16 game against the Atlanta Falcons.
First up, starting middle linebacker Anthony Hitchens has not been activated from the reserve/COVID-19 list. Instead, the team used the COVID-19 replacement designation to elevate WR Gehrig Dieter, signaling Hitchens won’t be back this week. This means that we’ll likely see some sort of duo of Ben Niemann and Willie Gay Jr. as the Chiefs’ starters at the linebacker position. In their base personnel, they’ll also likely use Darius Harris. Remember, Damien Wilson was ruled out this week and Dorian O’Daniel is on injured reserve.
To help solve the depth issues at the linebacker spot the team activated an undrafted free agent in Omari Cobb using a standard elevation. At 6-4 and 223 pounds, Cobb can play both the outside linebacker spots. This is the first time that Cobb has been activated to the 53-man roster since joining the practice squad in 2020.
We have activated DB Deandre Baker and LB Omari Cobb from the practice squad via standard elevation.
WR Gehrig Dieter has been activated from the practice squad via COVID replacement.
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) December 26, 2020
For the second consecutive week, the team has chosen to elevate CB DeAndre Baker to the 53-man roster. Last week he played in just five snaps on special teams and didn’t get any opportunities to play defense. Look for Baker to perhaps get some looks on defense if the Chiefs jump out to a lead over the Falcons. This will be the last time that he can be activated using the standard elevation, so the Chiefs need to make it count and do a little evaluating.
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