Chiefs protect 4 practice squad players for Week 7

The Kansas City Chiefs have protected four players on the practice squad ahead of their Week 7 game against the Tennessee Titans.

QB Shane Buechele, DE Demone Harris, LB Darius Harris and LB Christian Rozeboom were all protected by Kansas City on Tuesday per the NFL’s official personnel notice. Buechele and Demone Harris are going on three consecutive weeks of practice squad protections for Kansas City. Darius Harris and Rozeboom are both being protected for the first time this season.

This marks the most players protected by the Chiefs in a single week in 2021. Teams are allowed to protect as many as four players on the practice squad each week. Players who are not protected can leave the team to sign to another team’s active roster. Those who are protected for the week are not permitted to sign with other teams.

The decisions to protect the two linebackers suggest that the Chiefs could be without starter Anthony Hitchens for some time. Hitchens suffered an elbow injury during the Week 6 win in Washington. As of Monday, the Chiefs were still awaiting MRI results from his injury.

Hitchens wears the green dot for the Chiefs’ defense and is one of the team’s most indispensable defensive players because of that. Darius Harris has filled in at the middle linebacker position last season, so he’d be a logical player signed to the 53-man roster if Hitchens was to be placed on injured reserve with his elbow injury.

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