Kansas City Chiefs' most surprising 53-man roster cuts of the 2025 NFL season have a simple explanation

The Kansas City Chiefs have assembled their initial 53-man roster for the 2025 NFL season, but the process to trim the roster to 53 players didn't come without surprises.

A few of those surprises? The team decided to cut veteran DT Mike Pennel and preseason standout TE Robert Tonyan, which allowed them to keep players like RB Elijah Mitchell and WR Jason Brownlee. For players like Pennel, Tonyan, and even S Mike Edwards, being a vested veteran put them at risk of being released during 53-man roster cuts.

What is a vested veteran? It means they have accrued four or more seasons of NFL service time, and they're not required to pass through the waiver wire system; instead, they become free agents immediately. It also means if they're on the roster for Week 1 of the 2025 NFL season, they'll have a fully guaranteed salary.

As a result, many handshake agreements are made, where a team like the Chiefs releases a vested veteran in a procedural move. Typically, this occurs to secure another player's spot on the initial 53-man roster to later place them on injured reserve. That seems to be the case for at least one of these players, according to a report from Kansas City Star columnist Sam McDowell.

"The Chiefs technically released Robert Tonyan, but he's not subject to waivers, and I'm told the plan is for him to return to the team," McDowell wrote.

I wouldn't be shocked if the Chiefs had something similar going on with Mike Pennel as well. My educated guess is that a pair of rookies — WR Jalen Royals and DT Omarr Norman-Lott — will be placed on injured reserve tomorrow. That will allow them to be designated to return from injured reserve. TE Jake Briningstool and CB Nazeeh Johnson received the two IR-return designations allowed during roster cuts. For other players to receive one of the six remaining IR-return designations, they need to be on the initial 53-man roster.

Both Royals and Norman-Lott were reportedly absent from Tuesday's practice due to injury. Chiefs HC Andy Reid suggested that Royals was the furthest from returning of that group.