Chiefs 53-Man Roster 2025: One interior defensive line role remains mysterious, but could be solved during or after training camp

The Kansas City Chiefs will soon head to St. Joseph, Missouri, for 2025 training camp. It's the most consequential stretch of the offseason, where the team will truly bond and lay the foundation for the upcoming year as players and coaches work toward Super Bowl LX.

As the grind begins, the decision makers in Kansas City will put the players under the microscope to pare down the team's 90-man offseason roster, selecting 53 players and a 16-man practice squad. What could that 53-man roster look like following roster cuts? We'll look at some of the quirks of the 90-man roster over the next few weeks.

Today, we're looking at defensive tackle and interior defensive line, a position group that still has some questions that need answering.

Do the Chiefs have enough run-stuffing nose tackles on the 90-man offseason roster?

The Chiefs recently released former Cleveland Browns draft pick Siaki Ika from the 90-man offseason roster after he hadn't quite made the progress they'd hoped since joining the system as a practice squad member a season ago. That move left the Chiefs with an interior defensive line featuring the following: 

• Chris Jones
• Mike Pennel
• Omarr Norman-Lott
• Jerry Tillery
• Fabien Lovett
• Marlon Tuipulotu
• Coziah Izzard

You can include guys like Malik Herring, Mike Danna, and Charles Omenihu, but that trio typically plays edge rusher and can reduce down inside on pass-rushing downs. What you'll notice about the group listed above is that Pennel is the biggest of the bunch, weighing in at 330 pounds, followed by Omarr Norman-Lott (315) and Chris Jones (310). The Chiefs lost Derrick Nnadi (317 pounds), their main backup nose guard, in free agency to the New York Jets. They also lost Tershawn Wharton (290 pounds) to the Carolina Panthers.

Right now, the team seems to have a lot of guys who can get after the quarterback from the interior defensive line position. Norman-Lott is widely presumed to replace Wharton, but it feels like they lack a true nose guard outside of Pennel. There's some thought that Lovett could take a step forward in his second season as a professional. Pennel even said the Lovett reminds him a bit of himself as a young player. 

I can't help but wonder if this team won't look to add some more beef to their interior defensive line come training camp or even during 53-man roster cuts. It feels like they've been looking for a long-term solution at nose tackle, knowing that Pennel, at 34 years old, is one of the oldest players on the roster. They drafted Keondre Coburn in 2023, but unfortunately, that didn't work out as they'd hoped. They traded for Neil Farrell Jr. before the 2023 NFL season, which also didn't work. 

Ultimately, I think the Chiefs keep 4-5 interior defensive linemen on the 53-man roster in 2025. Jones, Pennel, and Norman-Lott are the only players I view as locks to make it. As things currently stand, it doesn't feel like they're done adding to this spot. Norman-Lott could contribute more to run-stopping downs than he's currently credited for. However, I'll have to see it with my own eyes at training camp before I can say that definitively.