{"id":1003608,"date":"2026-09-17T22:12:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T22:12:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1003608\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T22:12:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T22:12:22","slug":"kansas-city-chiefs-host-several-linebackers-for-tryouts-after-cooper-mcdonald-lands-on-injured-reserve-with-a-knee-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1003608\/","title":{"rendered":"Kansas City Chiefs host several linebackers for tryouts after Cooper McDonald lands on injured reserve with a knee injury"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\tHome<\/a><\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNFL<\/a><\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tKansas City Chiefs<\/a><\/p>\n

The Kansas City Chiefs are looking into upgrading their linebacker depth after a starter recently landed on injured reserve and is slated to miss at least four weeks.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOct 20, 2024; London, United Kingdom; New England Patriots safety Marte Mapu (15) against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the second half of an NFL International Series game at Wembley Stadium.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tKirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The Kansas City Chiefs are clearly looking to reinforce their linebacker depth after second-year linebacker Cooper McDonald landed on injured reserve<\/a> with a knee injury. On Thursday, Sept. 17, the Chiefs held tryouts for four linebackers<\/a>. So far, none of those players have been signed to the 53-man roster or the practice squad.<\/p>\n

With Nick Bolton, Drue Tranquill, Jeffrey Bassa, and Jack Cochrane as the only linebackers on the roster, Kansas City is clearly looking for depth solutions and players to add to their call list. The Chiefs hosted linebackers Marte Mapu, Dominic DeLuca, Langston Patterson, and TJ Quinn for tryouts on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Marte Mapu is the name worth chasing<\/p>\n

Mapu is the former 76th overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots. The third-rounder is 26 years old and has three career interceptions as a safety-linebacker hybrid. He has traits that fit Steve Spagnuolo\u2019s disguise-heavy defensive scheme, and he brings plenty of special teams experience for Dave Toub\u2019s unit. The 6-foot-3, 230-pound defender is the only player in this group with a real NFL resume. He spent this offseason with the Houston Texans, but was placed on injured reserve before roster cuts. They released him from IR with an injury settlement.<\/p>\n

The other three players are newcomers to the league. They haven\u2019t played meaningful snaps outside of the preseason. DeLuca is a 2026 undrafted free agent out of Penn State who caught on this offseason with the Baltimore Ravens but didn\u2019t make the 53-man roster. He\u2019s listed at 6-foot-1 and 228 pounds.<\/p>\n

Patterson went undrafted out of Vanderbilt and signed with the Dallas Cowboys as an undrafted free agent. He also did not make the 53-man roster and was waived during roster cuts. He\u2019s listed at a hair over 6 feet and 229 pounds.<\/p>\n

Quinn, another undrafted free agent out of Louisville, signed with the Green Bay Packers after the 2026 NFL Draft. He was also released in final roster cuts. He\u2019s another player slightly over 6 feet and 225 pounds.<\/p>\n

Cole Christiansen expected to be elevated for Week 2<\/p>\n

Right now, the Chiefs have Cole Christiansen and Cam Jones on the practice squad. Christiansen is expected to be elevated to the 53-man roster for Week 2\u2019s game against the Indianapolis Colts. He will help offset McDonald\u2019s absence in the meantime.<\/p>\n

The key thing to remember about practice squad elevations is that players can be elevated to the 53-man roster only three times before they\u2019re ineligible for standard elevations and must be signed outright to play. It\u2019s entirely possible that one of these tryout players will sign with the team when one of their linebackers exhausts their practice squad elevations.<\/p>\n

McDonald will be reevaluated after four weeks<\/a>. He has to spend at least four weeks on injured reserve before he can be designated to return. He\u2019s expected to return at some point this season, but it\u2019s unclear whether that will be sooner or later.<\/p>\n

\"Play<\/a><\/p>\n

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Kansas City Chiefs News<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tKansas City Chiefs\u2019 Thursday injury report for Week 2 vs. Indianapolis Colts puts Mansoor Delane on track to play Sunday night\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

The Kansas City Chiefs released their second injury report for Week 2 against the Indianapolis Colts. It\u2019s more good news for rookie CB Mansoor Delane.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Home \/ NFL \/ Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are looking into upgrading their linebacker depth…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1003609,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2063],"tags":[265,45017,346,43620,12344,7,118,110,2438,2437,6307,6,2890],"class_list":["post-1003608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-kansas-city-chiefs","tag-american-football","tag-cam-jones","tag-chiefs","tag-cole-christiansen","tag-cooper-mcdonald","tag-football","tag-kansas-city","tag-kansas-city-chiefs","tag-kansascity","tag-kansascitychiefs","tag-marte-mapu","tag-nfl","tag-steve-spagnuolo"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117288681598021711","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1003608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1003608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1003608\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1003609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1003608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1003608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1003608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}