The 2025 Chiefs roster is quickly rounding into form, and though many of the final 53 roster spots are all but set, there are a handful of jobs still to be won. With just one preseason game to go, Brett Veach and his staff are just days away from having to make some very difficult decisions.
One of those decisions is on special teams, where wide receiver Nikko Remigio served as the team's primary kick returner in 2024. The 5'9", 187-pound wideout is also the only holdover from last year's roster that returned a punt last season. Although it seemed almost a foregone conclusion that Remigio would be a lock for this year's squad last spring, things have taken an interesting twist.
The Chiefs' WR room features three surefire starters in Rashee Rice, Xavier Worthy, and Hollywood Brown. Rookie Jalen Royals and veteran JuJu Smith-Schuster also figure to be included in the team's final 53. After that, there are questions. How many wideouts will the team keep?
Nikko Remigio went from a roster lock for the Chiefs roster to something more questionable.
Rashee Rice's pending suspension stemming from his 2024 reckless driving incident further clouds the numbers in this equation, because we now know that the league isn't scheduled to make a decision until after Week 4.
Whereas a Week 1 suspension might have solidified a decision to keep seven wideouts from the season's outset, the Chiefs now have the flexibility to keep only six if they prefer. That allows room to keep four running backs and/or four tight ends, depending on Veach's preference.
Remigio falls into a murky pecking order after the perceived "first five" listed above. Where exactly the Chiefs view the second-year player remains to be seen, but he is currently being mentioned among other names like Skyy Moore, Tyquan Thornton, and Jason Brownlee. For now, he has taken the field on offense after each of them in preseason exhibitions.
Though Remigio hasn't produced much offensively through two preseason games, one might think his special teams acumen would set him apart. And that's where things become even more dicey.
In preseason games at Arizona and at Seattle, the Chiefs have had 48 special teams plays between kickoffs, punts, field goals, and extra points. Remigio has been on the field for exactly one of them.
Remigio doesn't provide a lot of upside offensively, so he will have to prove his worth as a returner. But the Chiefs haven't given him any opportunity to prove himself in any other special teams role other than one kickoff return. Meanwhile, rookie Brashard Smith (in a dogfight of his own for a roster spot in the running back room) has played on about 75 percent of kickoff and kickoff returns.
This begs the question: Are the Chiefs holding onto Remigio because he's a known commodity? Or have they already decided to use Smith as the team's primary returner? Keeping Smith appears to help offensively more than Remigio would, but does the team value the latter's veteran presence on kick and punt returns? For a position that lacked security for a few years, Remigio provided quality ball security in 2024.
It could ultimately boil down to whether the Chiefs feel they can utilize the rookie Smith in the running back room, and if he should supplant Remigio in the return game. There may not be room on the roster for both.