The Kansas City Chiefs have released their final “unofficial” depth chart ahead of Week 18’s tilt with the Las Vegas Raiders to wrap up the 2025 NFL season.

This depth chart looks a whole lot different than the first regular-season depth chart release ahead of the Chiefs’ Week 1 game against the Los Angeles Chargers in São Paulo, Brazil. It really emphasizes just how beat up this team was down the stretch, with seven players initially listed as starters across offense, defense, and special teams now on injured reserve. Not all of these changes, but some of them could be a sign of things to come in the 2026 NFL season, with over 25 players slated for some form of free agency. Brett Veach will need to get creative to keep some guys around, find new contributors, and retool the roster for the upcoming year.

Generally speaking, these depth charts do give you a good idea of where a player stands in the pecking order heading into a given game week. This week might end up the exception, as there are expectations that younger players will get opportunities at Allegiant Stadium.

Chiefs’ offensive depth chart for Week 18 vs. Raiders

WR	JuJu Smith-Schuster	Jalen Royals
WR	Xavier Worthy	Hollywood Brown
WR	Hollywood Brown	Jalen Royals
LT	Esa Pole	Jaylon Moore	Chu Godrick
LG	Kingsley Suamataia	Mike Caliendo	C.J. Hanson
C	Creed Humphrey	Hunter Nourzad	Mike Caliendo
RG	Trey Smith	C.J. Hanson	Hunter Nourzad
RT	Jaylon Moore	Chu Godrick
TE	Travis Kelce	Noah Gray	Robert Tonyan	Jared Wiley
QB	Chris Oladokun	Shane Buechele
RB	Isiah Pacheco	Kareem Hunt	Brashard Smith	Dameon Pierce

After Creed Humphrey starts the Week 18 game to continue his consecutive start streak, I could see the Chiefs swapping him out for Hunter Nourzad with C.J. Hanson filling in for an injured Trey Smith at right guard. Not exactly the ideal offensive line combination for winning a game, but good experience for young players.

Chiefs’ defensive depth chart for Week 18 vs. Raiders

DE	Mike Danna	Ashton Gillotte	Ethan Downs
DT	Derrick Nnadi	Mike Pennel	Zacch Pickens
DT	Chris Jones	Jerry Tillery
DE	George Karlaftis	Charles Omenihu	Tyreke Smith
LB	Drue Tranquill	Jeffrey Bassa
LB	Nick Bolton	Cole Christiansen
LB	Jack Cochrane	Cooper McDonald
CB	Nohl Williams	Kevin Knowles	Nazeeh Johnson
CB	Kristian Fulton	Josh Williams	Melvin Smith
S	Bryan Cook	Jaden Hicks
S	Chamarri Conner	Mike Edwards

The Chiefs have virtually no excuse not to play as many of their young players as possible on defense. Charles Omenihu is the only one with a playtime incentive, but it might already be out of reach. Nick Bolton, George Karlaftis, and Chris Jones should get the day off or play a minimal number of snaps.

Chiefs’ special teams depth chart for Week 18 vs. Raiders

K	Harrison Butker
H	Matt Araiza
P	Matt Araiza
LS	James Winchester
PR	Brashard Smith	Jalen Royals
KR	Brashard Smith	Jalen Royals

Brashard Smith made some things shake as a return specialist (and offense) in Week 17 vs. the Denver Broncos. He should absolutely get more opportunities there. Jalen Royals actually didn’t end up getting much work at return specialist, with Noah Gray taking the upback role on kickoff returns.

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