Felix Anudike-Uzomah tops list of 4 winners and 2 losers after Kansas City Chiefs’ preseason Week 2 loss against Buccaneers
The Kansas City Chiefs’ preseason Week 2 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is in the books. Here are the winners and losers of the game.
The Kansas City Chiefs fell 15-16 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 2 of the 2026 NFL preseason.
I know it’s only an exhibition game, but we can still glean plenty about players and coaches from it. Performance in these games could be the difference between players making the roster, landing on the practice squad, or playing elsewhere in 2026. How things stacked up in preseason Week 2 certainly weighs heavily into Brett Veach’s future decisions, with 53-man roster cuts coming on Aug. 30. That deadline arrives a lot more quickly than realized, only eight days away.
With all of that said, here’s a breakdown of the winners and losers of the Chiefs’ preseason Week 2 game vs. the Buccaneers.
Winners
Felix Anudike-Uzomah
This felt like the type of performance that Anudike-Uzomah has been lacking in recent years. He had back-to-back plays on a single defensive drive, wrecking both. On the first play, he pressured Jake Browning into a throw behind the sticks for a loss or no-gain play. On the following play, he sacked Browning so hard that NFL officials took him out of the game for third down.
The Chiefs need Anudike-Uzomah to become a rotational contributor at a bare minimum. It’d be great if he could emerge as a starter opposite George Karlaftis. With Ashton Gillotte dealing with a torn plantar fascia, he might have that opportunity.
Mansoor Delane
The No. 6 overall pick has faced some criticism in his recovery from a shoulder blade injury. The Chiefs faithful have high expectations for Delane, and in his first NFL action, he absolutely looked the part. What stood out most was his speed and reaction time. He clicked to close on a wide receiver screen like a missile coming in from the secondary. While he didn’t make the tackle, he did impact the play.
His speed also showed off on special teams. He was on punt coverage as a gunner for one play, and he was the first guy down the field and in pursuit of the ball-carrier. Additionally, his coverage appeared to be just as advertised coming out of LSU. Baker Mayfield and Jake Browning didn’t throw his direction much on Saturday. That’s rare treatment for a rookie. Most times quarterbacks will attempt to test them. That just didn’t happen with Delane. There’s still much more to see, but this was a very good sign moving forward.
Harrison Butker
Harrison Butker’s preseason stat line has been mostly good. In preseason Week 1, he made all four field goal attempts with a long of 59 yards. In preseason Week 2, he made a 69-yard field goal to end the first half. The thing looked like it would’ve been good from 75 yards.
This field goal would’ve been a regular-season record, with 68 yards as the mark currently held by Jaguars kicker Cam Little. The big thing here is the consistency. The Chiefs have scored 27 points this preseason, and Butker is responsible for 21 of them.
Butker is coming off the worst season of his career and spent much of this offseason working to correct it. Early indications were that he’s past whatever yips he had in 2025. I’m not sure that’s the case after he missed a long PAT and a 43-yard field goal. I think that those two misses will ultimately be a good thing as he continues to work out the kinks.
Emari Demercado
Demercado didn’t get any snaps until the fourth quarter of preseason Week 1. This week, he was the No. 2 running back behind Kenneth Walker. He finished the day with just five carries for 18 yards, but also an eight-yard reception. It felt like he did more with his opportunity than Brashard Smith did the week prior.
Emmett Johnson is still the clear RB2 of this team in my eyes, but I was impressed with what I saw from Demercado this week. He’s going to make things interesting, especially when you consider that his biggest competition is Smith, who still seems to be figuring things out.
Losers
Jared Wiley
It felt like Wiley might’ve fallen behind in the tight end competition today. He finished the day just 2-of-4 receiving for 15 yards. On special teams, Wiley got a holding penalty that ultimately led to a miss from Harrison Butker. He got another holding penalty in the fourth quarter that ultimately stalled out an otherwise decent drive. Sometimes you just have a bad day in all phases, and that felt like the case for Wiley.
Chris Oladokun
The Chiefs already know what they have here after last season. As a result, Oladokun isn’t getting much playing time. Alas, the time he did get was a disaster. He took over when the team led by five points. His first pass was the aforementioned -5 loss by Smith. He threw a pass to Tre Watson, who popped the ball up, and you can guess what happened next. Bucs’ Roman Parodie picked it off and took over at the Kansas City 22-yard line. They scored to take the lead. Later, he tried to lead a comeback drive and had to leave the game momentarily to get checked for a concussion.
