EJ Smith

EJ Smith has sat through weeks 1, 2, 3 and 4 of 2026 without playing, and the bye in week 5 means KC has played a quarter of its season and he has been on the field for none of it. No injury designation either, which is its own answer: he is not hurt, he is just not one of the backs they plan to use.

The path tells you why. He is listed fourth among KC running backs, behind Kenneth Walker III, Emmett Johnson and Brashard Smith, with Andy Reid calling the plays himself and no sign he plans to widen the rotation. Even the pass-catching work is spoken for, because Rashee Rice took 29% of KC's targets in 2025 and Travis Kelce took 20%, 48% between them. And this is not a wide-open depth chart behind a bad offense: KC went 6 wins in 2025 and threw on 58% of situation-neutral plays, so the backs ahead of him are earning their snaps. An undrafted rookie out of the 2026 class, age 24.3 on opening day, who could not crack that group before the season was never going to crack it now. We had him for 1 game all year before any of this happened, and our preseason number was 3 points, most outcomes landing between -1 and 7.

So there is nothing to wait on here. The median outcome on our board sits at 2.9 points, and no path to it runs through the weeks he has already missed. The only way this changes is injuries ahead of him, and you cannot hold an empty roster slot for that. Let him go and keep the spot for a back who is actually suiting up.