The Kansas City Chiefs are injured. Very. Or let’s just say they were already injured well before the Week 17 Christmas Day matchup against the Denver Broncos. From quarterbacks to wide receivers to cornerbacks, bodies have been dropping across the roster. And with Kansas City already out of the playoff race, there’s little reason to push anyone who isn’t unquestionably healthy.

This is exactly why Andy Reid quietly made a late roster move just hours before kickoff. The head coach signed linebacker Cole Christiansen from the practice squad. While he may have been the latest name promoted amid the injury crunch, Christiansen isn’t exactly new to Chiefs Kingdom.

Originally an undrafted free agent with the Los Angeles Chargers in 2020, the 28-year-old has already been part of two Super Bowl-winning runs in Kansas City. After joining the Chiefs’ practice squad in 2022, Christiansen was in and out of the active roster during the 2023 and 2024 championship seasons, filling in wherever depth was needed.

Fast forward to the final stretch of the 2025 regular season, and Reid and company had little choice but to activate him again. Christiansen was elevated as a replacement for Nikko Remigio, who was placed on injured reserve. He was a full participant in Monday’s practice, but had not appeared in practice for the past two days because of a knee injury.

Before Week 17, the linebacker had appeared in 23 career games with six total tackles.

It’s a modest stat line, but one that reflects his role on the depth chart. In the end, the move wasn’t about upside or long-term planning. It was about availability. With injuries piling up on both sides of the ball, the Chiefs simply needed healthy players, and Christiansen fit the bill.

Andy Reid and the Chiefs placed Trent McDuffie, along with others, on the IR

Trent McDuffie has been sidelined since the Kansas City Chiefs’ 20–10 Week 14 loss to the Houston Texans. The cornerback went down with a knee injury in the first quarter and was quickly ruled out for the remainder of the game. Subsequent reports later confirmed that McDuffie had hyperextended his knee.

Since then, McDuffie has missed the next three games against the Chargers in Week 15, followed by matchups with the Tennessee Titans and the Broncos. And considering he didn’t recover on time, the Chiefs had no option but to place him on injured reserve ahead of the Christmas Day game, alongside three other players.

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That move all but ruled out any chance of McDuffie returning for the regular-season finale. Before the injury, he had put together a solid 2025 campaign, recording 63 combined tackles and one sack. In addition to McDuffie, the Chiefs also placed Jaylen Watson, Rashee Rice, and Tyquan Thornton on injured reserve.

Taken together, the mounting injuries and the on-field struggles that followed paint a clear picture of how Kansas City’s 2025 season unraveled. With the year winding down, the focus now shifts toward an offseason reset and figuring out what comes next.