Chiefs Keep Elijah Mitchell, Waive Carson Steele At Running Back

Running back Elijah Mitchell of the Kansas City Chiefs runs during the first half of a preseason game between the Chiefs and Arizona Cardinals on Aug. 9, 2025 in Glendale, Ariz. (Photo by Bruce Yeung/Getty Images)

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Elijah Mitchell is in, and Carson Steele is out.

Those are the final results, following Tuesday’s mandated cut down to 53 players.

“Everybody can’t make the team,” Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said. “It’s a tough day. That’s not part of the job you like, but inevitably you got to almost cut half a team. So, that’s not an easy thing.”

Running back was one of the most competitive positions for the Chiefs, and on the outside looking in was Steele, the second-year running back/fullback.

An undrafted free agent rookie last year, he made the 2024 team, following an impressive preseason. After Isiah Pacheco broke his leg in Week Two, Steele even started three games in 2024, including in Week Three against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday Night Football when he ran 17 times for 72 yards.

Steele didn’t help his chances by failing to convert a 4th and 1 in Week Two of the preseason. Though Elijah Mitchell was taken down for a safety in the same Seahawks game, he scored a touchdown last week vs. the Chicago Bears.

Last year’s third-down back, Samaje Perine was signed by the Cincinnati Bengals — for the third time in his career — to a two-year, $3.6 million contract, but further hurting Steele’s chances was the fact that the Chiefs drafted rookie Brashard Smith, a converted receiver who set SMU’s single-season program record for all-purpose yards with 1,977, and signed Mitchell to a one-year, $2.5 million contract as a free agent.

Chiefs general manager Brett Veach compared Mitchell, who gained 963 rushing yards as a rookie in 2021, to another former injury-prone San Francisco 49ers running back, Jerick McKinnon, who had success with the Chiefs.

Mitchell has landed on injured reserve — with separate knee and hamstring injuries — twice in his four-year career.

“It’s not a secret with him. He’s got to stay healthy,” Veach said. “When he’s healthy he provides an explosive dynamic in both the run and pass game.”

Mitchell, Pacheco, Kareem Hunt and Smith are the running backs on the active roster as of Tuesday, which also saw the New Orleans Saints release running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire, the Chiefs’ first-round pick in 2020.

Veteran Cuts

The Chiefs terminated three notable vested veterans: safety Mike Edwards, who the Chiefs had signed to a one-year, $1,338 million contract with $500,000 guaranteed this offseason; defensive tackle Mike Pennel, an 11-year veteran who played on the Super Bowl LIV title team but whose spot seemed in jeopardy after the Chiefs signed Derrick Nnadi, and tight end Robert Tonyan, who had a stellar preseason.

Those three could still be added to the practice squad, and those signings can start at 12 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Aug.27.

After the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the NFL expanded the practice squads from eight to 16 players, and that can be augmented to 17 if that player comes via the International Pathway Program.

“It gives guys maybe a better opportunity to go on, especially the way these practice squads are set up now,” Reid said. “You got a lot of numbers there that you can work with.”

Players on the practice squad with two years of service or less will receive $13,000 a week, and those with two or more years of service will receive a $17,500 minimum weekly salary ($22,000 maximum).

And the Chiefs likely will continue to tinker with both their practice squad and active roster in the coming days.

But for now — at least — Mitchell is safe.