{"id":124834,"date":"2025-12-04T06:34:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T06:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=124834"},"modified":"2025-12-04T06:34:00","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T06:34:00","slug":"tower-move-alert-the-chiefs-make-a-sudden-power-play-by-adding-a-massive-67-rookie-offensive-tackle-immediately-after-a-brutal-injury-update-shakes-their-depth-chart-the-unexpected-move-signals-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=124834","title":{"rendered":"TOWER MOVE ALERT: The Chiefs make a sudden power play by adding a massive 6&#8217;7 rookie offensive tackle immediately after a brutal injury update shakes their depth chart. The unexpected move signals a rapid reshuffle to stabilize a frontline hit hard at the worst possible time. So what does this bold adjustment really mean?..ll"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\">\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2228355691-e1764797787413.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2228355691-e1764797787413.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2228355691-e1764797787413.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2228355691-e1764797787413.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Chiefs Add 6'7 Rookie Offensive Tackle After Bad Injury Update\" width=\"780\" height=\"436\" \/><\/figure>\n<div>\n<p>Getty<\/p>\n<p>Kansas City Chiefs offensive tackle, Esa Pole, watching the team warm up during training camp on August 3rd, 2025.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Kansas City Chiefs are already holding on to their playoff hopes by far less than they would be hoping for at this point in the season, knowing that anything other than a win on Sunday against the Houston Texans will reduce that to little more than a proverbial thread.<\/p>\n<p>And the impact of the loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving was felt even more by mid-week in the build up to Week 13, as the team have had to place offensive tackle, Josh Simmons, on the injured reserve list after he fractured his wrist six days ago.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, the team have decided to add former undrafted free agent rookie, Esa Pole, who signed with the team out of Washington State back in May, to the 53-man active roster as of Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, the Chiefs bought in former Cowboys and Minnesota Vikings offensive tackle, Matt Waletzko, to the practice squad.<\/p>\n<h2>Chiefs Lose Starting OT: Make Additions To Active Roster, Practice Squad<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cWe have signed Practice Squad player T Esa Pole to an active roster contract.\u201d The Chiefs posted on X on Wednesday. \u201cWe have placed T Josh Simmons on Reserve\/Injured.<\/p>\n<p>We have signed T Matt Waletzko to the Practice Squad.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>News about Waletzko likely being the practice squad addition started circulating from The Athletic\u2019s Jesse Newell earlier in the day, having released a lengthy list of players that they had come into the facility to tryout two days prior.<\/p>\n<div id=\"9a585256d88502aa9ea746b768a0b0a3\">\n<div data-url=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jessenewell\/status\/1996291216036544794\">\n<blockquote data-dnt=\"true\" data-width=\"550\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Matt Waletzko was in the Chiefs&#8217; locker room today (No. 73). With OT Esa Pole getting elevated for the IR&#8217;ed Josh Simmons, Waletzko should take up the vacated practice squad spot. https:\/\/t.co\/FbEqP8gu71<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/Chiefs\/status\/1996291847115706708<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cMatt Waletzko was in the Chiefs\u2019 locker room today (No. 73).\u201d Newell wrote in a post on X. \u201cWith OT Esa Pole getting elevated for the IR\u2019ed Josh Simmons, Waletzko should take up the vacated practice squad spot.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>How Will The Chiefs\u2019 Offensive Line Be Impacted By This Move?<\/h2>\n<p>Esa Pole \u2013 as most would expect \u2013 is unlikely to move into a starting role anytime soon, unless there is some sort of injury calamity at the position in the near future.<\/p>\n<p>Simmons\u2019 spot will be filled by Jaylon Moore, who has played well when called upon this season \u2013 managing a 65.7 grade from Pro Football Focus on the year.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps the bigger concern for the team on the line is that of Jawaan Taylor, who despite having another slightly disappointing down year, is still a starting-caliber offensive tackle in the NFL.<\/p>\n<p>Taylor did not practice on Wednesday due to a triceps injury, and is questionable to play on Sunday against the Texans. This would likely make former third round pick, Wanya Morris, the next man up to bookend the right side of the offensive line.<\/p>\n<h2>What Will Waletzko And Pole Bring To The Chiefs?<\/h2>\n<p>Pole was initially released during final cuts in late August \u2013 as one would expect from a rookie undrafted free agent. After being claimed off of waivers by the New York Jets \u2013 and subsequently cut a couple of months later \u2013 he landed on Chiefs\u2019 practice squad.<\/p>\n<p>Clearly he has shown enough to be elevated to the active roster, although this won\u2019t necessarily mean he is next in line to play. The team could instead decide to use Waletzko \u2013 who has played in 11 NFL games \u2013 as a game-day elevation, given his greater professional experience than the talented Pole.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel Arwas Daniel Arwas is a sports writer who covers the NFL for Heavy.com.\u00a0Daniel began his career in sports writing in 2022 and has covered the NFL and college football for Gridiron Heroics\u00a0and\u00a0The Hammer. More about Daniel Arwas<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Kansas City Chiefs have announced that they have signed rookie undrafted free agent, Esa Pole, after Josh Simmons was placed on IR.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":124839,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-124834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>TOWER MOVE ALERT: The Chiefs make a sudden power play by adding a massive 6&#039;7 rookie offensive tackle immediately after a brutal injury update shakes their depth chart. The unexpected move signals a rapid reshuffle to stabilize a frontline hit hard at the worst possible time. So what does this bold adjustment really mean?..ll - News 365<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=124834\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"TOWER MOVE ALERT: The Chiefs make a sudden power play by adding a massive 6&#039;7 rookie offensive tackle immediately after a brutal injury update shakes their depth chart. The unexpected move signals a rapid reshuffle to stabilize a frontline hit hard at the worst possible time. So what does this bold adjustment really mean?..ll - News 365\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Kansas City Chiefs have announced that they have signed rookie undrafted free agent, Esa Pole, after Josh Simmons was placed on IR.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=124834\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News 365\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-04T06:34:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/LUU-1-8.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MrLuu\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MrLuu\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=124834\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=124834\",\"name\":\"TOWER MOVE ALERT: The Chiefs make a sudden power play by adding a massive 6'7 rookie offensive tackle immediately after a brutal injury update shakes their depth chart. The unexpected move signals a rapid reshuffle to stabilize a frontline hit hard at the worst possible time. So what does this bold adjustment really mean?..ll - News 365\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=124834#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=124834#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/LUU-1-8.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-04T06:34:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-04T06:34:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4b0ce8eb15dad4ee0f31887a7eb66fb6\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=124834#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=124834\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=124834#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/LUU-1-8.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/LUU-1-8.jpg\",\"width\":1080,\"height\":1080},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=124834#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"TOWER MOVE ALERT: The Chiefs make a sudden power play by adding a massive 6&#8217;7 rookie offensive tackle immediately after a brutal injury update shakes their depth chart. The unexpected move signals a rapid reshuffle to stabilize a frontline hit hard at the worst possible time. So what does this bold adjustment really mean?..ll\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/\",\"name\":\"News 365\",\"description\":\"Your Daily Dose of Sports News and Updates\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4b0ce8eb15dad4ee0f31887a7eb66fb6\",\"name\":\"MrLuu\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/27290e42aedd9867dbebe2f5dbfd5135e0d4cac63c12fabb4e8d0e4472737a5b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/27290e42aedd9867dbebe2f5dbfd5135e0d4cac63c12fabb4e8d0e4472737a5b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"MrLuu\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?author=6\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"TOWER MOVE ALERT: The Chiefs make a sudden power play by adding a massive 6'7 rookie offensive tackle immediately after a brutal injury update shakes their depth chart. The unexpected move signals a rapid reshuffle to stabilize a frontline hit hard at the worst possible time. So what does this bold adjustment really mean?..ll - News 365","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=124834","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"TOWER MOVE ALERT: The Chiefs make a sudden power play by adding a massive 6'7 rookie offensive tackle immediately after a brutal injury update shakes their depth chart. The unexpected move signals a rapid reshuffle to stabilize a frontline hit hard at the worst possible time. So what does this bold adjustment really mean?..ll - News 365","og_description":"The Kansas City Chiefs have announced that they have signed rookie undrafted free agent, Esa Pole, after Josh Simmons was placed on IR.","og_url":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=124834","og_site_name":"News 365","article_published_time":"2025-12-04T06:34:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1080,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/LUU-1-8.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"MrLuu","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"MrLuu","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=124834","url":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=124834","name":"TOWER MOVE ALERT: The Chiefs make a sudden power play by adding a massive 6'7 rookie offensive tackle immediately after a brutal injury update shakes their depth chart. The unexpected move signals a rapid reshuffle to stabilize a frontline hit hard at the worst possible time. So what does this bold adjustment really mean?..ll - News 365","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=124834#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=124834#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/LUU-1-8.jpg","datePublished":"2025-12-04T06:34:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-04T06:34:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4b0ce8eb15dad4ee0f31887a7eb66fb6"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=124834#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=124834"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=124834#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/LUU-1-8.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/LUU-1-8.jpg","width":1080,"height":1080},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=124834#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"TOWER MOVE ALERT: The Chiefs make a sudden power play by adding a massive 6&#8217;7 rookie offensive tackle immediately after a brutal injury update shakes their depth chart. The unexpected move signals a rapid reshuffle to stabilize a frontline hit hard at the worst possible time. So what does this bold adjustment really mean?..ll"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/","name":"News 365","description":"Your Daily Dose of Sports News and Updates","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4b0ce8eb15dad4ee0f31887a7eb66fb6","name":"MrLuu","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/27290e42aedd9867dbebe2f5dbfd5135e0d4cac63c12fabb4e8d0e4472737a5b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/27290e42aedd9867dbebe2f5dbfd5135e0d4cac63c12fabb4e8d0e4472737a5b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"MrLuu"},"url":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?author=6"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=124834"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124834\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124840,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124834\/revisions\/124840"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/124839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=124834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=124834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=124834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}