Of course, the 53 players on the team after 5 PM central time tonight won't be the exact roster for opening day. After the NFL roster deadline hits this evening, expect the Chiefs to pick up one or two players off of the waiver wire.

I've run through the roster and made my decisions on who I think will be cut. Interestingly enough, while researching this and reading others cut lists, most of them are in agreement about 95% of the time.

The only differences I've seen in people's cut lists are the tail ends of the linebacker and line rotations. A little LeRue Rumph here. A little Anthony Alabi there. Maybe throw in some Sippio.

QB: Brodie Croyle, Tyler Thigpen and Damon Huard

No surprises here. The Chiefs will carry three quarterbacks on the final roster no matter what and these are almost assuredly the three they will keep.

Cut: None

RB: Larry Johnson, Kolby Smith, Jamaal Charles, Jackie Battle and Dantrell Savage

Dantrell Savage hopefully makes this team as a kick returner but I've included him in the running backs section. LJ, Kolby and Jamaal Charles are all 100% safe. Battle may not make it because of roster numbers but he's probably safe too.

Cut: None

WR: Dwayne Bowe, Devard Darling, Will Franklin, Maurice Price and Jeff Webb

Despite not catching a pass this preseason, Devard Darling is still accomplished enough to get the nod over Arthur, Joachim, McMahan and Sippio. If you make an argument against Darling, you have to make an argument for one of those guys making the team and I don't think you can. Maybe you can make an argument for Bobby Sippio but I think you're splitting hairs at that point.

Cut: Jabari Arthur, Sergio Joachim, Kevin McMahan and Bobby Sippio

FB:Mike Cox and Chris Manderino

Word on the street is that the Chiefs like Manderino's special teams play, which is great for him because Mike Cox has the starting fullback spot nailed.

Cut: None

TE: Tony Gonzalez, Brad Cottam and J.P. Foschi

TG and Cottam are locks to make the roster and we'll give Foschi and his GA Tech roots the nod over the injured Mike Merritt and Michael "What happened to people being excited about me?" Allan. Allan may spend his final year on the practice squad before permanently falling off into obscurity. My future money says this is another D3 experiment that will not succeed.

Cut: Michael Allan and Mike Merritt

O-Line: Branden Albert, Brian Waters, Rudy Niswanger, Adrian Jones, Damion McIntosh, Herb Taylor, Barry Richardson and Wade Smith

I think those first eight offensive linemen I listed are definitely going to make the team. Beyond that, I think we could see another player dropped at a different position in favor of another offensive linemen. That linemen may not even be on the team right now and there is no way the Chiefs are satisfied with the depth they have on the offensive line.

Cut: Travis Leffew, Tre Stallings, Will Svitek, Anthony Alabi, Edwin Harrison and Rob Smith

D-Line: Turk McBride, Tank Tyler, Glenn Dorsey, Tamba Hali, Alfonso Boone, Ron Edwards. T.J. Jackson and Brian Johnston

After Ron Edwards, you're entering a pretty blurry area on the defensive line. TJ Jackson and Brian Johnston both had their names called more than a few times last Thursday against the Rams and that may be enough to distinguish themselves from the other defensive linemen.

Cut: Johnny Dingle, Jason Parker and Derek Lokey

LB: Derrick Johnson, Pat Thomas, Donnie Edwards, Demorrio Williams, Weston Dacus and Nap Harris (Int'l player Aden Durde will be on the practice squad but not count for a spot)

Nap Harris seems to be on everyone else's cut list and he certainly is a possible roster casualty. One of the cuts listed below could out value Harris on special teams, making the decision to keep him even more difficult. Donnie Edwards of course makes the final cut but how durable will he be in his 13th season? He's already tweaked a hamstring.

Cut: EJ Kuale, Steve Octavien and LeRue Rumph

CB: Patrick Surtain, Brandon Flowers, Brandon Carr, Dimitri Patterson, Tyron Brackenridge and Maurice Leggett

The first four CB spots are taken with Brackenridge, Barksdale and Leggett battling for the final one or even two spots. Can't say I've seen much of any of those three this preseason, making my analysis a bit strained. Brackenridge will probably get the nod because the Chiefs liked him enough last year as an UDFA to play him a bit and neither Barksdale nor Leggett has distinguished themselves.

Cut: Rashard Barksdale

S: Jarrad Page, Bernard Pollard, Jon McGraw and DaJuan Morgan

The safety position isn't difficult to figure out. Page and Pollard will start with McGraw and Morgan rotating in and out. The Chiefs don't need five safeties on the team.

Cut: Khayyam Burns

Special Teams: Nick Novak, Dustin Colquitt and J.P. Darche

Again, no surprises here. The Sams v. Savage competition is pretty much even but I'll throw my support behind the younger, less Drummond-like Dantrell Savage.

Cut: BJ Sams and Connor Barth (he's still on the roster so we'll include him for good measure)

We've already had a few threads about the roster cuts today so use this spot to make any last minute predictions. I'll update you on the cuts as soon as I hear about them.

John Paul Foschi (That's FAH-she), signed by the Kansas City Chiefs in mid April, is the prototype of the off season signings of Herm and Chan Gailey.

Completely under the radar signing. Check.

New York Jet under Herm. Check.

Yellow Jacket under Chan Gailey. Check.

It makes a lot of sense that coaches prefer players they're at least remotely familiar with. I count three Tech guys who played under Chan Gailey and I think at least five connections to Herm's Jets.

Foschi was picked up by the Jets as an undrafted free agent in 2004. He bounced around on the practice squads of the Jets, Broncos and Vikings in '04, before playing in ten games and starting five for the Oakland Raiders in 2005.

Foschi blurs the line a bit between tight end, fullback and probably even a sub on the offensive line because of his size - 6'4", 270 pounds. Playing that many positions means you're on the field a lot, with Foschi playing virtually every snap during his senior season at Georgia Tech. He's played mainly at fullback while in the NFL but like his bio says, Foschi is expected to work at the tight end position.

The signing of Foschi is more evidence pointing towards the Chiefs looking to use multiple tight end formations this year, which has been reported elsewhere. 7th round draft pick Michael Merritt is 6'4", 263 pounds. Second year guy Michael Allan is quite big too, 6'6" and weighing 254 pounds. Brad Cottam is 6'7" and 269 pounds. So we have some massive players at the tight end position and none of them are particularly known for their receiving ability.

If you ask me, even without even seeing Foschi play a down, I'm betting he won't make the team. We already have Gailey favorite Mike Cox at the full time fullback position, and there's enough competition for the next Jason Dunn (Geez, how quickly did you forget that guy?) that you can't say really anything definitive at this point.

We wish him the best of luck of course. There needs to be a mini documentary done on these practice squad guys. It has to be an interesting life while it lasts. You could be signed by another team thousands of miles away literally in an instant. No warning. Just go.

Since we're talking about fullbacks and that sort of unstable free agent life, I might as well bring up my favorite of the two Chris Manderino Q&As, which was the first one.

Also, as a practice squad player, you know that you are available to become activated by any of the other teams in the league. It is mentally tough to be thinking about whether you will be activated the next week with either your own team or another one throughout the league. You have to try to keep from getting distracted because it is your job to perform your role in helping the team prepare to win. It is mentally tough to be watching on the sidelines on game day when you prepare all week long and do not get to play.

You could at least get one of those cheesy pre-game mini documentaries out of this idea. It helps that Chris was so descriptive and wrote well enough to let you really get into his head. A practice squad player has to have huge amounts of energy to constantly deal with moving, learning near offenses and the general toll that physical football takes on you. And it sounds like Chris adjusts well and has a good attitude about it.

Okay, back to JP Foschi. There's really not much out there about Foschi now that I'm winding this post down and realizing what I've written. He injured his knee against the Chiefs actually in September 2005 that didn't really keep him out long. He's a basketball player as well. Can't get enough of those.

The blocking tight end may be the ultimate symbol of a Herm Edwards offense. You know he loves these guys. Especially the ones that play fullback too. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the actual action of blocking is Herm's favorite part of the game of football.

That's it for this morning. I'll do my best to get another community projection up later today but I'm not making any promises. This would be a good time for the, ahem, editor at the bottom of this page to come up with a post to add to the pile.

Also, if you're a new reader coming from SI.com. welcome to the community. Create a user name at the top of this page so you can comment. Also, if you register (it only requires an email address and takes a second), when you visit the site and you're logged in, you'll be shown how many comments are in a post and how many of those comments are new. So, it keeps track of what you've read, which is always nice instead of scrolling through the same comments in a long comment thread. Definitely my favorite SBN site feature.

Keep it respectful, intelligent and interesting and you'll be rewarded with a thriving Chiefs community.