It was a bad sign for Kansas City Chiefs tight end Izaiah Gathings when newcomer Geor’Quarius Spivey showed up to practice on August 2 wearing his jersey number.

Of course, at that point Gathings had probably already been informed that he was being waived, but KC did not confirm this fact until the NFL transaction log was released later that afternoon. Chiefs Digest beat reporter Matt Derrick relayed the decision on X.

“The Chiefs made room for the addition of TE Geor’Quarius Spivey by waiving TE Izaiah Gathings with an injury waiver,” he said.

Gathings suffered a “hamstring” injury on July 31. The 23-year-old is a developmental piece at this stage, but the recent setback seems to have sealed his fate with the Chiefs this summer.

Seesawing on and off the Kansas City roster a couple of times since December of last year, the 6-foot-4 pass-catching prospect has also spent time with the New York Jets and the Pittsburgh Steelers during his brief NFL career that began in 2023. He has yet to appear in a regular season game but did earn a Super Bowl ring for his efforts on the practice squad.

An injury waiver is different from an outright release, and typically results in one of two outcomes.

One, another franchise claims Gathings despite his injury. This is typically unlikely to occur.

The second and more common outcome is that the injured player reverts back to his original team’s injured reserve list. From there, Gathings would either remain with the Chiefs and sit out the entire 2024 campaign — as wide receiver Nikko Remigio chose to do last season — or the two parties would agree on an injury settlement that eventually allows the player to become a free agent again after a predetermined amount of time.

Chiefs Take Flyer on Geor’Quarius Spivey After Izaiah Gathings Injury

This swap isn’t surprising whatsoever, being that Spivey is a very similar player as Gathings on paper.

Standing at 6-foot-5, Spivey is another wide receiver/tight end hybrid that spent time at Mississippi State and TCU throughout college. His best campaign only produced 136 receiving yards and a touchdown off 11 catches, so this is another raw piece of clay for head coach Andy Reid to try and mold as he’s done in the past with inexperienced tight ends.

According to the Mississippi State website, Spivey “did not appear in any games [in 2023] due to the NCAA denying his transfer wavier from TCU following the Horned Frogs CFP Championship game in early January.” He did however attend grad school and practice with the team.

Spivey spent three years at Mississippi State including one redshirt season from 2018 through 2020. He then transferred to TCU for two years — one of which was the 136-yard campaign.

Finally, Spivey returned to Mississippi State for his aforementioned grad year in 2023. He was a two-time “SEC Fall Academic Honor Roll” recipient in college.

New Chiefs Injuries Could Influence Training Camp Battles

The Chiefs picked up two new injuries on August 2. Offensive lineman Wanya Morris left practice with a “shoulder” injury while cornerback riser Kelvin Joseph was held out with a “hamstring issue” — per Derrick.

Depending on the length of each absence, both injuries could influence two important training camp competitions.

Morris is already trailing rookie offensive tackle Kingsley Suamataia in the left tackle battle, so this obviously won’t help his chances. After practice, Coach Reid said that Suamataia has not necessarily won that starting job yet, but it was somewhat telling that Morris was given an opportunity at left guard before his injury.

Especially since Suamataia will not be learning any position other than left tackle, per Reid.

The starting cornerback competition is much more wide-ranging. Joshua Williams checked back in with the starters with Joseph sidelined but we’ve seen Nazeeh Johnson in that role as well — when healthy — and defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo confirmed that fellow third-year CB Jaylen Watson will get a shot too now that he’s returned from shoulder rehab.

It appears to be a four-way battle across from first-team All-Pro Trent McDuffie as of August 2, assuming Joseph’s injury is a minor one.