Redskins connections playing in 49ers-Chiefs Super Bowl 54
124. . Center. Kansas City Chiefs. Austin Reiter. 4. player
Austin Reiter’s name won’t ring too many bells for Redskins fans. But the Chiefs current center actually began his career in Washington.
Reiter was a seventh-round draft pick by the Redskins in 2015 out of South Florida. The team stashed him on the practice squad in late September of his rookie year and he remained there for the rest of the season.
Ultimately, Reiter signed a futures deal after the ’15 season and was able to make the team’s roster in 2016. However, the Redskins waived him after the first game of the season with hopes of stashing him on the practice squad. They already had Spencer Long and Kory Lichtensteiger holding down the fort, so Reiter fell victim to a numbers game.
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Reiter ended up getting scooped up by the Cleveland Browns off the team’s practice squad. Lichtensteiger would get hurt for Washington and the team went out and signed veteran backup John Sullivan. But in all likelihood, they would’ve rather liked to keep Reiter around.
In ’16, Reiter started one game for Cleveland before tearing his ACL and returned in 2017 as a backup. Following that, he joined the Chiefs and took over as the team’s starting center in the wake of Mitch Morse‘s departure via free agency.
All told, Reiter has been a solid piece on the Chiefs offensive front. The 28-year-old is a great pass protector and he should give Patrick Mahomes enough time in the pocket even against San Francisco’s tough interior pressure.