What To Watch: Chiefs vs. Packers Edition
By Ben Nielsen
LAURENT DUVERNAY-TARDIF
Here’s the wild card in all of this offensive line mess. LDT is a raw but physically gifted athlete who could end up being the solution to an offensive guard position at some point down the road. Where is that point? Tonight may help us get some sort of an idea.
Pro Football Focus has LDT with a +0.1 overall grade in 52 snaps. Good news here is LDT has been average (according to PFF) which means he’s adjusting fairly decently to the quirks of American football. The bad news is he’s only played 52 snaps, ninth amongst all of the offensive linemen. How many snaps he gets tonight and how he performs in those snaps will be a very interesting thing to watch.
Kansas City has an opportunity to walk away from the sixth round of the 2014 draft with two starting offensive linemen if they are able to develop them appropriately. LDT is the key in making this work, and if he can be closer to contributing in at least a backup role then the Chiefs may be okay at offensive line by the time they hit the second half of the season. Otherwise they could be stuck with Jeff Linkenbach.