Report: Mike DeVito Has Torn Achilles, Out For The Season
By Ben Nielsen
A report from Ian Rapoport says an MRI confirms Mike DeVito tore his achilles tendon and will be out for the season.
Twitter evidence of said report:
An MRI confirms that #Chiefs starting DT Mike DeVito has a torn Achilles. He’s out for the season. Same as LB Derrick Johnson
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 8, 2014
One would expect DeVito and Derrick Johnson will be placed on the injured-reserve today. Dwayne Bowe comes off of the suspension list today so a move will have to be made no matter what to the 53-man roster.
DeVito is the team’s best run stopping defensive lineman outside of Dontari Poe, and there really isn’t anyone else on the roster who can be plugged in to do what it is he does against the run. One option is to play Vance Walker more in base situations as he has better balance than the rest of the defensive ends when it comes to pass rush and run stopping. Another option is to move Tamba Hali to defensive end and start rookie Dee Ford in Hali’s outside linebacker spot.
Either way the Chiefs took a huge blow to both their starting lineup and their depth on the defensive side of the ball. Justin Houston, Eric Berry, Sean Smith, Tamba Hali, and Husain Abdullah played every snap on Sunday and Dontari Poe played all but one. So depth was something the Chiefs could ill afford to lose.