NFL Preseason; thy giveth and taketh away

Nov 24, 2013; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Chiefs guard Jeff Allen (71) is attended to on the sidelines during the first half of the game against the San Diego Chargers at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Last week football fans across the world celebrated as their beloved sport returned. The NFL preseason comes with tears of joy and sorrow. On one hand we celebrate young players having success in pursuing their dreams. On the other, key veteran players are getting injured in a meaningless exhibition game. We are only left to watch and hope for the best.

For four weeks players you have never heard of are able to be heroes, throwing game-winning touchdowns or making incredible plays. In the preseason if you were to look up the stat leaders it would look like an episode of the Twilight Zone as the stat sheets are filled with unknown players, one of them is Kansas City’s Fred Williams. While there are several good stories like Fred Williams, Albert Wilson, or Charcandrick West, the question remains: “Is the preseason worth it?”

The Chiefs opened up last Saturday against the Arizona Cardinals and we have a case for the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The Good: Chase Daniel looking sharp, hooking up repeatedly with receivers Fred Williams and Da’Ron Brown.

The Bad: The starting offense didn’t accomplish much and the starting defense gave up a score on the Cardinals’ first drive.

The Ugly: The preseason injuries that occurred with Jeff Allen (sprained MCL), De’Anthony Thomas (sprained knee), and Knile Davis (calf strain) causing them all to leave the game.

Kansas City fans couldn’t help but hold their breath after each injury, and rightfully so as they’ve experienced some serious pain from preseason injuries. Last year, Tyler Bray was injured in the final preseason game and place on injured reserve. In 2013, Travis Kelcie suffered a bone bruise and ended up undergoing microfracture surgery. In 2012, Kendrick Lewis injured his shoulder (again) and missed several weeks.

What do these most recent injuries mean to the Chiefs for the 2015 season? 

With the most recent report from camp it appears that Kansas City may have caught a break with the injuries initially appearing worse than they actually are. Jeff Allen was carted off in Saturday’s game and was diagnosed with only am MCL sprain as opposed to something much worse and should only miss a few weeks. Knile Davis who left Saturday’s game with a knee injury was already back at practice Monday and doesn’t appear to be missing any time soon. De’Anthony Thomas appeared to have injured his calf Saturday and didn’t practice Tuesday.

Although it appears that none of these players are going to miss significant time the Chiefs should be cautioned with some concern after Eric Fisher left Monday’s practice with an ankle injury. Having both starting tackles injured is not a good way to start the season especially with a trip to Houston schedule in less than a month.

The Chiefs aren’t the only team that’s suffered bad preseason injuries. There’s actually a list out there of the worst preseason injury losses of all-time. With the risk of losing top NFL talent every week of preseason is there a need for change? You could make a good argument for the preseason to be eliminated or at least reduced.

The other side of the argument would be centered around the other things we saw Saturday, such as the eye-opening things like the offense appearing to be nowhere near a finished product. These are important pieces in evaluating your roster and breaking down valuable tape to work on things that need to improve but is it worth the risk?

What do you say, Addicts?