The Chiefs pass rush hinges on four things

Training camp, for the Kansas City Chiefs, is officially underway in northwestern Missouri. Last week, head coach Andy Reid told the local media Justin Houston would not practice during the team’s stay at Missouri Western State University. Houston’s still in the process of rehab after a February surgery to repair the anterior cruciate ligament in his injured knee. The timetable for his return is unknown at this point, but some have speculated that he could miss as many as four weeks once the regular season starts.

In the interim, the Chiefs’ front office is stuck trying to provide an answer as to how they’ll mount a respectable pass rush in 2016. Having success at pressuring quarterbacks in the season forthcoming depends upon the length of Houston’s down time, the shelf life of Tamba Hali, the evolution of Dee Ford, and the creativity of defensive coordinator Bob Sutton. If Houston misses a significant number of games, the Chiefs will have an uphill battle and could find themselves overrelying upon the consistency of a very young group of cornerbacks.

Let’s break this into smaller pieces we can expound upon.

Next: Houston's knee...Hali's gas