The 2017 Kansas City Chiefs took the field for the first time on Friday to play the San Francisco 49ers in preseason game number one. While the top storylines of this game for Chiefs fans included a great first string touchdown drive to start the game and the debut of K.C.’s quarterback of the future Patrick Mahomes, there were several other less flashy storylines in this game as well. Since you have no doubt watched, reviewed, and dissected Mahomes’s first game by this point, I thought I would spend some time looking at a less heralded new starter on the offense: left guard Bryan Witzmann.
While the left guard spot was thought to be Parker Ehinger’s this season, he has yet to be able to even take the practice field while recovering from a knee injury that occurred about midway through last season. After the Chiefs recently gave Witzmann a pay bump that extended him through next season, is it possible that Witzmann could claim the starting job for good with a solid preseason?
Parker Ehinger showed promise last season but he’s still a developmental player in his own right, and I don’t think the Chiefs would hesitate to start Witzmann over a fourth round draft pick with less than a year’s experience if Witzmann were to play well enough this preseason. So now the question becomes: how did Witzmann do in his first game action with the starting offensive line?
While I did keep an eye on Witzmann while watching the game Friday night, I decided to go back and watch each of his snaps multiple times to really analyze his performance. I’ll give you a brief evaluation of each of his 19 snaps during the first three drives (which was all the starting OL played). Then I’ll give you some overall impressions of his performance at the end. Let’s start with the opening touchdown drive.