Parker Ehinger returns from PUP list for Kansas City Chiefs
By Matt Conner
Parker Ehinger’s return from the PUP list is going to make competition among the offensive line interesting for the second half of the preseason.
As if training camp wasn’t already filled with plenty of positional battles being played out before roster cuts are due and depth charts are set, a new one has blossomed with the return of last year’s starting left guard, Parker Ehinger, from the Physically Unable to Play list. Ehinger will now hope to unseat Bryan Witzmann as the team’s starting guard once again to solidify a line that could play together for quite some time.
Witzmann has been one of the biggest surprises in Chiefs training camp so far this year as a relatively unknown offensive line prospect. He first signed a one-year extension to stay with the team through 2018 and soon found himself placed at left guard alongside Eric Fisher and Mitch Morse instead of more familiar faces like Jah Reid or Zach Fulton or Andrew Tiller.
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From there, Witzmann has looked solid in the team’s early preseason games, so Ehinger might face a bit of an uphill climb to reclaim his starting spot he earned as a rookie last season. The Chiefs drafted Ehinger in the fourth round out of the University of Cincinnati in 2016 and handed the job to him in the preseason. He let go only because he tore his ACL in a midseason game against the Indianapolis Colts.
Ehinger is likely to have the edge on Witzmann if he’s able to show he’s truly healthy and ready to return to form. He showed marked improvement week after week when he was given the starting role early last year. However, if he’s still rusty and not quite in game shape, it wouldn’t surprise anyone to see Witzmann start the season in the starting line-up for the Chiefs.
The good news is that Ehinger’s absence has shown the Chiefs have an even deeper offensive line than anyone could have known. Give credit to the coaches for having players develop enough to be able to step up when instances such as this occur.