In the wake of Dan Sorensen’s injury, rookie safety Armani Watts is getting every opportunity to earn a starting role with the Chiefs.
Armani Watts has a clear path before him. The rookie safety out of Texas A&M has what any young prospect coming into the NFL would love to have: a legitimate chance to make an impact and earn a starting role. Now it’s up to him to make it work.
When the Kansas City Chiefs submitted a card with Watts’ name on it in the fourth round of the 2018 NFL Draft, fans and analysts immediately praised the move because the chance was easy to see before him. The Chiefs had already released Ron Parker, their starting free safety from the last few years, and safety was already a position of need. The previous year, Dan Sorensen and Eric Murray had struggled, along with Parker, to replace Eric Berry who was lost for the year to an Achilles injury. It was clear that outside help was needed, especially a young player with a higher ceiling.
Watts joined the Chiefs after four years of starting experience at A&M, which means he’s been starting against the best in college football for quite some time. Unfortunately, Watts has been slow to generate much of a buzz this preseason as other pass defenders have stood out and Watts himself has been injured for the entire first week of camp.
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The Chiefs are committed, however, to giving Watts his chance to shine. Sorensen recently went down in practice with a serious enough knee injury that he will miss significant time. An official return date hasn’t been set, but the insinuation from the Chiefs is that Sorensen will miss some time in the regular season. Given that he’s been slotted in as a starter at free safety means that the role is once again up for grabs.
Watts entered the game with the starters in the secondary against the Houston Texans on Thursday. Head coach Andy Reid explained his reasoning:
"We have the injury there, so we are trying guys to see who fits into that. He is a young guy that needs reps, so I figured we would put him in and give him as many reps as we possibly could. I thought he had some nice plays. Again, I am sure there are some things he would like to have back, but I thought he did some nice things there."
Reid is telling the truth. Watts played more defensive snaps than any other player last night (49) and it wasn’t even close (Breeland Speaks played 34). That means Watts was in on 89 percent of all defensive snaps.
The Chiefs are helping Watts make up for lost time. Now the team can only hope Watts responds in kind by accelerating his learning curve and making good on the team’s trust in his abilities. The path is ready for him if he’s willing to walk it.