Arrowhead Addict
FanSided

How the Kansas City Chiefs second-year players could make a leap forward

By Matt Conner

FOXBOROUGH, MA - OCTOBER 14: Tremon Smith #39 of the Kansas City Chiefs runs with the ball in the third quarter of a game against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium on October 14, 2018 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)
FOXBOROUGH, MA - OCTOBER 14: Tremon Smith #39 of the Kansas City Chiefs runs with the ball in the third quarter of a game against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium on October 14, 2018 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 6
Next
KANSAS CITY, MO – OCTOBER 28: Defensive tackle Derrick Nnadi #91 of the Kansas City Chiefs in action during the game against the Denver Broncos at Arrowhead Stadium on October 28, 2018 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
KANSAS CITY, MO – OCTOBER 28: Defensive tackle Derrick Nnadi #91 of the Kansas City Chiefs in action during the game against the Denver Broncos at Arrowhead Stadium on October 28, 2018 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /

DERRICK NNADI

Round: 3

What We’ve Seen: Nnadi came in as the second-most pro-ready player in the draft class (next to Armani Watts‘ 45 games of experience) and provided immediate dividends for the Chiefs as a rock-solid run stopper in the middle of the defensive line. Next to Chris Jones, Nnadi gave the Chiefs a couple nice young pivotal players around whom they could rebuild the front under D.C. Steve Spagnuolo.

What We Could See: Coming into his second season, Nnadi is ready to take on a much bigger portion of reps from teammates like Xavier Williams despite the presence of third round pick Khalen Saunders. Nnadi played a season-high snaps in the team’s playoff loss against New England (58 snaps) after slowly earning more and more as the year wore on.

Nnadi’s limitations as a pass rusher will keep him from being an every-down contributor along the line, but there’s no reason why he can’t blossom into one of the NFL’s best run defenders as soon as this coming season. Freshman mistakes should begin to disappear in year two (5 penalties, only 1 batted ball at the line, 2 missed tackles) and the 500 reps earned from last year should help Nnadi recognize and react faster than ever at the LOS.

With all of talk about Jones as the star holdover and Frank Clark and Alex Okafor as the nice new imports, Nnadi could prove to be an underrated starter alongside the aforementioned talents to help put the Chiefs defensive line over the top. A quiet contender for one of the d-lines in the NFL.

Home/Kansas City Chiefs News