Kansas City Chiefs stock report: Rookies shine against Bengals
Stock Up: Armani Watts
I went into the first preseason game expecting to be impressed by a young safety. Juan Thornhill was at the top of my list of players I was excited to see. While Thornhill didn’t play poorly, he just didn’t have many opportunities to show off his talents. Watts on the other hand, did have some chances and took advantage of them.
I expected Watts to make the roster, but with Tyrann Mathieu, Juan Thornhill, and Dan Sorensen all ahead of him in the pecking order, I didn’t expect him to see the field much this year outside of special teams. I always thought that Watts had the speed/agility to play in the NFL but I questioned his instincts and physicality at the NFL level.
That wasn’t the case on Saturday. I liked how Watts flew to the ball and looked good tackling as well. If Watts continues to play well, the Chiefs may even consider a not too distant future where Mathieu, Thornhill, and Watts are K.C.’s three top safeties.
Stock Down: Dorian O’Daniel
While a couple of 2018 draft picks showed some promise on Saturday, one of them appears to be completely buried on the depth chart and didn’t do anything against the Bengals to change it. Dorian O’Daniel was one of the players that many Chiefs fans were excited about at the end of last season. On a linebacker unit that looked painfully slow and weak in coverage last year, he was one player that looked like he could excel in that area. Unfortunately for O’Daniel, the new defensive staff doesn’t seem to feel that way.
There are currently five linebackers that are clearly ahead of O’Daniel. Those being: Anthony Hitchens, Reggie Ragland, Damien Wilson, Darron Lee, and Ben Niemann. The fact that Niemann (another 2nd year linebacker) is clearly ahead of him (and playing well) despite being an undrafted player is not a good sign for O’Daniel. At this point it doesn’t look like O’Daniel even has a shot at earning any meaningful playing time. Instead it looks like he may have to fight just to stay on the roster.