Several Kansas City Chiefs wasted an opportunity against the Steelers

Dorian O’Daniel, Linebacker

The Kansas City Chiefs did not have the greatest linebacker play in 2018. It was definitely a position where many fans wanted to see improvement in with the arrival of a new defense in 2019. The one player most fans were excited to see perhaps get a bigger role was Dorian O’Daniel. While undersized, O’Daniel showed the speed and coverage upside the Chiefs were sorely lacking at times in their old defensive system.

While I didn’t know if he’d fit in Spagnuolo’s base defense, I thought there was a chance we’d see him with the first string in the sub package. However, that hasn’t been the case at all through two preseason games. In fact, O’Daniel hasn’t even been able to crack the second team, playing behind both Darron Lee and Ben Niemann. Niemann is a fellow second year player but went undrafted compared to O’Daniel, who was the team’s third round pick last year. The fact that Niemann is clearly ahead of him shows that the Chiefs don’t see him as a likely contributor this season.

Like other players on this list, you would like to see O’Daniel respond to playing on third string units by dominating against lesser competition and showing the staff that he deserves more of a shot. O’Daniel hasn’t been bad when he’s been on the field contributing a total of 3 solo tackles, 2 assists and a pass break up but I don’t know if anyone that has watched both games would say he looks like a guy that needs to bump either Niemann or Lee from the second string.

While O’Daniel may hold onto a roster spot because of his ability to play special teams, if he can’t at least crack the second team defense by the end of the preseason his long term future with the team could be in question.