The Kansas City Chiefs presented reporters and fans with good news on Juan Thornhill’s ACL injury from the NFL Combine.
The Kansas City Chiefs are focused on preparing themselves for the NFL Draft at this week’s annual combine in Indianapolis, but some other offseason news leaked out as well from the team on the subject of Juan Thornhill.
Thornhill, a starting safety as a rookie in 2019 for the Chiefs, was lost for the entire postseason after he suffered a torn ACL in the final game of the regular season. From there, his timeline was unknown as to his 2020 readiness given the unpredictable nature of individual recovery times and the severity of such injuries. However, sources note that Thornhill is progressing well and the goal to be ready for the regular season shouldn’t be a hurdle.
Expectation is for #Cheifs S Juan Thornhill to be ready for the start of the season. When he gets going during training camp is still TBD. I’m told his ACL injury actually turned out to be in better shape than expected when the surgery actually happened. Good news.
— James Palmer (@JamesPalmerTV) February 25, 2020
Brett Veach says Juan Thornhill is progressing well from torn ACL. Belief is he’ll be ready for regular season, perhaps training camp.
— Matt Verderame (@MattVerderame) February 25, 2020
Alex Okafor is coming off a torn pec and is ahead of Thornhill’s timeline
Thornhill was key to the Chiefs defensive turnaround in 2020 as the team hit the reset button on the safety position one year ago. Tyrann Mathieu was imported as an expensive free agent to be the leader in the secondary, but Thornhill was a second round investment for Brett Veach in the 2019 NFL Draft and was given the starting free safety spot from Week 1.
Thornhill rewarded the Chiefs’ confidence in him from the word go and developed with playing time throughout the season. By the end of the year, he had proven himself to be a well-rounded product with a high ceiling. The 24-year-old Virginia product finished with 58 tackles, 3 interceptions and 5 batted passes in 16 starts for the Chiefs.