Five preseason stars who fooled Kansas City Chiefs fans

2. Armani Watts

In the 2018 NFL Draft, Chiefs first-year general manager Brett Veach used the team’s fourth round selection on Texas A&M safety Armani Watts. The selection was almost immediately and universally praised as one of the draft’s biggest steals and smartest selections. Watts was an electric playmaker in college at Union Station and made big play after big play for the Aggies.

As soon as he hit the practice field for Kansas City, fans knew that those voices were confirmed. The Chiefs, it seemed, had found their new safety centerpiece in the absence of Eric Berry. He was fast. He was aggressive. He had all of the intangibles necessary to be a big playmaker for Kansas City.

Then the regular season started and Watts disappeared. In 2018, he played in only five games and had no meaningful impact on the team. In 2019, he carved out an impactful role on special teams but made no meaningful contribution on defense.

To say that Watts has been a bust would be an overly cynical look at the results, but it is clear that Watts has failed to live up to the expectations the team had on him from the outset—or at least the dreams of Chiefs Kingdom after that initial training camp.

Maybe 2020 proves to be a turning point for the young safety, or maybe it winds up being his last season with the Chiefs. Time will tell, but it’s going to take a major leap in productivity for the former “steal of the draft” to become a staple in the Chiefs’ long term plans.