Tershawn Wharton is unearthed gem for the Kansas City Chiefs

Where can Tershawn Wharton improve in the second half of 2020?

In nine weeks, Wharton has far and away surpassed expectations. Going undrafted, expectations tend to gear towards depth players on the back end of the roster. With all of the injuries that Kansas City has suffered already, the rookie has already taken advantage of additional snaps in the rotation and has already shown signs of development.

Continuing to develop will give the Chiefs an excellent option rotating with Chris Jones. It will also allow defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo to utilize Jones on the outside more often. Given the injuries at defensive end and lack of pass rush opposite Frank Clark this season, that could prove highly beneficial.

The area for improvement that stands out the most revolves around his hand usage. Wharton will need to improve upon winning the leverage battle more consistently without the body mass and lower body strength to consistently anchor in the run game more consistently and his ability to shed blockers. Improving his hand fighting on pass-rushing downs will also need improvement.

While Wharton has flashed the club-rip move a few times over the last month, he doesn’t have an arsenal of moves at his disposal yet. That’s to be expected of a UDFA in his first season. Building upon what he has developed to this point, building off that move and adding a few more would go a long way to improve his ability to get after the passer when his athleticism isn’t enough.

Once Wharton can put together multiple moves to counter offensive linemen, coming to the line of scrimmage with a plan goes along with that. There are plenty of times when he cannot get off of his blocker and enters a standoff. As he adds counters to his arsenal, it will eliminate some of those standoffs and turn into pressure in the backfield.

We’ve yet to see Wharton convert that speed into a power rush move. Given how quickly he launches off the line, he often already has his blocker off-balance. Eliminate the blocker from the play by taking advantage of that by countering into a bull rush or long arm move.

Wharton finally gives the Chiefs a viable rotational option for Chris Jones that the team has been lacking. It will be interesting to see what more Wharton shows in the second half of the season. If he can improve his abilities to quickly diagnose plays and utilize his hands, he will continue to get added playing time along the defensive line.