KC Chiefs players who could shine with more playing time in Week 17
By Matt Conner
These six young Chiefs players might stand out if given more playing time in Week 17.
The L.A. Chargers are visiting the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday for their second meeting of the season, but the buzz around this match is going to be quite different than it was in Week 2. This time around, head coach Andy Reid is likely to rest his best players, which means that several younger players are going to have a chance to show what they can do.
In the light of potential opportunities, we thought we’d highlight a few players who could really help themselves with strong showings—if they’re allowed to showcase their talents.
BoPete Keyes
The Chiefs secondary is already crowded with Charvarius Ward, Bashaud Breeland, L’Jarius Sneed, Rashad Fenton and Antonio Hamilton all vying for snaps, so it’s not a surprise to see BoPete Keyes often left inactive on game day throughout his rookie season. However, coming into the final week of the season, it’s quite possible that the Chiefs will choose to rest players like Breeland and Ward which could open up some reps for Keyes to show what he’s learned in practice through 16 full weeks.
Remember this: the Chiefs were done in the draft until Veach decided that he wasn’t going to be able to guarantee Keyes would be there after the draft to potentially sign as a rookie free agent. Thus he traded a future 6th round pick to the Tennessee Titans in order to grab Keyes out of Tulane in the seventh round.
Keyes has earned some decent playing time on special teams in seven games this season, but he’s yet to play a single defensive rep. Look for the Chiefs to give Keyes some initial reps on Sunday to see what they have on the roster headed into 2021 given that Breeland will hit free agency and Ward is also an RFA.