KC Chiefs: How did opting out of season affect returning players?
By Matt Conner
One of the more interesting subplots heading into the 2021 NFL season is going to follow the progress and play of those players who are back in the game after a year away from it in 2020.
The National Football League gave players a chance to opt out of the season due to the limitations and uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, and several players followed suit after K.C. Chiefs offensive lineman Laurent Duvernay-Tardif became the first to take the league eup on its offer. One year later, those players are returning and hoping to pick up where they left off despite the change in personnel on the roster and the rust of not having played for a full year or more.
Some teams suffered more losses due to player opt outs than others, none more so than the New England Patriots who had a whopping eight players sit out the season. The list included high profile defenders like safety Patrick Chung and linebacker Dont’a Hightower.
As for the Chiefs, they had three players decide to opt out, starting with Duvernay-Tardif, only to return after a year away. Let’s take a closer look at each player and how the year away changed things for their professional football career—if at all.
Damien Williams, RB
Damien Williams is the only Chiefs player who opted out for the season who is not still with the team. Everyone knew the risks involved with taking a step back, but it still was a bit surprising to see the Chiefs cut Williams loose this offseason given his postseason heroics for the franchise in each of the previous two winters.
Yes, the Chiefs drafted Clyde Edwards-Helaire in the first round in 2020 to be the lead back, but it’s not as if the team was averse to paying decent money to the backs behind him. Instead of paying Damien Williams, however, the team decided to reward Darrel Williams for his growth in Andy Reid’s system and his late-season production for K.C, when it counted most.
Instead of leaning on Le’Veon Bell or others in the wake of Edwards-Helaire’s hip and ankle injuries last December, the team leaned on Darrel to become a primary threat out of the backfield. That led the Chiefs to pay Darrel over $2.1 million to return as a restricted free agent and be CEH’s backup. That left very little money for a third back which meant setting Damien free.
The Chicago Bears are now the employers of Damien and hope that some of his big game experience and a year away of rest can bring out the best in him in a key season for Matt Nagy as the team’s head coach. As for the opt out year, it definitely allowed the “other” D. Williams to pass him up on the depth chart and the Chiefs simply added a veteran minimum signing in Jerick McKinnon in their attempt to move on.