Important takeaways From the Kansas City Chiefs first preseason game
The Chiefs Rookies Look Good
Last season, the Chiefs got a major boost from their rookie class with Creed Humphrey and Trey Smith becoming cornerstones of their revamped offensive line and Nick Bolton becoming a reliable force in the middle of the defense. This offseason, the Chiefs were relatively quiet in free agency while the rest of their division made headlines with big name acquisitions via trades or free agency. That meant that if the Chiefs were going to keep pace with the division, they would need Brett Veach to once again hit on some of his picks in the draft.
It’s just a single preseason game, but one of the biggest takeaways from Saturday is that it looks like this draft class could be a huge win for K.C. Chiefs fans may want to get used to relatively quiet games from Trent McDuffie and I mean that in a good way. McDuffie’s reputation is that he may not make a bunch of big splash plays, but he just does a great job of being reliable in coverage which causes quarterbacks to look elsewhere to throw. We got our first look at that on Saturday.
Defensive end George Karlaftis also looked like he belonged. He isn’t a freak athlete like a lot of elite pass rushers, but he’s strong, relentless, and seems to be a sponge when it comes to coaching. While the Bears offensive line isn’t elite, Karlaftis showed that his power and motor will translate to the NFL and that’s huge. If he continues to take coaching and refine his technique and pass rush moves he will be a good NFL player.
I don’t believe Skyy Moore got in reps with the first string, but I wouldn’t worry about that. Moore is definitely behind JuJu and MVS right now, but has been rotating in with the starters in practice on a regular basis. Moore had 3 receptions on Saturday that included a great sideline toe drag catch, a contested catch in the middle of the field, and a jet sweep play. Moore moves really well and has shown good hands so far. It’s only a matter of time before we see him connecting with Mahomes in a big game situation.
Rookies Bryan Cook, Leo Chenal, Josh Williams, Jaylen Watson, and Darian Kinnard all had solid first performances too. Cook and Williams look like they’ll be two of the first defensive backs up off the bench and Watson looks like he may earn himself a roster spot as well. Chenal is still running behind veteran Elijah Lee for the starting SAM linebacker in the base defense, but I still think he has a shot once he gets some more experience. He definitely is a force against the run. At this point, I don’t know that Kinnard has a realistic shot at taking the starting right tackle job from Andrew Wylie, but worst-case scenario is that he’ll provide some nice depth for the offensive line.
The last rookie I’ll touch on is going to need a little space of his own.