Important takeaways From the Kansas City Chiefs first preseason game

The Blake Bell Injury Matters

Entering training camp there was a fair amount of Chiefs fans that were predicting that Jody Fortson and Noah Gray may make Blake Bell expendable this season. If you’re a regular reader of my posts, you know that I have consistently pushed back against that idea for the exact same reasons why I think Bell’s injury matters to this team. Bell is the Chiefs’ primary blocking tight end.

I’ve written before about how Andy Reid’s offense uses a second tight end as a primary blocker on a lot of plays. I’ve even made the comparison that Blake Bell is to the tight ends what Michael Burton is to running backs. Yes, guys like Fortson and Gray are better suited to catch passes and spell Travis Kelce, but what about on short-yardage plays when they want a true run-blocking tight end?

Matt Bushman might be the only other tight end on the roster capable of realistically playing some of those inline blocking snaps, and even then, I think he’ll be a step down from Bell. If it’s announced by the time you are reading this that Bell is out for a significant amount of time, I wouldn’t be surprised if you see the Chiefs go out and sign a true blocking tight end and even think that player would have a decent chance of making this roster.

Fortunately for K.C., that was the only real negative I saw in this game. There were a few players that either didn’t get as many chances as I would have liked or didn’t flash as much as I hoped, but nothing that really has me worried looking forward. Overall I thought this was a very promising start for the Chiefs with almost all of my big picture takeaways being positive.

So what do you think Chiefs fans? Are you happy with how this first preseason game went? Are you encouraged by the big picture like I am? Is there anything else you would have added to the major takeaways from this game? I’d love to read your thoughts in the comments below.