How will Carlos Dunlap’s Achilles injury affect the Kansas City Chiefs going forward?
Veteran free agent Carlos Dunlap signed a one-year deal with the Kansas City Chiefs on July 28. Shortly after, he reported to training camp.
When the unofficial depth chart came out, Dunlap was listed as a starting defensive end. He also only played 9 snaps in the first preseason game against the Chicago Bears on August 13. He appeared to be trending towards being the starting LDE come Week 1, but Dunlap did not participate in the second preseason game against the Commanders on Saturday. He also missed practice on Monday.
This raised the question; “What happened to Carlos Dunlap?” Not long after, the Chiefs announced that an Achilles issue kept Dunlap away from practice. Joshua Brisco, co-host of The Zone on Sports Radio 810, put into words how we all felt about this.
i would rather hear that a player has been abducted by aliens than hear that he's having "achilles issues." https://t.co/6KWLIpaMGo
— Joshua Brisco (@jbbrisco) August 22, 2022
How may his absence affect his roster position?
To make a long story short, it depends on the severity. If the injury is minor, he could be back on the field for Thursday’s game against the Packers, but there’s no reason for the Chiefs to push anything here. The main thing that matters is his readiness for the regular season. Then again, if it’s moderate to severe, even that could be in jeopardy as he may not see the field again for a few weeks.
As we all saw on Saturday, George Karlaftis is a beast. He bull-rushed two blockers and got a sack with 7:30 left in the 2nd. This was Karlaftis’ second sack of the preseason. It is entirely possible that if Dunlap’s injury holds him back from practice for more than a couple of weeks, he could lose his starting position to the rookie from Purdue.
Then again, we shouldn’t immediately assume that his injury is anything more than regular soreness. How many of us sometimes wake up to Achilles pain after sleeping wrong? I know I do. Either way here’s hoping Chiefs Kingdom sees him back sooner than later.