After the first game of the 2022 season for the KC Chiefs, how did their rookie class from the 2022 NFL Draft perform against the Arizona Cardinals?
The Kansas City Chiefs opened up their 2022 campaign with a 44-21 victory over the Arizona Cardinals. This season was much anticipated by Chiefs fans for several reasons and the rookie class was one of them. The draft class from 2022 is poised to be one of the best the team has seen in recent memory.
The Chiefs drafted ten players in this past draft, nine of them made the final roster, and eight saw playing time against the Cardinals, with all eight playing at least ten snaps. Darian Kinnard did not see any game action on Sunday and Nazeeh Johnson is on the practice squad. How did the eight rookies perform in their playing time against Arizona, even if some only saw a handful of snaps?
Leo Chenal, Linebacker (Round 3, Pick 103)
Leo Chenal only saw ten snaps on defense, eight of which were on the final drive of the game for Arizona’s offense. He saw six coverage snaps, three defending the run, and one where he rushed the passer. In his ten snaps, he did not record a statistic and was not targeted when he was in coverage. On 11 special teams snaps, I felt that he was a little underwhelming, but it was his first ever NFL game and that’s not anything to get bent out of shape about.
It’s hard to judge a player when he only played ten snaps on defense and it was mostly against backups. Chenal did not have a bad outing but he didn’t stand out either.
Joshua Williams, Cornerback (Round 4, Pick 135)
One of the stars of training camp for the Kansas City Chiefs was fourth-round pick Joshua Williams. He played 15 snaps on defense and 11 snaps on special teams in Arizona and played very well in coverage. According to PFF ($), in 12 coverage plays, he was targeted just twice and allowed one catch for two yards, no YAC, and a 56.3 passer rating against. He also earned a very good 76.8 coverage grade and 76.3 overall grade.
Similar to Chenal, it’s hard to judge a player based on a limited sample size, but it’s safe to say that Williams’ play on Sunday was encouraging and Chiefs fans should be excited about what he can potentially do in the future.