Grading every KC Chiefs 2022 rookie at the bye week
The Kansas City Chiefs are 5-2 heading into the bye week and some rookies have played key roles this season. How has each rookie played through seven weeks?
Members of Chiefs Kingdom had many things to look forward to heading into the 2022 season, including the revamped wide receiver room and another year of watching Patrick Mahomes, but the team’s rookie draft class may have been what excited many Chiefs fans the most.
Kansas City selected ten players in the 2022 NFL Draft, and nine of them made the final roster after training camp. Eight have seen playing time on offense or defense, and all ten have dressed for at least one game so far this season, with seven playing at least 70 offensive or defensive snaps so far this regular season and six playing at least 100.
The Chiefs have the seventh-highest rookie snap count in the NFL in 2022 through Week 7 (on offense and defense), including the most of any team that made the playoffs last season. For a team that’s supposed to be a bona fide Super Bowl contender, they have had a lot of rookies play a significant amount of snaps, including in crucial moments.
Which rookies have seen significant playing time and how has each of those players performed so far this season? Let’s hand out grades to every rookie in the Chiefs’ 2022 draft class.
Note: These grades reflect their 2022 performance alone relative to their expectations and are not hindsight grades of their selection. A lower grade doesn’t necessarily mean it was a bad selection overall, just that player is not having the quality of rookie season many fans expected.
Incomplete:
Trent McDuffie (Round 1, Pick 21)
Cornerback Trent McDuffie was the very first pick in the 2022 NFL Draft for the Chiefs but has played the third-fewest amount of snaps this season out of the entire class because of a hamstring injury suffered in Week 1. He played very well in his lone game this year as he was not targeted a single time in 21 coverage snaps. Once he returns, and gets back to full speed, he’ll likely be a starting cornerback alongside L’Jarius Sneed and either Rashad Fenton or Jaylen Watson.
Darian Kinnard (Round 5, Pick 145)
Offensive lineman Darian Kinnard has dressed once this season (Week 5 against Las Vegas) and saw the field for six field goal/PAT snaps for Kansas City.
Nazeeh Johnson (Round 7, Pick 259)
Safety Nazeeh Johnson has dressed in three games this season (Week 4 @ Tampa Bay, Week 5 vs. Las Vegas, and Week 6 vs. Buffalo) and has only played 17 snaps on kickoff coverage and did not record a statistic in any of those games.