Overlooked takeaways from the Chiefs win over Jaguars

Khalen Grabs the Spotlight

Slowly and steadily this season, the attention paid to defensive linemen for the Chiefs has had to yield more and more of the spotlight to defensive tackle Khalen Saunders. That’s because he’s playing his best football ever as a professional and it’s making a real difference up front for the Chiefs.

Up until this season, Saunders has been a project lineman who was starting to earn a reputation as a disappointing investment. Injuries had robbed him of key points in his development, and competition had taken away any opportunities he’d earned before getting hurt which left him lingering on the bench even after three years in the NFL.

Saunders was always going to be a slow burn given that he played his college ball at Western Illinois, but it wasn’t until Joe Cullen became his positional coach—or at least there’s correlation here—that he broke out.

This season, Saunders has shown the ability to disrupt the quarterback while playing next to Chris Jones, who admittedly makes things easier for everyone around him, but he’s also been a bull against the run. He’s only playing rotational reps of around 30 to 40 percent of all defensive snaps, but the Chiefs have clearly learned when to utilize him to great effect and he’s turning heads all over Chiefs Kingdom.

On Sunday, Saunders had another excellent showing and even had a sack of Trevor Lawrence. This spring, the Chiefs are going to have to make a decision whether to watch Saunders leave in free agency or not, but with an effort like this in ’22, the Chiefs might want to see just how high the ceiling is for this late bloomer.