With a second-round pick in last year's draft, the Kansas City Chiefs selected Omarr Norman-Lott. It was a bit of a surprising pick given where Norman-Lott was projected to land in the draft but that's who the Chiefs took and they clearly felt like he was the right guy to come in and help bolster the defensive line.
Unfortunately, ONL's season came to an end in Week 7 when he tore his ACL. He's been working his back from the injury this summer but has spent the entirety of training camp and preseason on the PUP list (physically unable to perform). Despite Andy Reid saying earlier on in camp that Norman-Lott would be able to go this summer, it hasn't happened and now the Chiefs are facing a situation where their second-year player hasn't had any reps all camp.
This means that even if Norman-Lott was healthy enough to play and given the green light when the season gets underway, the fact that he hasn't had any reps yet means that the coaching staff will need to ease him in more. The good news here is that there are players the Chiefs can lean on in Chris Jones, Khyiris Tonga, and rookie Peter Woods. They also could opt to find help via the trade market or via roster cuts, as teams look to trim their roster down to 53 players.
Chiefs may need to make this move before Omarr Norman-Lott returns
If that's the route the Chiefs take, a name to home in on is Bengals defensive tackle Kris Jenkins. It's no secret in Cincinnati that Jenkins is a possible trade candidate given how the Bengals heavily addressed their defense this offseason. They added Dexter Lawrence and Jonathan Allen, making it crystal clear how they felt about Jenkins and his future with the team.
"The Bengals' d-line rotation is much deeper. Even though Jenkins was a 2024 second-round pick, he's been a virtual nothing burger through two seasons. Not big enough to be a nose tackle. Not dynamic enough of an athlete to be an effective 3-technique, never mind steal snaps from B.J. Hill or Jonathan Allen," said Matt Fitzgerald of Stripe Hype, FanSided's Bengals site. "Jenkins has decent functional strength, *some* pass rushing juice (4.5 sacks in 29 career games), and showed a little improvement in run defense last year."
Jenkins, like Omarr Norman-Lott, is also a former second-round pick, only he was taken one year earlier out of Michigan. He's on the hot seat with his team and could probably be had for a late Day 3 pick or, if the Chiefs are interested in risking it, they could wait and see if Cincinnati simply cuts him and scoop him up that way.
Chiefs need defensive line help and Kris Jenkins makes too much sense
Considering that Norman-Lott has not been activated from the PUP list yet, if he hasn't been before the roster gets trimmed down to 53 players, he will have to sit out at least the first four games of the season. If that happens, Jenkins could fit right into this defense. He wouldn't be pressured to be the guy but he could be rotated in and hopefully pack more of a punch than he did with Cincinnati. Having Steve Spagnuolo as his mentor could do wonders for him.
Amari McNeil, Marcus Harris, Cole Brevard, and Damon Payne would be Jenkins' competition en route to playing time with Harris likely being his biggest competitor. Jenkins might not have lived up to the second-round billing he was drafted as, but sometimes a change of scenery does wonders for these guys. Maybe joining the Chiefs and Spags could be exactly what Jenkins needs and he could help this defense out, even in a minor role.
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