The Kansas City Chiefs played in the final game of the Week 1 slate, hosting the Broncos on Monday Night Football. Before they took the field, the other 15 NFL games took place and plenty of former Chiefs suited up with their new teams for the first time.
The biggest names to depart the Chiefs this offseason were Trent McDuffie, Leo Chenal, Bryan Cook, and Jaylen Watson. Those are a lot of key defensive players for Kansas City yet the Chiefs' D held strong without them, allowing just 10 points from the Broncos offense.
How did those guys fare with their new squads? Let's take a look along with how a few other old friends did in Week 1.
Trent McDuffie had a stellar debut with Rams
The biggest move the Chiefs made in the offseason was trading McDuffie to the Rams. It was a tough decision for Brett Veach to make but this team doesn't pay its cornerbacks and McDuffie was no exception. He's now in Los Angeles patroling the Rams' secondary.
His first game with the Rams was in Australia, as L.A. took on the 49ers down under. While the Rams ultimately lost the game by double-digits, McDuffie played well in his debut. He finished as the fourth-best cornerback in PFF's eyes and graded out at 83.4 overall. He allowed just one catch on three targets.
The Chiefs will surely miss McDuffie this year, especially if he continues to play that well.
Leo Chenal underwhelmed in his first game with Washington
Chiefs fans were devastated to see Chenal go this spring but it wasn't a move that necessarily surprised anyone. The Commanders have become a team where former Chiefs seem to flock to and Chenal continued that trend.
His Commanders debut left plenty to be desired, however. Dean Jones, site expert of Riggo's Rag, FanSided's Commanders site, was not all that impressed with Chenal in his first game with Washington.
"[He was] A bit underwhelming to be honest. Think he played about 40 percent of snaps but was clearly behind [Frankie] Luvu and [Sonny] Styles, who both outperformed him. Luvu got hurt, which gave him a bit more involvement late, but I wasn't moved really."
This is a bit surprising to hear given what Chenal did during his Chiefs years. But hey, it's only one game and he has plenty of time to prove he was worthy of the deal the Commanders signed him to.
Emari Demercado saw the field a little bit with Cowboys
One of the more surprising roster cuts leading up to the start of the regular season was Emari Demercado. The Chiefs were clearly happy with the other names they had at running back and felt that Demercado was expendable.
After one game, their rushing attack proved they had more than enough juice to propel the offense. That being said, Demercado did see some playing time with the Cowboys, the team that picked him up after his K.C. tenure was over.
Demercado finished the night with two carries for seven yards and was present for 9% of the Cowboys' offensive snaps. That's likely more playing time than he'd have received had he remained in Kansas City since Kenneth Walker was the workhorse and the Chiefs clearly like rookie Emmett Johnson as the backup.
Other Chiefs alum
Jaylen Watson
Watson was the other Chief to leave Kansas City for Los Angeles and he fared decently in his first game with the Rams. Watson allowed just one catch on three targets and graded out at 64.9 per PFF.
Bryan Cook
Cook joined the Bengals in the offseason and it was a yet another big blow to the Chiefs' secondary. While Cook did allow the one target sent his way to be completed, he also had nine tackles, which was in the top 10 for safeties in Week 1.
Hollywood Brown
The Chiefs elected not to re-sign Brown and he inked a new contract with the Eagles. Things have gotten off to about as poor of a start as possible outside of an injury, as Brown was dressed for the game but never saw the field. Not a good sign for the former Chief as he tries to make it work with his third team in four years.
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