5 Chiefs players who need a significant boost in playing time
By Matt Conner
Neil Farrell, DT
The selection of Neil Farrell to be on this list is both about the position he plays and the process of bringing him onto the roster in the first place. Either should be enough for more playing time in the second half of the season, but put together, there's zero reason to let him sit as a healthy scratch on most Sundays.
Coming into the season, the Chiefs' biggest defensive weakness was along the defensive interior. Even when Chris Jones is around, it's basically Jones and replacement-level players, which brought about a near-panic when Jones was holding out into the regular season.
While the Chiefs' defense is the story of the '23 season for the team, defensive tackle remains a major weak point. Derrick Nnadi has enjoyed some solid performances and he deserves credit for elevating his game at times, but the Chiefs have made so few investments there—even in the draft's later rounds—that the drop in talent is steep. It also didn't help early on that Turk Wharton was injured.
This year, Brett Veach drafted Keondre Coburn in the sixth round out of Texas. However, Coburn clearly wasn't ready and was beat out by Matt Dickerson in the preseason for his rotational spot behind Nnadi. The Chiefs also traded a sixth-round pick to the Las Vegas Raiders for defensive tackle Neil Farrell.
Farrell was a fourth-round pick a year ago as one of the draft's more heralded run-stoppers out of Louisiana State who clearly didn't make the leap that the Raiders wanted to see. The Chiefs traded for him with three full cost-controlled years left on his NFL timeline, which is largely why Veach wanted to make such a move—bolstering a position with a prospect with plenty of runway left before losing him.
Coburn and Farrell should have worked together to form a young nucleus along the interior as a long-term part of the rotation inside. Instead, Coburn is gone (via waiver claim to Denver) and Farrell is sitting on the sidelines each week. The floor/ceiling on Dickerson might feel a bit safer in the interim, but the Chiefs are doing themselves a disservice by not finding out what they have for the road ahead here. Farrell should be tested and allowed to grow.