5 Kansas City Chiefs who helped themselves most in the regular season finale

1. Cam Jones

If you made me make a list of the 10 players I was most excited to see in this game, Cam Jones would have made the list, but he wouldn't have been at the top of it. Jones went undrafted out of Indiana where he was highly productive because NFL teams didn't think he could replicate his college production at inside linebacker in the NFL at his size (6'1" and 226) and speed (4.69 seconds in the 40-yard dash).

While Jones may not be the biggest linebacker and may not have a blazing 40-yard dash time, he plays fast and instinctively. He was all over the field on Sunday, racking up a team-high 12 tackles (11 solo). Of all the young players that got their first meaningful playing time in this game, Jones easily made the most of his opportunity.

While K.C. has enough linebacker depth for their postseason run this season, Jones may have done enough for the Chiefs to consider him for a bigger role in the future. The Chiefs can't give big contracts to all their pending free agents and have money to sign free agents from other teams. They're going to have to roll the dice on some cheaper in-house options at some spots.

Willie Gay Jr. and Drue Tranquill are both free agents at the end of this season, and Nick Bolton is a free agent after the 2024 season. While it would be great to see K.C. retain all of those players, it probably isn't realistic financially. While Cam Jones may not ever be a superstar in the NFL, he certainly looked like a guy who could be part of a solid rotation in the future, and that could be very helpful if K.C. needs to use its free agent dollars on other positions. In that regard, this game was huge for Jones.

So what do you think Chiefs fans? Do you agree with this list of players that helped themselves against the Chargers? Is there anyone I'm overlooking? I almost put Joe Thuney on the list for his versatility, but we already knew how good that guy is. You can find me on X (Twitter) @LyleGraversen if you have any other Chiefs that you think should have made the list.