Will the Kansas City Chiefs miss L'Jarius Sneed vs the Baltimore Ravens?

After months of Super Bowl celebrations, draft analysis, bold predictions, training camp practice reports, and preseason games that featured a whole lot more Chris Oladokun than Patrick Mahomes, it is finally time for REAL football games again. This Thursday the NFL season kicks off with our very own Kansas City Chiefs taking on the Baltimore Ravens in a rematch of the AFC Championship Game. The Chiefs won that game 17-10, in large part because of a game-changing play by L'Jarius Sneed.

The Chiefs opened up a 17-7 lead in the first half of that game but were unable to get on the board at all in the second half. The Ravens nearly scored a touchdown that would have made up the final 7-point differential when Zay Flowers had the ball knocked out by Sneed at the goal line. That was far and away the biggest play of the game. On Thursday when the Chiefs take the field they will be without Sneed (who was traded to the Tennessee Titans this offseason) for the first time.

The Chiefs and Ravens are both predicted to once again be two of the best teams in the AFC and both teams have serious Super Bowl aspirations this season. While the Chiefs may feel better about their offense going into this season compared to what we saw most of last season, there is reason to be concerned that the Chiefs may miss Sneed's absence on the defensive side of the ball, especially early in the season.

The challenge for the Chiefs defense against the Ravens is that they are going to be one of the more physical running teams in all the NFL this season. The Chiefs still have to worry about Lamar Jackson's running ability, but now the Ravens have added Derrick Henry as their feature back. Nothing against Gus Edwards, but that's a big upgrade for the Ravens.

So it's safe to assume that the Chiefs are going to have to plan their defense for this matchup around stopping the run. That may mean that their corners will find themselves alone on an island on the outside while their safeties focus on the run game. That was a lot less scary when K.C. had both Trent McDuffie and L'Jarius Sneed available to lock up their men.

Are any of the Chiefs cornerbacks ready to step up and take L'Jarius Sneed's place?

This preseason the Chiefs gave Joshua Williams, Jaylen Watson, Nazeeh Johnson, and others a chance to claim their number two cornerback spot and none of them stepped up and earned it. After rosters cut down the Chiefs were reportedly interested in a number of cornerbacks, showing that they are still far from content with the guys they currently have on the roster at that position.

The Chiefs depth chart currently lists Joshua Williams as the starter across from Trent McDuffie, but I'm guessing we'll see a rotation of players used. Steve Spagnuolo will likely try to put different corners in situations that play better to their individual strengths. Having a defensive coordinator like Spagnuolo helps, but he's also been known to keep his game plans a little more vanilla early in the season and then break out the more complex stuff come playoff time.

While the Ravens may not have the league's most dangerous wide receiving group, when you add in their tight ends, the group of Zay Flowers, Rashod Bateman, Mark Andrews, and Isaiah Likely is still dangerous enough to exploit a team that only has one proven cornerback, especially if the defense is thinking about the run first and isn't deploying their full bag of tricks yet. Trent McDuffie can take one option away, but that still leaves Baltimore with a few playmakers who can win their matchups.

Plus, this discussion could all be for nothing if the Chiefs can't stop Derrick Henry and the run game. We could probably have another conversation about whether the Chiefs will miss Willie Gay Jr. at linebacker in a game like this. However, it's worth noting that the Chiefs under Spagnuolo have shown an ability to stop the run pretty well when they make that their primary focus. The times when teams have racked up big rushing totals against the Chiefs have been when KC has decided to focus on defending the pass at the expense of their run defense. I don't think that will be the case in this game.

This game may very well come down to the matchup of KC's "other" corners going against Lamar Jackson and Baltimore's passing attack. If Jackson can exploit that matchup it could be a long day for the Chiefs. If KC can win that matchup despite focusing their attention on the Raven's run game it could be hard for Baltimore to put up points. It's something I'll be keeping a close eye on, both for this game and for KC's overall defensive outlook moving forward without L'Jarius Sneed on the roster.

So what do you think Chiefs fans? Are you worried about the Ravens exploiting KC's corners that aren't named Trent McDuffie? Do you think Spagnuolo will be able to scheme around that group or do you think the loss of L'Jarius Sneed will be felt in a big way to start the season? I'd love to read your thoughts in the comments below.