Laddie Morse
The Kansas City Chiefs may be the best team in the league, we’ll see about that, but that’s why they play the games, right? However, there’s no denying that these 2021 Chiefs have a big bold bumper crop of rookies who’ll help sustain this team throughout their self-proclaimed dynasty. In fact, if these rookies work out… it’s just “dynasty,” no self-proclaiming about it.
In an article at ESPN called, “1-32 poll, plus which rookies made the best first impression,“ the Chiefs rookie right guard is listed first overall:
“Top rookie: G Trey Smith – Smith had a pass block win rate of 100%. His run block win rate of 68.8% was in the middle of the pack for starting guards, but still impressive enough for a sixth-round pick making his first NFL start. At the very least, Smith validated the Chiefs’ decision to put him in the starting lineup. — Adam Teicher”
The following clip was offered on Twitter by Mitchell Schwartz who adds this about Trey Smith and one of the blocks he makes to give Patrick Mahomes a freeway sized lane to the end zone: “Keep your eyes on Trey Smith (RG #65) on this play. Keeps going once Pat scrambles and throws a killer block.”
Here, take another look from a different angle:
It doesn’t stop with Trey Smith. He may be a breakout player who wasn’t drafted until the 6th round this year, and has already been getting headlines such as “The Steal of the Draft,” but he doesn’t have to sing “Oh Lonesome Me” as the only rookie along the offensive line. He has a ridiculously great running mate right next to him at OC in Creed Humphrey, who was drafted in the 2nd round this year, 63rd overall. PFF (ProFootball Focus) pointed out Creed’s huge Week One success:
James Palmer at NFL Network would, and does, agree:
Let’s not forget that Creed Humphrey and Trey Smith performed well against one of the best defensive front fours in the NFL.
In a piece written by Pete Smith for si.com called: “Defensive Line Flexibility Could Provide Browns Key Advantage” he states,
“[The Browns have] a flexible defensive front that can counter teams that want to pound them with the run, attack them through the air and everything in between…. The defensive line can set the tone for everyone else.”
That makes the performances of Creed and Trey against the likes of Malik McDowell, Malik Jackson, Jadeveon Clowney and Myles Garrett all the more impressive.
Both Trey Smith and Creed played 100% of the Chiefs 65 offensive snaps on Sunday.
Another Chiefs rookie, but on the defensive side of the ball, is LB Nick Bolton. Bolton was in on 45, or 76%, of the Chiefs 59 defensive snaps on Sunday. Bolton played a solid game, not spectacular, but solid. Considering that DC Steve Spagnuolo likes to bring his LBs along slowly, as witnessed by the way Willie Gay was gradually brought into the defense last year, it’s saying something positive that Nick Bolton played more snaps than third year LB Ben Neimann. The active word Andy Reid uses to describes Nick Bolton’s performance against the Browns was, “good”…
“I thought Nick did a pretty good job. He had a couple of real secure tackles that were important for us. It looked like mentally he was able to digest everything they threw at him, and if he did make a mistake, he fixed it the second time around. On defense, if you’re a repeat offender that can be a tough deal on the defense, so he’s been good with that and he was good with that in the game too.”
There were multiple plays against the Browns after which I shouted, “A Bolton out of the blue” and this was one of those plays:
In a piece written for ArrowheadAddict by Logan Lazarczyk, called, “Nick Bolton is the real deal and other takeaways” he says,
“It is an overreaction to say Nick Bolton is going to be a star linebacker after one game, but the rookie linebacker showed plenty of flashes against the Browns on Sunday. The second-round pick showed why the Chiefs were more than happy to select him at 58th overall in the 2021 draft.”
I would agree that it’s an overreaction to say Bolton is going to be a “star” LB based on that game, but he does give us hope. Here’s a 1:07 snippet from RGR Football’s Live Stream on Monday, what Ryan Tracy and Daniel Harms had to say about Nick Bolton after game one:
I like, and agree with, their optimistic yet realistic, take on Bolton. You can catch their RGR YouTube broadcast every Monday and Thursday at 6:00 PM CDT.
One other rookie who got some snaps, surprisingly, was 4th round pick, Joshua Kaindoh. He may have only gotten 12 snaps versus the Browns, but I didn’t expect he’d get any. He may not have gotten any snaps had Frank Clark been available, but I’m anxious to see what this defense can achieve with the return of Clark, likely this Sunday evening. Here’s what HC Andy Reid had to say about sitting Clark against the Browns:
“I think he was right on the edge of being right. He pushed himself this week and I just didn’t feel like it was quite all the way back with him. And so rather than take steps back with him — you’re right, we’ve been working with this trying to make sure he gets it right. And it’s not lack of effort or want to play or any of that stuff. It’s just a decision I have to make sitting in this chair along with the medical people feeding me information and Frank communicating. And I just thought that was the best way to go.”
Rookie TE Noah Gray had 7 snaps so it looks like with Gray, they’re taking the Willie “The Wiz” Gay approach: as they plan to “Ease On Down, Ease On Down the Road.“
Lucas Niang is also considered by many to be a rookie since he opted out last year, and he played in 100% of the snaps at RT. I thought his play was also very good even though some will site that he allowed one of the sacks on Patrick Mahomes. I will remind everyone who thinks that way, that Patrick Mahomes is still learning to take “less” deep drops, and taking a drop too deep on that play was the main reason for the sack. I think it would have been a sack even when Mitchell Schwartz was at his best.
So, lookie, lookie, we gots da rookies!
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Laddie Morse
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