Chiefs: A Week in the Rearview Mirror – This week has been eventful, busy, different, and no pre-season games won’t be giving us a view of players getting snaps in NFL Games. That makes it tough for us, but I am sure it’s very difficult for the Chiefs coaching staff to make decisions about players as well. However, I continue to perceive from the players and coaches a high degree of positive vibes. Even where exposures exist, there is a confidence in the direction that the Chiefs are headed.
Examples abound in regard to a positive outlook. Take a moment to listen to an interview with Linebacker Anthony Hitchens, with Bob Fesco:
On Saturday morning, in a staged virtual interview session, you can hear Offensive Coordinator Eric Bieniemy lead off, followed by three players: Mathieu, Butker and Reiter. It’s worth the time for getting the feel for what is going on. I have grown to love Bieniemy’s views of the team, practice and what he sees on the field during games. He is all E-n-e-r-g-y and you can tell he’s excited about the upcoming season. I fear that we are going to lose Bieniemy to the a team needing a head coach after the season.
The Offensive Line
When LDT and Lucas Niang made decisions to forego the 2020 season, my worry level increased a bit. As I investigated, things smoothed out for me and I penned a two part article about Missing Links on the offensive line. You can find Part I, here:
And you can find Part II here:
Immediately after I posted those two pieces, Price Carter took a deep look at the framework of protecting Patrick Mahomes. This is a very good piece on blocking to protect the QB by the Chiefs players. Price also concludes that adding Free Agent Kelechi Osemele is likely an improvement to the OL. If you haven’t read this article, please go here:
All week the Chiefs have been at it in Pads. This is the start of the prep for opening day. By all reports from those on site I must say that the whole team is on the same page: #runitback.
Thornhill’s Working Back –
Alright, Alright, Alright
Juan Thornhill was taped Friday working with DC Steve Spagnuolo and he looks very good. Great news for the secondary because it obviously is a concern (See “Missing Links: The Cornerback Concerns” next week).
He’s back and it’s only 8 ½ months since surgery on his knee with an extremely positive forecast. I am not saying he will play opening day. I suggest though, that he will be ready by week 3 or 4. He may surprise us all. Nate Taylor had an excellent article about Thornhill called, “Chiefs see positives in Juan Thornhill’s ‘hungry’ return” offered at the Athletic yesterday. You can read it at The Athletic (subscription required).
Two of my top Four analysts for the Chiefs are Nate Taylor and Seth Keysor who both write for the Athletic. My third and fourth go to guys are Ryan Tracy of Rogue Analytics and his partner in crime, Daniel Harms. I very much appreciate Ryan’s work with analytics and he, along with Daniel harms do nice work with in their delivery podcasts of ” Locked on Chiefs”. I have been using Rogue Analytics for three years now and Ryan Tracy’s player breakdowns for the NFL Draft are great information pieces about potential NFL Draft picks. Here is the link to Rogue Analytics: http://www.rogueapc.com/
I love this Locked on Series with Daniel and Ryan which you can view at: https://twitter.com/LockedonChiefs
The Rest of the Secondary
They must figure out how to cover the early part of the Season since CB Bashaud Breeland will miss games due to a suspension – it’s four games, unless his appeal is successful. Plus, he had another legal encounter that has not been addressed. Who knows on this one, but Breeland continues to work with the “Ones,” which is who he is, a number one.
The Chiefs brought in several cornerbacks this offseason: Antonio Hamilton, a Free Agent signing, as well as Tedric Thompson, then drafting both L’Jarius Sneed who has already seen work with the ones and BoPete Keys, who as emerged from the PUP list. I think both of these drafted players are going to be big contributors to the defense this year. Sneed will become one of the “starting 3 CB’s and Keyes should surprise everybody, so despite Breeland’s suspension, we have 4 new humans in the secondary, who bring a lot of talent is to the roster.
One thing that hurt was that Alex Brown sustained a knee injury that effectively puts him out of the 2020 season. He might be able to return very, very late, but I doubt he can get back soon enough to be a factor.
Harrison Butker is… tantalizing
possibilities: a 69-yard FG?
Another highlight is the kicking prowess of Harrison Butker. He attempted a 69-yard field goal and just missed. On a 58 yard attempt however, it clearly sailed through:
Ron Kopp, Jr. wrote about Butker at ArrowheadPride in a piece called, “Harrison Butker almost hit a 69-yard field goal at Saturday’s practice” and it’s a worthwhile read. He covers the 58-yard FG with the above video and gives a bit of focus on the 69 yard attempt. Read him at ArrowheadPride. This is Fun stuff and it was a crowd pleasing event at camp. Harold R. Kuntz — News4 Sports, K.C. — posted a video of the 69-yard attempt. It hit the crossbar and bounced away.
Clyde Edwards-Helaire
Nate Taylor has had positive views of the rookie RB. His status changed as soon as Damien Williams announced that he would forego the 2020 season due to his mother’s health status. I made a prediction about his yards on the ground for the 2020 season this past week. I believe he is going to surprise people but with our RB group, he is not going to get exclusive touches. I think he will exceed 760 yards on the ground though. Today? He worked with the One’s as Nate Tweeted this morning.
Damien Parson’s has a positive view of what RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire brings to the table:
Willie Gay, Niang, Sneed, CEH, KPass and Oh: BoPete is off the PUP
After the draft, if you recall, I spent a lot of time looking at why the Chiefs drafted Willie Gay Jr. in the 2nd round. I had eliminated him from consideration due to reports of off-field problems. The Chiefs had not taken a look at him at all, from what I could tell. So, my view of the LB’s who might be the target focused on other players. Then… WHAM… he was Brett Veach’s 2nd round pick. At 4 AM I came away from many hours of investigating, believing that not only was Gay the right pick in the second round as a LB, but that he would have been a round one choice, if not for the stories that accompanied him.
In Round One the Chiefs picked Clyde, who was a genuine Round One pick and the first running back off the board. This cemented my view of the draft as being an excellent accomplishment because the Chiefs drafted Lucas Niang (OT) in the 3rd Round and L’Jarius Sneed (CB) in the 4th. Niang had suffered an injury in 2019 and that affected his position in the draft. Sneed was affected by being a good pick, but from a small college. I am not going to say that things are fait accompli because we won’t see Niang until 2021. I do believe that Sneed will fulfill my expectations and be a solid contributor among the first three CB’s whether he plays inside or outside. Sneed will make a difference. So we have Gay:
Anthony Hitchens made an observation about Gay: “He sometimes plays too fast.” That may have been a jibe or compliment or it might have been a play on words for both. One thing he observed is that Gay now has a nickname for the Chiefs: “Turbo.” I am good with that. Further, Nate Taylor’s observation about the players working with the “Ones” included Gay. I think it also noteworthy that Tanoh Kpassagnon was also with the starters, which is good news. It shows that the Chiefs understand the progress Kpass made in 2019. He adds to a very good front four group of DE’s: Clark, Okafor, Charlton, Speaks and himself. Recall that the GM who drafted him stated that it took four seasons to develop into an effective DE or OLB?
Tanoh Kpassagnon is emerging.
With this in mind, only Martinas Rankin remains to come off the PUP, in my mind, anyway. Late in the week, BoPete Keyes returned to the field off the PUP. This has to be newsworthy. The Cornerback group has a lot of new faces that need as much time on the field as possible. I mentioned Bashaud Breeland’s suspension earlier, but should also observe that Mike Pennell will be missing time with a suspension as well.
List of Chiefs Injuries
Injuries as of today reported by Charles Goldman of Chiefswire.com:
- o DE Alex Okafor (Calf)DE
- o Demone Harris (Back)
- o DE Mike Danna (Calf)
- o LB Damien Wilson (Ankle)
- o WR Tyreek Hill (Hamstring) – note: this was a “tweak” as he, ran off the field
- o TE Deon Yelder (Groin)
- o TE Ricky Seals-Jones (Leg)
- o T Martinas Rankin (PUP)
None of the injuries are serious, though I’ve not heard the status of Seals-Jones injury, nor how soon Martinas Rankin may come off of the PUP. It’s not as easy to ascertain what is going on without preseason games and we must rely on those who are able to attend camp workouts and game practice. Still, the read I am getting from those present remains very positive.
I guess I am a true “homer.” This part of the season then, is Homeric!
David Bell – ArrowheadOne
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