Chiefs: Three Talented Guys

Chiefs: Three Talented Guys

by David Bell

Sometimes, guys come out of collegiate football and find a home quickly in the NFL. Fortune has blessed the Chiefs kingdom with an apparent bounty in the draft and signings in 2018. These players have been added by trade, UDFA or maybe it’s really by hook or crook. I chose to focus on players who were not draft picks but form an important part of the team effort on both sides of the ball.

I wanted to provide some “focus” on three contributors whose names are not going to get rung from the bell tower — at least there is a “Yet” in that observation. I think among the three, the Chiefs have found two starters and a top rotational player at an important position on defense (at the very least). One further upside: none of them are breaking the bank to be in Red ‘n Gold and all three play crucially important roles on this team.

Offensive Lineman Andrew Wylie

Here is a player that arrived at the Kingdom, a UDFA, from Eastern Michigan. The Chief’s have a relationship with the school and when it came time to add to the pack of offensive linemen, Brett Veach made the move to bring Wylie to roost at Arrowhead. Wylie has found his place. He beat out two other now former Chiefs Offensive Linemen and played well enough to at least be listed as the #1 LOG before the season began. That didn’t happen as the Chiefs moved Cam Erving to the position and Erving has never looked back. But neither has Wylie. Wylie has appeared in all 7 games thus far and due to injuries was moved into position as the replacement for ROG Laurent Duvernay-Tardif (LDT) at the point in time LDT was injured.

So here is my note on that: Wylie moves easily within the position and gets to the second level with fluidity. He did have snaps where he did not have a good base but for the most part, manned the ROG position without fanfare. He had moments where he looked for work, had pop in his quickness and explosiveness out of the stance and found work to do when he had no one over him to block, making blocks at the second level several times. Not a bad performance at all considering he was tossed to the wolves. In Game 7, with LDT moved to the IR, Wylie got the nod to start. In the first quarter there are three things that stood out for me: the left side of the offensive line was manhandling the opposing players and on one occasion which I mentioned, both Fish and Erving stood over two men they were blocking who were on the ground. On the other side, Mitch Schwartz and a great game at ROT. Truly great. He is playing at All-Pro level. Shifting my gaze to Wylie, there was a pass play over the middle to Tyreek Hill and Hill made the reception but what is noticeable on the offensive line on this play is that both Wylie and Schwartz ate up the defensive left front. Patrick Mahomes had a completely open path to the throwing lane. Bam. Big gain for Hill.

Shortly after, on the play that Kareem Hunt leaped tall buildings, one of the lead blocks thrown at the second level was… you guessed it: Andrew Wylie.  Later in the 2nd quarter, the Chiefs were leading by a score of 14-7, Wylie made two significant pass blocks to allow PM2 to move the chains (about the 4 minute mark) and he threw another key block when the Chiefs scored again to make it a 21-7 lead at half time. In the second half, the Chiefs extended their lead to never look back and the best the Bengals could muster was a 3 point field goal for the rest of the game.

I know I saw Wylie whiff on a block that gave Mahomes trouble, but Mahomes skated out of it to the left during the game. On another case in the first half, on a designed rollout to the right (or an RPO), Wylie ate up Sam Hubbard and Mahomes pass made the play a big gain in yards. Those are just a few highlight plays that I observed when watching specifically for Wylie. I would say that the Chiefs have found a definite keeper in Wylie whose agility, speed and ease of changing direction (SAQ) already demonstrate a good grasp of doing the fundamentals properly. At the same time his ability to get into the second level, as a guard, is a huge bonus for an offense that uses the ZBS and move requirements for the men who man the front three. A great addition to the roster by Brett Veach.

Kewl Hand Lucas

Jordan Lucas was never a starter at Miami. He was big in his contribution on Special Teams — noteworthy play by the PSU grad, now in his third season. Lucas has been a blessing with all the problems the Chiefs have in manning the defensive back positions. Lucas has received the last 3 game starts at safety and he has made the most of it. He did nothing to stand out in the game against the Bengals but he certainly made his mark versus the Patriots. His 11 tackles and an assist, plus a pass defensed, were important to a struggling defense. In the preceding game when he first got a significant number of snaps in a game, he came away with an interception against the vaunted Jaguars and returned that for 49 yards in a display of running talent that one would not have anticipated.

Thus far? Lucas has found a home in the Chiefs secondary in a significant role at safety.

The X-Man (Xavier Williams)

Derrick Nnadi may be logging more snaps than Xavier Williams (at left) but when it counts, Williams is making plays. In 6 of 7 games, Xavier has 1 sack, and has been a steady producer in making tackles, his best game coming against the Patriots where he notched 8 tackles and assists. It may seem that he is not as important as the rookie but this is far from the case. He and Nnadi man the middle of the offense and work to stuff the run as well as put pressure up the middle on pass rush situations. Having two players that make immediate contributions at the position helps keep legs fresh and the workload manageable. This is something the Chiefs could not effectively do the past 5 seasons, four of those with an overloaded Dontari Poe. Again, this is an important signing of a free agent by Brett Veach.

David Bell – ArrowheadOne