The Kansas City Chiefs clinched a first-round bye with their Week 16 victory. That left this Week 17 matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers as a largely-meaningless game. The Chargers don’t have anything but pride to play for, and the Chiefs will largely be playing without their key starters.
As the game will be pretty different this week, I’m going to change up the format for this defensive game preview. Instead of covering concepts that the Chargers could hit the Chiefs with, we’ll talk about some Chiefs players on this side of the ball that could make an impact and how they’ll likely be used.
With that in mind, let’s dig into the Chargers personnel and some Chiefs players we may see on Sunday.
The personnel
The last time these two teams faced off, the Chiefs were preparing to see Tyrod Taylor at quarterback for the Chargers. After a pre-game punctured lung knocked Taylor out of the game, Herbert was thrust into the starting role. He’s not given it back this season and has looked phenomenal. Despite their struggles this year, Herbert already looks like a franchise quarterback in his rookie year.
The other major changes from the first matchup come from injuries and COVID/Reserve designations. Both Keenan Allen and Hunter Henry are to miss this weekend’s matchup due to COVID, limiting Herbert’s top-end weapons. It’s also likely that both Bryan Bulaga and Sam Tevi will miss this weekend’s matchup due to injury, which will through Storm Norton or Tyree St. Louis into the lineup at right tackle for the Chargers.
Chiefs players to watch
With many key starters missing, it’s an opportunity for many of the Chiefs' backups and rotational defenders to get in the mix. They’ll have the opportunity to get some much-needed live snaps in a year without many, as well as an opportunity to show the coaching staff why they deserve more of these snaps in 2021 and beyond.
The Chiefs' defensive line has been largely set in stone this season, outside of a couple of injuries. That consistency has left Tim Ward and Khalen Saunders on the inactive list for most of the year without a chance to break into the rotation. Ward is stuck in behind several other defensive ends but should get his opportunity to show that his added mass and ridiculous length can impact the game both as a run stuffer and as a defensive end.
Saunders, on the other hand, has had some opportunities over the past two years but hasn’t been able to stay in Steve Spagnuolo’s defensive tackle rotation. Tershawn Wharton slid past him in the depth chart early this season as a pass-rushing defensive tackle, and Saunders has struggled to make the gameday actives since then. He’ll likely get some quality reps with Chris Jones getting rest this week and could make a splash against a struggling interior offensive line.
It’s likely that Anthony Hitchens and Damien Wilson will miss this Sunday’s affair, and Ben Niemann has already been ruled out with a hamstring injury. If Wilson can’t go, it’s likely that the Chiefs utilize a practice squad call-up for Omari Cobb, giving the Chiefs the same three linebackers that they finished with during last week’s Atlanta Falcons game. That’s terrific news for both Willie Gay Jr and Darius Harris, as neither has gotten bulk snaps under Spagnuolo.
Chiefs fans have clamored to see more of Gay throughout the year, and this is likely the first week he’s gotten the full mental and physical reps in practice. He has a learning curve to overcome, per Spagnuolo, and these reps will be the most important ones of his young career. Seeing more time on the field is only going to help his ability to read the defense and take proper angles against NFL-level speed.
Harris was thrust into the MIKE linebacker role after Niemann’s injury against the Falcons, so he too is benefitting from a week’s worth of mental and physical practice repetitions. He performed admirably in spot duty and could cement a hold on a backup MIKE linebacker role in 2021 if he proves that he can adjust fronts and keep this group on the same page throughout the game.
The Chiefs defensive back group will also likely undergo an overhaul, and none of the Chiefs starting four may come out in the secondary. The Chiefs could roll out a lineup of L’Jarius Sneed, Rashad Fenton, Juan Thornhill and Armani Watts to start this week’s affair. Sneed and Fenton have gotten their fair share of snaps this season, and it’s likely that they wouldn’t play all 60 minutes. If Spagnuolo were to rotate his secondary, that opens the door for BoPete Keyes and — if elevated to the 53-man roster — Deandre Baker.
Keyes and Baker are the most interesting names here, as neither has gotten defensive snaps outside of Keyes’ end-of-the-game ones in Week 7. That could mean that Spagnuolo and Sam Madison get them some earlier reps to try to get an extended look at the young defensive backs. If both look good and show an early grasp of the scheme, Brett Veach may feel comfortable with his cornerback depth in 2021, making this a potentially important game for this position group.
Since Sneed returned, Thornhill’s snap count has decreased, as the Chiefs defense has moved Tyrann Mathieu out of the slot defender role — replacing him with the rookie. Thornhill hasn’t quite looked like the same player since his 2019 injury and has been relegated to a dime-safety role almost exclusively. These extended reps will surely do him well this week and help build some confidence going into the playoffs.
The bottom line
The first (and most important) key to this game is making sure the Chiefs stay healthy. Any player dealing with a nagging injury should sit and get healthy going into the playoffs. It’s good to have a rhythm and be peaking into January, but it’s hard to do that if your team is missing any of its key players.
The second key is to treat this as a rare in-season evaluation game. It’s not often that a team gets to take a look at their depth against starters, even in the preseason. Although the Chargers are also banged-up, the Chiefs will still be seeing some starting offensive linemen and the odds-on favorite for offensive rookie of the year — if not the full-blown award — in Herbert. Several of these depth pieces haven’t gotten many live reps this year without a preseason, so this can help Veach and his staff put together what they’re hearing from the film study and the on-field performance.
This is a big game for a lot of young players, and several may be playing for a job in 2021 — not just for the Chiefs. A good showing in this Week 17 matchup may raise the eyebrows of other GMs around the league, helping some of these depth pieces to land a more significant role elsewhere in the future. For that reason alone, this game will be an exciting watch for many Chiefs fans.
This is a completely pressure-free game for the Chiefs. If they win and look good with some depth pieces, there will be some depth decisions that the Chiefs front office can feel more comfortable with in 2021. If they drop this game against the Chargers, it only hurts the draft positioning of a divisional foe. As long as the team stays healthy, this should be a fun watch for Chiefs fans in Week 17.