The Kansas City Chiefs kick off the 2019 preseason against the Cincinnati Bengals this evening.
There are currently 90 players vying for a spot on the Chiefs 53-man regular season roster. Some of them will make it, but a lot of them won’t. Here is a look at three of the position battles we’ll be looking at during this preseason Week 1 matchup:
Interior offensive line
Within the first six weeks of the 2018 regular season, the Chiefs had to call upon their backup interior offensive line in a big way. They suffered injuries to their starting RG, C and their top backup interior offensive lineman. While there won’t be a lot of scheme during preseason play, you can look at how offensive lineman do 1-on-1 in the trenches.
According to the Chiefs’ first preseason depth chart, the second team interior guys are LG Nick Allegretti, C Jimmy Murray and RG Kahlil McKenzie. The third team includes LG Abdul Beecham and RG Ryan Hunter. Those five are the guys that I am going to be watching very closely.
McKenzie is someone that I’m really interested to see after having a full redshirt season under his belt. I want to know where he’s grown and where he still struggles a bit.
Allegretti and Beecham are both rookies, so I want to see how they handle speed in the NFL. That seems to be a big adjustment that a lot of young OL need to make. Last season the Chiefs backup LG Cameron Erving had to go toe-to-toe with Aaron Donald for four quarters, so these guys need to be prepared for anything early on.
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Nickel corner
Steve Spagnuolo has made it pretty clear that the team is looking for a backup nickel corner. They want somebody behind Kendall Fuller who they can call upon if he gets dinged up during a game. One guy that they’ve played there a bit is Tyrann Mathieu, but I don’t expect him to be the main option, because he’s too valuable playing other spots.
There’s two players that seem to be competing for that spot directly and they’re both rookies. Fifth-round draft pick Rashad Fenton and undrafted free agent Dakari Monroe. Spagnuolo has said good things about both players, so it’s really difficult to see where they stand right now.
Performances in these games will go a long way toward determining which guy ends up winning the battle. If they come away with big play or shut down a promising rookie on the opposing team, it could go a long way. It won’t all come on the defensive side of the ball, though. Keep an eye on how each player does on special teams too. When they’re not on the field on defense, that’s where they’ll be making their biggest impact.
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Special teams coverage units
Speaking of special teams, the coverage units can tell you a lot about how the team views certain players. It’s a bit of a position battle in and of itself. The guys working with the first team on special teams, typically have a leg up on the competition to make the 53-man roster.
Special teams coordinator Dave Toub is going to make sure that guys get a lot of different looks so that everyone gets a fair shake, but he’s also highlighted some players he wants to get a better look at. Guys like John Lovett, for instance. Toub wants to see that Lovett can tackle in a live game, it’s different going through practice or drills with your teammates. He wants to see what he can do when there’s someone wearing another teams jersey lined up across from him.
Then you have guys like Cody Thompson, who was a stud special teams player coming out of Toledo. His highlight reel featured an insane blocked punt where he waltzes into the end zone for a score and it wasn’t his first one either. Can he keep up that type of play now that he’s in the NFL? We’ll find out.
Pay close attention to snap counts, big tackles in punt and kick coverage and potential for any big plays like forced fumbles or blocked punts.
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