The Kansas City Chiefs enter the weekend with concerns regarding their two starting tackles.
Both Eric Fisher and Mike Remmers have been unable to practice this week due to back injuries. With one practice remaining it’s becoming abundantly clear that the Chiefs might be without at least one of or both their starting tackles. They’ll be forced to rely on depth players in their absence when their depth at the position group had already been stressed.
Last week against the Dolphins they relied on undrafted rookie Yasir Durant to fill in for Remmers for about 40% of the offensive snaps. He drew praise from Andy Reid and did an alright job given the circumstances, but there was room for improvement too.
It’s not clear if Durant will be called upon to start this week, but Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy expects that whoever fills in to be ready to play to the utmost of their ability.
“Here’s the thing, he’s a professional football player,” Bieniemy said. “We signed him for a reason. So, we’ve always had a deal around here, hey, the next man is up. So, Coach Heck is going to get those guys ready to roll—he does a great job of preparing those guys as a tight-knit room.”
This team has always operated this way. Look back to the 2019 season, when starting QB Patrick Mahomes went down with a kneecap dislocation. The team rallied around Matt Moore, who helped the team secure wins over the Broncos and Vikings, nearly winning against the Packers too. It might be a different position this time around, but the expectations are the same for Bieniemy and the rest of the coaching staff.
“Regardless of who’s out there, we’re going to have trust in him, we’re going to believe that he can go out there and get it done,” Bieniemy said. “And when it’s all said and done, it’s his job and our duty to make sure that we’re putting the right player in the right position to go out and execute his job. So, one thing that we understand as well when we’re doing this job, trust is a sensitive issue. We put those players out there in positions to execute their jobs and we’re trusting them, so they have a great deal of trust in us as well. So, we just want whoever’s going to be out there, if it’s Yasir, Yasir is going to go out there and play his tail off for us.”
Fans may cringe at the possibility of having some different guys in at the tackle position this week, but this coaching staff is going to get the best possible performances out of those guys because of the way they practice, prepare and trust. Just knowing that the coaching staff and your teammates believe in you can do a lot for the confidence and play of a rookie like Durant.
