Plenty of Kansas City Chiefs rookies have seen the spotlight this preseason. From second-rounders Mecole Hardman and Juan Thornhill to sixth-rounder Darwin Thompson, this rookie draft class has stood out compared to previous classes in Kansas City.
One player that hasn’t been mentioned much is third-round rookie Khalen Saunders. Drafted out of Western Illinois, Saunders is seemingly still adjusting to the NFL game.
“Yeah, there was a point there where he plateaued a little bit,” Steve Spagnuolo said of Saunders. “Brendan (Daly) and I talked about it, but I think he’s worked him a way to making some gains. It’s a little up and down, 50/50 right now, he has to find some consistency, but we like where he’s at right now.”
Spagnuolo busted out the dreaded word for rookies: Plateau. The worst part about using the term now is that the regular season hasn’t even begun yet. Coming from an FCS program, there was likely to be a bit of an adjustment period to the NFL game. Spagnuolo and Daly seem to be comfortable with where things are at right now, at least based on these comments, but they’ll obviously want to see more from him moving forward.
In Week 1 of the preseason, Saunders played in 32 snaps and recorded no tackles. In Week 2 of the preseason, Saunders played 25 snaps and recorded a defensive stop against Steelers RB Benny Snell, with the help of Jordan Lucas in the fourth quarter. So he’s shown a bit of improvement from one week to the next, however, it’s feeling like Saunders will be a project for the Chiefs as the season progresses.
These next few weeks will be crucial in determining Saunders’ role for the 2019 season.
