The Kansas City Chiefs will return three players in 2019 that spent time on injured reserve during the 2018 season.
Each of these three players has an opportunity to make a significant impact on the Chiefs’ season in 2019. They’ll all be in contention to become the franchise’s very own comeback player of the year for the 2019 season. Let’s take a look at each of those player’s chances.
RG Laurent Duvernay-Tardif
Duvernay-Tardif went to injured reserve following the Chiefs’ Week 5 win over the Jaguars. He suffered a significant leg injury called a Maisonneuve fracture, and it knocked him out essentially for the rest of the season.
Ahead of the AFC championship game, Duvernay-Tardif was activated from injured reserve. He ultimately didn’t play in that game, because he wasn’t quite in football shape. He was, however, healthy ahead of the 2019 offseason. That means he didn’t spend the offseason recovering, but instead was working toward improving his game.
Duvernay-Tardif will return to the Chiefs offense as their most veteran interior offensive lineman. He was on his way to a potential All-Pro season before he was injured. He even finished as the No. 2 guard in AFC West in PFF’s grading, even though he played in just over four games.
It’s also important to remember that Duvernay-Tardif is a homegrown player and has seen marked improvement in each year with the team. There’s no reason to believe that he won’t see more improvements for the 2019 season.
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S Armani Watts
That game against the Jaguars was a battle of attrition. The Chiefs also lost Watts during that game after he made an impressive fourth-down stop in coverage against Austin Seferian-Jenkins. It was really quite a shame, because Watts was just beginning to come into his own and carve out a significant role on the defense.
In 2019, Watts enters a crowded safety group which appears to be headlined by Tyrann Mathieu and Daniel Sorensen. The team also drafted Juan Thornhill in the second round of the 2019 draft. Some expect Watts to push for a starting role, while others think he’ll have to prove himself all over again with a new defensive coaching staff.
Whatever the situation, it’s hard to not get excited about the return of a player who was emerging as a key defensive contributor before an injury.
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WR Byron Pringle
Pringle landed on injured reserve, after a promising end to the preseason in which he caught four passes for 122 yards against the Green Bay Packers. He was primed to make the roster as an undrafted free agent, but the universe had other plans.
There has been a large amount of hype surrounding Pringle this offseason. Inside the organization, both the offensive and special teams coaching staff rave about the progress that he’s made. Outside of the organization, media members and analysts are predicting that he could make a push to become a starter in the offense.
Becoming a starter would certainly make for quite the comeback story, but at this point Pringle is likely simply hoping to make the 53-man roster out of training camp.
So, Chiefs Kingdom, who do you think will be the comeback player of the year for the Chiefs in 2019? Let us know your thoughts on Facebook and Twitter.
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