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On Friday night, the Kansas City Chiefs take on the Seattle Seahawks in their second preseason game. The game won’t kick off until 9 p.m. Arrowhead Time, but it will give the Chiefs another chance to continue preparing for the upcoming season. Some developments from the final day of training camp on Wednesday foreshadowed what the Chiefs’ game plan could be for the game.
While some of the key starters may rest, there will still be plenty to keep an eye on.
1. How will Gardner Minshew look?
During the Chiefs’ final practice of training camp on Wednesday, Gardner Minshew drew attention by taking a majority of the snaps with the Chiefs’ first team.
After practice, it became clear why.
With the news of Mahomes’ sitting coming into play, it is clear that the Chiefs’ coaching staff is going to give Minshew a chance to line up and take as many snaps as possible. The Chiefs are likely willing to leave nothing to chance with the funky game time — 9 p.m. Central Time — and time change from the trip to the West Coast.
Mahomes will rest, and Minshew will get a chance to continue to put good football on tape.
In the preseason opener in Arizona, Minshew went 6 for 9 and ran in a touchdown with the second team. It was announced that the starting offensive line would play, along with the rest of the core starters outside of Travis Kelce, so Minshew will get a chance to show what he can do with most of the Chiefs’ weapons.
2. Who will win the battle at punt returner?
The Chiefs appear to have narrowed the returner battle down to four candidates after giving multiple players looks in camp.
Nikko Remigio, Brashard Smith, Skyy Moore and Tyquan Thornton were the four players to return punts during the practice. Last week, Thornton and Moore both returned one punt each, with incumbent returner Remigio not seeing any snaps.
This move was surprising, since Remigio had a solid season last year returning kickoffs and punts.
That said, the Chiefs have a crowded roster, and finding versatile players like Thornton and Smith who could turn into long-term contributors on offense and special teams will give them an edge on cut-down day if they prove they can be reliable.
3. How will Steve Spagnuolo deploy the cornerbacks?
The Chiefs’ depth at cornerback was tested early last week when Jaylen Watson left the game under concussion protocol. If he doesn’t play in this game, who starts in his place will be worth watching.
Rookie Nohl Williams stood out among the crowd last week, looking strong at the point of attack and making plays on the football. Second-year player Christian Roland-Wallace also made a few nice plays when given snaps, and he might have done enough to put his name in contention to make the roster for a second consecutive season.
The question marks will come with Nazeeh Johnson and Joshua Williams. Both players have been in the Chiefs’ system for a few seasons, but now, both have found themselves playing late snaps in the first game of the preseason.
Looking at the corner groupings in the Chiefs’ base defense should give a good indicator of where the coaching staff is with the depth chart and which players they are favoring to possibly make the roster.
4. Who is the Chiefs’ third tight end?
There need not be any conversation over the Chiefs’ starting tight end, and Noah Gray appears to be pushing more into the 1B position as far as tight end goes, but the Chiefs still have plenty of competition up in the air for the third (and possibly fourth) tight end spot.
After a few relatively unassuming seasons as a journeyman, Robert Tonyan has built momentum through training camp and the first preseason game as a likely candidate to be the Chiefs’ third tight end. Tonyan led all players last week with three receptions for 49 yards, with his longest play being for 20 yards.
Tonyan has been competing for the third tight end spot with second-year player Jared Wiley. With just one catch for 2 yards, Wiley didn’t have much of a chance to get anything going. Recovering from an ACL injury that cost him the second half of the season hampered his development, but his progression back has been going well — at least from what it appears in camp.
With Kelce likely joining Mahomes on the sidelines, the Chiefs’ personnel rotations for multiple tight end sets will be worth watching. It does seem likely that the Chiefs keep four tight ends on the roster, but the third man has the luxury of being safe.
5. Will the pass rushers get to the quarterback?
It seems likely that Chris Jones will join Mahomes and Kelce on the sidelines for the game, and this should give some players along the defensive line a better opportunity to rush the passer. The Chiefs mostly played base defense during the first preseason game, but they were able to generate little to no pressure without the use of a blitz.
The Chiefs have invested heavily in the defensive line via the draft and free agency the past three seasons, so the lack of pass rush in the first preseason game was somewhat surprising. The only defensive linemen to generate any pressure were Janarius Robinson, who was put on the IR with a foot injury he suffered late in the game.
The unit struggled to create pressure last game, but hopefully, a week of motivation via a screaming Joe Cullen will be enough to light a fire. Notable players to watch will be Felix Anudike-Uzomah, Omarr Norman-Lott, Ashton Gillotte, Malike Herring and Jerry Tillery.
