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Kansas City Chiefs defensive end, Mike Dannas, celebrating after a third quarter sack against the Pittsburgh Steelers on December 25, 2024.

The Kansas City Chiefs go head-to-head with the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday afternoon, and both are coming in with an uncharacteristic 1-2 record to start the 2025 season.

The Chiefs have not looked their normal, high-flying selves, whilst the Ravens have proven to be more than proficient on offense, yet powerless to stop high-powered opposing passing attacks and close out games in crucial fourth quarters.

Kansas City Unlikely To Have Key Part Of Defensive Line On Sunday

Whilst KC’s defense has certainly been the better of the two sides of the ball this year to-date, they could be in for some tough news, as defensive end, Mike Danna, was downgraded from full participation in practice on Thursday, to limited practice on Friday.

This caused him to be labelled as “doubtful” to play this weekend. Danna has been dealing with a quad issue for the past couple of weeks, and whilst him practicing fully seemed to indicate that he would likely be a-go for Sunday, this new designation almost certainly rules him out for the pivotal AFC matchup.

Although “doubtful” in theory leaves some room for the sixth year pro to become available, the odds of that happening are very slim.

Between 2017-2024, only 1.25% of doubtful players ended up suiting up for a game – down from 1.44% for the 2017-2023. So not only is the likelihood just a little over 1/100, it seems to be decreasing year-on-year.

Day 2 Rookie’s Participation Up In The Air In Week 4

Similarly, rookie defensive end, Ashton Gillote, has also been dealing with an injury to his elbow. After practicing on Wednesday and Thursday, the rookie did not practice at all on Friday.

However, it was clarified that this was not due to his injury, per Arrowhead Pride.

“Defensive end Ashton Gillotte has been on the injury report all week with an elbow issue, but was a full participant on Wednesday and Thursday.” John Dixon reported on Friday.

“He was held out of Friday’s practice with an illness — and has therefore been declared questionable for Sunday’s game. Speaking to reporters on Friday, head coach Andy Reid said the rookie “should be OK as we go forward.”

Both Danna and Gillotte have been fairly regular contributors to the defensive front this season. Danna played 68% of snaps in week 1 – the highest in the position group behind just George Karlaftis.

After Danna went down in week 2, after playing just 3 defensive snaps, Gillotte picked up much of the slack and played a much more pivotal role on defense, managing a high of 56% of the total defensive snaps in week 3.

Gillotte’s play is still a work in progress after having been drafted by KC just this past April at the end of the third round of the draft, grading in at 51.4 per Pro Football Focus.

However, that is actually higher than Danna was graded over his first game this season, coming in at 46.6.

Gillotte currently has two combined tackles and no sacks. But he remains a key part of the defensive line rotation, especially with Danna set to miss another game.

If the rookie does not play, this will place almost the entire edge-rushing burden of the line onto Karlaftis and Charles Omenihu‘s shoulders come Sunday.

Daniel Arwas Daniel Arwas is a sports writer who covers the NFL for Heavy.com. Daniel began his career in sports writing in 2022 and has covered the NFL and college football for Gridiron Heroics and The Hammer. More about Daniel Arwas