Not the finest moment for the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday in Carolina.
Before you get up in arms, no, Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid doesn’t deserve to be fired. He shouldn’t go anywhere given how integral he’s been to the franchise’s success in recent years.
However, his facial expression in the snapshot above from Sunday’s matchup on the road against the Carolina Panthers is indicative of how he and fans should feel.
Sure, the Chiefs bounced back from their first loss of the season a week ago to beat the Panthers. However, when it takes a last-second field goal to get by one of the worst teams in the NFL while Kansas City is supposed to be a surefire Super Bowl contender, it’s far from the effort that anyone is looking for.
While injuries have certainly not helped Kansas City this season, as we well know, there are still some changes that could be made. At minimum, it’s changes that are worth exploring, namely starting with benching a few Chiefs players who simply haven’t been playing up to snuff.
4. DE Felix Anudike-Uzomah should take a backseat to Josh Uche
As is the case with any NFL defense, we see Steve Spagnuolo rotate his pass rushers on the edge routinely.
And while George Karlaftis has not totally lived up to his first-round draft status, he and veteran Mike Danna have earned their keep as the starters in that rotation. The depth, however, has been a bit confusing.
Much like Karlaftis, former first-round pick Felix Anudike-Uzomah has not looked the part of where he was drafted throughout his career to this point. While he’s ostensibly a backup who only played 12 snaps for the Chiefs on Sunday, he was a virtual non-factor as a rusher and made little noise in the game as a whole.
That’s even more frustrating when considering the trade deadline acquisition of Josh Uche, who played only 11 snaps. All of them came as a pass-rusher and perhaps he should merely be used situationally in that regard — but it’s hard to justify having someone as ineffective as Anudike-Uzomah has been off the edge with how high-upside Uche has proven to be. That’s why the Chiefs acquired him but they’re keeping the car in the garage.
It might be tough to pull back on Anudike-Uzomah but it seems worth it to get the best out of the Kansas City defense.
3. WR Justin Watson isn’t offering enough to justify snaps
When the Chiefs were searching for wide receiver help last season, we saw Justin Watson grow, at least slightly, into
a bit of a bigger role. He wasn’t an otherworldly performer but he did emerge as a bit of a downfield threat, ending his 2023 season with 27 catches for 460 yards and three touchdowns.
Fast forward to this season, however, and even with the likes of Rashee Rice and Hollywood Brown out, he’s been used in a limited capacity. Given what he’s done, though, it’s starting to feel like his role should be diminished even further in the offense.
Watson logged 48 snaps on Sunday but caught just one pass for 15 yards in the game. To make matters worse, he also graded out as a poor run-blocker in the game according the initial grading from PFF ($). So what exactly is he offering the Chiefs at this point? He’s not elevating the passing game, isn’t blocking well and is still on the field for more than half of the offensive snaps.
I fully understand that the Chiefs’ options are limited but perhaps some shuffling of personnel that makes Watson a bit less important seems like it’s a swing worth taking.
2. CB Nazeeh Johnson is making Chiefs fans pull their hair out
There’s a reason that many Chiefs fans have been clamoring for Brett Veach to dip his toe into the free agent pool in hopes of finding some secondary help. Opposite Trent McDuffie, who’s been terrific for the most part this season (though perhaps not as much on Sunday), Steve Spagnuolo has been rolling out 2022 seventh-round pick Nazeeh Johnson.
Against the Panthers, while it wasn’t all bad, Johnson continues to be a point of frustration for fans. His coverage skills are erratic at best and perhaps his best trait has been tackling. Of course, you’d probably prefer that your corners didn’t have to worry as much about tackling in hopes that their man isn’t making catches, thus necessitating a tackle being made.
What’s tough for the Chiefs is that there aren’t many obvious solutions right now to Johnson. Behind him on the depth chart is Joshua Williams, an equally frustrating player. Again, that’s why looking to someone like veteran Xavien Howard or any player who gets waived could be highly beneficial for the Chiefs in shoring up the secondary and not having to rely as heavily on Johnson moving forward.
1. OT Wanya Morris hasn’t been viable for some time
It shouldn’t be a shock to see Wanya Morris here considering that left tackle has been an issue for the Chiefs basically all season. Morris reentered the fray earlier in the season but the paltry results from his trying to protect Patrick Mahomes just haven’t been good enough this season.
While the offensive line as a whole didn’t play well against Carolina with the Panthers generating consistent pressure on Mahomes, Morris was the worst offender. He was giving up penetration on the quarterback’s blindside for one but also was struggling to push his man and create holes in the run game. Put simply, it was more of the same and the same has been quite bad.
The good news for the Chiefs is that it does seem like help might be coming. The recent addition of veteran D.J. Humphries is almost surely a move to address the issues with Morris and Kingsley Suamataia on the left side of the offensive line. Even if the former high draft pick isn’t playing at a Pro Bowl level or anything as he retakes the field for the first time since an ACL injury, it’d be hard to be worse than Morris at this point.
