The Chiefs' stand-pat at the deadline but DL improvement could still be on the way
The Chiefs could be banking on in-house development to boost their pass rush in the second half of the NFL season.
The NFL Trade Deadline has come and gone without the Kansas City Chiefs making a move. The Chiefs found themselves in a strange spot of clearly needing to improve upon their performance — since they are currently outside of the playoff picture — but not needing to sell their future. Ultimately, they decided to only really be active on one trade front, that being Breece Hall of the New York Jets.
In a mildly surprising happenstance, the Chiefs had not been publicly connected to any of the defensive linemen who were on the move this deadline cycle. An area of the team that has been a clear weakness and plenty of teams willing to “sell”, it would have been easy for the Chiefs to kick some tires. At the end of the day, it appears they are going to bank on their current defensive line rotation being good enough to win another Super Bowl.
If that is going to be the Chiefs’ plan, they have to be banking on improvement amongst their current roster because they simply haven’t been that impactful early this year. Mike Danna had missed some time early this season, and his return to 100 percent could offer a consistency boost. Charles Omenihu is still less than 24 months post-ACL repair and could also see a return to pre-injury form with more time. Those two veterans could provide some boost to the floor, but where is the ceiling improvement coming from?
