Getty Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones (#95).
With the regular season officially over and the postseason ramping up, the Kansas City Chiefs are welcoming back a rookie defender they haven’t had for the majority of the season.
The Chiefs are activating defensive end Joshua Kaindoh from injured reserve, according to the NFL’s transaction report.
The #Chiefs also activated DE Joshua Kaindoh from IR.
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Kaindoh — a 2021 fourth-round pick — is returning to action after being placed on injured reserve on October 5. He suffered a high ankle sprain during Kansas City’s Week 4 win over the Philadelphia Eagles. Placing him on IR at that time freed up space on the active roster to promote wide receiver Josh Gordon, who had been signed to the practice squad the week prior.
While Kaindoh’s return is certainly helpful for the Chiefs’ defense, it’s not significant. Prior to his IR stint, Kaindoh played 12, 18, and 16 defensive snaps in each of Kansas City’s first three games of the regular season, respectively, per Pro Football Reference.
Big Red on Chiefs Defense Slipping
During Kansas City’s eight-game win streak, the Chiefs’ defense was averaging 12.8 points allowed per game. However, ever since the win streak was snapped courtesy of the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 17, that number has looked very different.
Over the course of the last two regular-season games, the Chiefs’ defense allowed on average 27.5 points per game. Granted — the sample size is much smaller and half of that average happened because of an elite Bengals offense. However, the other half came at the hands of a Denver Broncos offense that closed out the regular season averaging just 19.7 points per game this season, which ranks in the bottom half of the NFL, per ESPN.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid spoke about why he believes Kansas City’s defense has been slipping as of late.
“There were good teams we were playing, but we can do better in those areas. The guys know that. They’re the first ones to know if they miss a tackle or not. The thing you do is go back to your fundamentals and you just tune it up for the playoffs, and make sure that you’re right here when this game starts,” Reid said during his press conference on Monday, January 10. “You go through highs and lows during the season. We started off, both sides of the ball and special teams, we were just kind of cruising along there, not doing as well as where we thought we could be, and then we picked it up.
“I mentioned this after the game, it’s a tough thing when you’ve clinched the AFC West and you’ve got to finish it off with two games. It’s a weird dynamic to say the least because you’ve busted your tail to get the first step and that’s the AFC West. So, now you’ve got to get back and retool some things, both sides of the ball and special teams, and clean some things up. We’ll work on that this week.”
Chiefs Sign 7 Players to Futures Deals
After the regular season ends, NFL teams are allowed to sign free agents to futures deals, which locks those players up for the 2022-23 NFL season without hitting the team’s prior league year cap space. The Chiefs took full advantage of this opportunity prior to their playoff game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Kansas City signed seven players to futures deals on Tuesday, January 11: wide receiver Omar Bayless, tight end Jordan Franks, wide receiver Gary Jennings, running back Brenden Knox, defensive tackle Lorenzo Neal, wide receiver Mathew Sexton, and defensive tackle Darius Stills, per the NFL’s transaction report.
The Chiefs have signed the following to reserve/futures deals:
WR Omar Bayless
TE Jordan Franks
WR Gary Jennings
RB Brenden Knox
DT Lorenzo Neal
WR Mathew Sexton
DT Darius Stills
Those players will look to work in the Chiefs’ system during the offseason and show enough next summer to lock up a spot on the 53-man roster come September.