Chiefs Rumors: Leo Chenal emerging as a year two breakout candidate
During his rookie season with the Kansas City Chiefs, former Wisconsin Badgers star Leo Chenal didn't have much role to speak of on the defense. As a depth and rotational piece, the then-first-year linebacker played just 261 snaps on the season for the defense.
Willie Gay and Nick Bolton are still entrenched as the starting linebackers for Steve Spagnuolo's defense but, if there is room for another player to earn more opportunities in the 2023 season, it may very well be Chenal.
The former third-round pick hasn't generated a ton of buzz in training camp, but he showed out on the biggest stage yet, Kansas City's preseason opener. Wesley Roesch of Chiefs Wire named Chenal as one of the "studs" of the exhibition contest against the Saints, noting that he made a handful of key stops for the Chiefs defense.
Entering his second season, Leo Chenal might take a step up in 2023. His upward trend was hinted at Sunday when he had three tackles which were all defensive stops. Chenal is showing that he has a nose for the football.
The Chiefs made it a priority to upgrade the depth at linebacker this offseason as they inked Drue Tranquill to a sizable free-agency contract. That's even more pressing given that Gay is set to hit free agency after this season. But if Chenal can truly emerge as a breakout candidate in his second season, then Kansas City will have played the situation perfectly.
And it's starting to look more like that is, indeed, the case with the 2022 third-round pick.
Chiefs Rumors: Latest Chris Jones contract reports a cause for concern
Kansas City Chiefs training camp and preseason play move on, but Chris Jones is still not with the club. As everyone is fully aware by now, the 29-year-old Defensive Player of the Year candidate is looking for a monster second contract, one that will pay him roughly $30 million per season. With Jones holding out, it's obvious that the Chiefs have pushed back on that at the negotiating table.
But the latest update suggests that they won't be doing that much longer.
Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio noted recently on PFT Live that Jones has the Chiefs in "checkmate" when it comes to these contract negotiations. The defensive tackle has the leverage because of how important he is to the defense and, even though Kansas City has seen guys like Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce sign team-friendly deals, they are going to have to swallow paying market price for Jones.
Florio stated that his read on the situation is that the Chiefs are "resisting" paying Jones the roughly $30 million per season that the defensive lineman is looking for because "they know they're going to regret this" a few seasons into the deal when Jones, who will then be on the wrong side of 30, would assumedly start to decline.
But again, with the Chiefs in the proverbial "checkmate" with Jones, as Florio stated, the team is going to have to pony up the dough for their star defender. The one thing they can't do is expect this defense to be at Super Bowl-caliber levels if they don't have one of the most disruptive defensive presences in the league lining up on the line.
All told, I'm sure the Chiefs realize that at this point and there will come a time when the deal will get done, likely before Week 1. They don't have the leverage — they have a need to get Chris Jones on the field. That's the trump card here, and what will ultimately get the deal done.
Chiefs Rumors: Justyn Ross injury update after being carted off in practice
Wide receiver Justyn Ross has been the apple of every Chiefs fan's eye for two offseasons running now. Unfortunately, he missed the entirety of his rookie season a year ago with a foot injury that dated back to his time at Clemson. But with more buzz building in training camp this season and with Ross showing up with a big touchdown in the first preseason outing, the excitement has remained.
So when Ross suffered another injury on Tuesday at practice and was carted off the field, Chiefs fans undoubtedly feared the worse. Anytime you see the cart out, that's not a good thing… right?
Well, it's definitely not a good thing, but there is some good news when it comes to Ross.
Though Chiefs head coach Andy Reid offered little clarity about the injury after it occurred, NFL insider Ian Rapoport gave a positive outcome all things considered, saying that the injury wasn't believed to be anything serious and that Ross "should be OK".
Despite all of the hype surrounding him, Ross does face a crowded wide receiver room to battle for a spot on the 53-man roster. Another injury that would've sidelined him for meaningful training camp time would have truly hurt his case.
That doesn't appear to be the case here, though. We don't know yet when he'll return to action, but the injury not being serious seems to put him back on track to continue proving himself and earning a place in the Chiefs offense.
