Kansas City Chiefs: Rookie Report Cards at the Bye Week

Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

With the Kansas City Chiefs on a bye week this weekend, I thought it’d be the perfect time to take an early look at how all of the 2014 Chiefs draft selections have been doing so far this season. Yes, the NFL has only been back in session for a month, but hey it’s been a slow week.

The Chiefs had six total picks in 2014. Those guys were Dee Ford, Phillip Gaines, De’Anthony Thomas, Aaron Murray, Zach Fulton, and Laurent Duvernay-Tardif. Some of these guys have yet to be active for a regular season game, so obviously I won’t be able to give them an actual grade. The ones who have seen playing time though are fair game to whatever grade I see fit.

Dee Ford, in my opinion, has not played to a first round pick standard. I understand he isn’t a starter, but his only good game came against the Miami Dolphins in week 3. Ford had a few batted balls and put pressure on Ryan Tannehill throughout the game, which was reassuring, but since then… Well, there was this.

While it’s funny now, at the time of this unfortunate play I was not amused by Dee Ford running away from Frank Gore.

I understand that Ford isn’t a starter so me giving him a D for not making a huge impact might seem unfair. I don’t really think it is though, as he has two of the best in the biz to learn from in Justin Houston and Tamba Hali. Ford showed he had some fight in him during the Miami game, but seriously, what the HELL was the play above about?

With Tamba Hali’s future in Kansas City up in the air after this season, I’d like to see Dee Ford on the field more. I just want to know that we’ll be okay after Hali likely departs after 2014.

The fact that the Chiefs secondary is as bad as it is and we haven’t seen Phillip Gaines out on the field much isn’t reassuring. With Eric Berry injured, Ron Parker was switched over to play safety so you would think that the Chiefs might throw Gaines in from time to time in relief of Sean Smith or Marcus Cooper. But no.

Gaines has seen most of his playing time on special teams and has actually made some pretty spectacular plays out there. He had a big hit on Dolphins returner Jarvis Landry and really has shown a lot of heart with the special teams unit.

While I’d love to give Gaines a higher grade than a C, he hasn’t shined as a cornerback yet. The Chiefs drafted Gaines to help out a struggling secondary and I’m worried that we haven’t seen him in much action as a corner.

(Dee Ford video courtesy of PDS’ Vine)