Kansas City Chiefs: The Five Most Surprising Players Of 2016
By Ben Almquist
Kansas City Chiefs Most Surprising Players #2
Rakeem Nunez-Roches
With the loss of both starting defensive ends, the Kansas City Chiefs had every reason to be weak on the line of scrimmage. I won’t say they were great (they weren’t), but the Chiefs hardly embarrassed themselves with the effort given. A lot of that has to do with second year man Rakeem Nunez-Roches.
You could hardly be faulted for forgetting about Rakeem Nunez-Roches. Prior to getting his chance to start this year, he was best known for the nickname “Nacho” that he picked up in camp. So it wasn’t a surprise that Chiefs fans were not optimistic when he was called upon to start. However, the joke was on us as RNR demonstrated an ability to be a disrupting force in the backfield.
There is still room for him to grow, especially as a run defender. However, what we have seen from Nunez-Roches should certainly give Chiefs Kingdom a lot of confidence in the depth chart of the defensive line. The Chiefs will have to work on expanding RNR’s abilities, but he is certainly showing that he has something to work with.
Moving forward, the Chiefs definitely have a reliable depth player in Nunez-Roches. However, that certainly may not be his ceiling as a player. It will be interesting to see how much of a rotation the Chiefs use now that they have four quality defensive ends that can be called upon.