Kansas City Chiefs: Mitch Morse likely to miss time
By Ben Almquist
Early indications are that the Kansas City Chiefs will have to do without center Mitch Morse for a while after he suffered a sprained foot against the Eagles.
By and large, the Kansas City Chiefs came out of Sunday’s match-up with the Eagles pretty healthy. The one injury that was sustained was a big one though. Starting center Mitch Morse suffered a sprained foot. Ian Rapoport of NFL Network is reporting that Morse will miss some time.
You never want an injury in general, but losing a starter on the offensive line can be huge. While the Chiefs front five were far from impressive on Sunday, they are still generally considered one of the better units in football. Mitch Morse has been a key cog in that.
The silver lining here is that a foot sprain isn’t a huge ordeal. Mitch Morse should be back on the field in a few weeks, and with little to no lingering issues. However, it will still require a major adjustment for the Chiefs in the weeks that they are without him.
#Chiefs C Mitch Morse suffered a foot sprain, based on the initial diagnosis, and he has an MRI today. Either way, expected to miss time.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 18, 2017
Continuity Is Key
The Kansas City Chiefs are already down one starter on the offensive line in Parker Ehinger. Bryan Witzmann has started in his spot, and was decent against the Patriots…but much less so against the Eagles. Losing Mitch Morse messes up the offensive line continuity even more, which can have far-reaching affects.
Related Story: Kansas City Chiefs Training Camp 2017 Preview: Offensive Line
In the NFL you can have five quality offensive linemen, but still a poor offensive line. That’s because of continuity. An offensive line is a singular unit where the pieces build off one another. The players that make up the line need to be familiar with each other in order to effectively work together.
Fortunately for Kansas City, they do have a little bit of an ace in the hole when it comes to keeping continuity. Having a veteran backup is a solid plan for any team. Having a good veteran backup with starting experience is even better. With Mitch Morse out, the Chiefs will turn to Zach Fulton to fill the void.
Zach Fulton Must Step Up
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Now, for many Kansas City Chiefs fans the name Zach Fulton won’t inspire much confidence. However, if you are looking for a few spot starts at center, there might not be a better option in the entire league for the Chiefs than Fulton.
Zach Fulton is a rarity in the NFL. He’s a backup offensive lineman who could be a starter on the majority of NFL teams. Fulton has starting experience at both guard positions and center for the Chiefs. Now, his experience is far from the stuff of legends, but it is still quality experience.
Where this benefits the Chiefs the most though is that Zach Fulton helps keep up the continuity of the offensive line. He knows Alex Smith and the other starters on the line. That’s a huge advantage that most teams don’t have. If there was one position that KC could afford to lose a player in the short-term, it was at center.
The Kansas City Chiefs have gotten off to a great start to the 2017 season. The loss of Mitch Morse for the next few weeks definitely makes things tougher for them though. Andy Reid will have to make the proper adjustments to his offense to make sure this team keeps rolling along.