Kansas City Chiefs: How the Chiefs rookies have performed so far

Second-Round Pick Breeland Speaks (OLB)

Last season, the Kansas City Chiefs drafted Tanoh Kpassagnon in the second-round as a defensive end who would make the switch to outside linebacker. During Veach’s first draft as GM, he decided to do the same to get bigger at the position. He drafted Breeland Speaks to come in and make the switch to the outside linebacker position in the second round, the first selection by the Chiefs this year.

Speaks was drafted for Ole Miss so has seen more significant competition than that of Kpassagnon during his college days at Villanova. He was expected to be an immediate starter that could kick inside on passing downs when needed. Whether or not Speaks will find much starting time on the outside remains to be known.

When watching Speaks over the past two preseason games, he definitely has power. While only having one move, the bull rush, he has used his strength to help collapse the pocket on numerous occasions both against Houston and Atlanta.

I still believe that Kpassagnon has the upper hand in gaining starting reps with the defense come the regular season, however. Tanoh has shown the ability to use more than one rushing move, demonstrated some nice plays setting the edge in the run game, and better polished at this point than Speaks.

Overall, Speaks has shown great power and the ability to crash the pocket this preseason. While not grabbing a sack in the first two games, he has been very close. Development and finishing could get him those starting reps this season.