KC Chiefs: Terrell Lewis would be an explosive edge rusher

The KC Chiefs are headed into the 2020 season with good depth at edge rusher. For that reason, drafting a player at the position wouldn’t seem to be a priority. Even so, there is one that might be worth drafting with a later pick.

The Kansas City Chiefs return a really great roster for the 2020 season and the edge defender position is a big part of that. Last offseason saw the team make a big acquisition in Frank Clark. Clark seemed to have a slow start to the season, hampered by a neck injury and also a mysterious sickness. After overcoming both of those obstacles, he turned out to have a great rest of the season, especially during the Super Bowl run.

The Chiefs also brought in veteran free agent Alex Okafor to hold down the other side of the defense. Okafor was decent, but lost much of the season due to various injuries.

Thankfully, this allowed Tanoh Kpassagnon the opportunity to show that he was worth a second-round draft pick in 2017. The one player at the position that Chiefs Kingdom didn’t get to see was Breeland Speaks since he went down to knee injury before the season even started.

All this to say, the Chiefs have both youth and experience at the position for the foreseeable future, so selecting an edge defender in this year’s draft isn’t a high priority unless there is a talented player that’s too just good to pass up.

This isn’t likely to happen within the first few rounds, but would be worth considering in the third or after and that might just where one talented prospect could end up.

Alabama’s Terrell Lewis is a part of a long list of Crimson Tide prospects that’ll be entering the NFL in 2020. Lewis is a big, physical defender at 6’5″ and 262 pounds who has primarily played outside linebacker.

Since the Chiefs implement a 4-3 defense, he’d have to adapt to the scheme and fortunately, has the size to do so. While he’s roughly the same size as Clark and Okafor, his big frame would possibly allow him to put on even more weight.

Watching this highlight video of Lewis shows a versatile and very explosive player who can attack from the outside or bring pressure up the middle. The deceptive elements of his game are his speed and agility.

For being such a big player, he gets in the backfield quickly and doesn’t give his opponent much time to think or get out of his grasp. This is certainly the type of aggressive play that would be welcomed in Kansas City.

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If he’s versatile enough, the Chiefs could possibly see how he does with some of Reggie Ragland‘s snaps, who departed for Detroit as a free agent. Ragland brought more physicality from the linebacker spot for Spagnuolo’s defense and Lewis may be able to do the same.

Where Ragland’s career had a slow start, hopefully, Lewis’ career will not. One advantage for Lewis, though, is that with the depth already in place, he’ll have a little time to adjust without being needed immediately.

The biggest downside to Lewis is his injury history. He missed most of the 2017 season and all of the 2018 season due to an upper arm and a knee injury, respectively.

Fortunately, he returned strong in 2019 to the tune of six sacks and 11.5 tackles for loss. If there’s any silver lining to his injury history, it could be that he falls a little further in the draft where Kansas City may be able to justifiably pick him.

With Kansas City not likely putting a higher priority on the edge rusher position, they probably won’t be interested in drafting a player like Lewis until later, if at all. If he were to fall to later in the third round or even the fourth, it’ll be interesting to see if the Chiefs take the bait.

While drafting Lewis could be a risky proposition, the most promising part of bringing him in would be his incredibly high ceiling. He could be labeled as a high-risk high-reward prospect.

There has yet to be any reported formal connection between the KC Chiefs and Terrell Lewis. A non-interview – in person or virtual – might signal that they don’t have much interest in him, but if he just happened to fall at the right place in the draft and if he’s to pass up, they may just to decide to take a chance on him.

If they choose to make him a Kansas City Chief this week, fans should get excited about what he can bring to a defense on the rise.