Four Kansas City Chiefs to watch vs Raiders in Week 5

Tyrann Mathieu

Tyrann Mathieu is always a player Chiefs fans have faith in, but he’ll have a tough task this week, as he’ll be going up against Darren Waller, who has become one of the best tight ends in the league. Waller had two good games against Kansas City last year with 63 yards and 100 yards in each of his two outings.

Mathieu has limited big games from the tight ends this year, but the Chiefs haven’t faced a tight end quite like Waller yet. It’s very likely that Waller is one of the main targets in this game, as he’s the Raiders’ best receiving weapon, so it’ll be fun to see him and the Honey Badger go toe-to-toe.

Mike Pennel

Mike Pennel has appeared on this list quite a bit, but with him being a pivotal part of the Chiefs run defense, it makes sense to list him as a player to watch. Josh Jacobs comes to town this week and has been really good against the Chiefs in limited opportunities, rushing for 99 yards and 104 yards vs KC last year.

Pennel should be someone who is a big piece of the defensive line this week and helping make sure Jacobs doesn’t have encore performances of what he did last year. The hope is that Kansas City gets ahead by multiple scores, which will force the Raiders to air it out more because when Jacobs gets going, he can be lethal.

KC’s run defense is ranked as the fifth worst when it comes to rushing yards per game, so the possibility for Jacobs to have a big game is definitely there. Pennel will need to step it up and give it everything he has against one of the league’s best running backs.