Kansas City Chiefs: Final rookie report card for 2020 season

It was a slow start to the season for Willie Gay, who the Chiefs spent a second-round pick on in the hopes of him being an upgrade at the linebacker position. We saw Gay in very limited action early on in the season, but as the season went on, we saw more of him and he definitely looked more of the part of a second-round pick.

It was unfortunate when Gay went down with an injury in the final game of the regular season — a game that the Chiefs didn’t even care about. He missed the playoff run and wasn’t able to suit up for Super Bowl LV and as we saw, the Chiefs could have really used him.

The reason I went with a C+ for Gay is that we didn’t see a ton of him this year and it’s really hard to gauge what kind of player he was. The coaching staff did the defense a disservice for not trying to get Gay out there more and ultimately, that reflects his grade. I’m looking forward to seeing more from Willie Gay in the future.

This was the easiest grade to hand out. L’Jarius Sneed was awesome this season and really could go down as the steal of the 2020 NFL Draft. It’s hard to believe that Sneed was a fourth-round pick, but he was and he proved he was worthy of being selected earlier on.

Sneed, as a cornerback, had four sacks on the season with two of those coming in the postseason. He also picked off three passes throughout the regular season and defended seven passes. The Chiefs needed help in their secondary and they were very lucky that Sneed panned out, especially considering they threw him to the wolves in Week 1.

While there’s always a chance of regression, the Chiefs have to be thrilled at the production they received from the rookie out of Louisiana Tech. Here’s to hoping he can become a lockdown corner for them.