The Kansas City Chiefs are a bit of a two-sided team heading into a Week 8 matchup versus AFC West rival Denver Broncos. On offense, they will be adding wide receiver Rashee Rice and right tackle Jaylon Moore back into the mix.
However, Steve Spagnuolo's defense will be forced to find creative ways to manufacture pressure, potentially with or without rookie edge rusher R Mason Thomas. And be able to hold up in the secondary after L'Jarius Sneed's upcoming four-week stint on IR and Mansoor Delane being ruled out with a shoulder.
Nevertheless, the Broncos are not fully healthy either. This is a game that, if the Chiefs win, Denver would have a heck of a tough time crawling back from. KC's legends, Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, and Chris Jones need to show out. That's obvious. But who are a couple of under-the-radar names that could have a big impact on Sunday?
This trio of Chiefs players could be the difference between a loss and win come Sunday afternoon
Kenneth Walker III
For the past three weeks, I've put a Chiefs receiver as one of the three players to watch. Two times being Xavier Worthy and this past week Cyrus Allen. It's been disappointing, to say the least. And I know that Rashee Rice is set to make his return this week, but I've honestly given up all hope for Kansas City's receiving core to change games in its current iteration.
Walker put up nearly 200 yards from scrimmage and scored twice in his Chiefs debut against this very same Broncos squad. His coming off the worst game of his season, paired with hopefully a kick in the ass for the whole offensive unit, will help propel Walker to another big game. Thus, making the importance of the Chiefs receivers having to do anything beneficial much less forced.
Creed Humphrey
This goes hand in hand with Walker. Humphrey and, for that matter, his partner in crime, right guard Trey Smith, have not played up to each lineman's expectations this season. They have combined for a total of five penalties and 10 pressures, numbers that, before this year, were not really heard of from either.
As for Humphrey, not only must his blocking bounce back, but every game it seems like he forgets how to snap the ball to Patrick Mahomes. It's gotten to the point where Mahomes can no longer mask every errant snap that comes his way. It's an issue, and it needs to stop.
Kristian Fulton
Rookie star Mansoor Delane is set to miss this week with a nagging shoulder injury, leaving Kristian Fulton to take his place on the boundary opposite second-year man Nohl Williams. One of Fulton's two games where he has played over 80% of the snaps was in Week one after Delane left the game on the Chiefs first defensive drive.
He played exceptionally well in that matchup versus Jaylen Waddle and Courtland Sutton, and based on his other tape this season, I have no reason to expect anything less than solid veteran play. The Chiefs' pass rush may have to manufacture a lot of pressure in this game by sending lots of bodies at Bo Nix, which may leave Fulton on an island at times. Let's hope he is up to the task.
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