The Kansas City Chiefs lost a valuable piece to their defense in the blowout win over the Las Vegas Raiders. Rookie DT Omarr Norman-Lott suffered an ACL injury midway through the 31-0 win, and he's now set to miss the remainder of the season.
The Chiefs, however, opted not to bring another defensive tackle to replace him. Instead, they signed CB Kevin Knowles from the practice squad to the active roster, which was a somewhat strange move, all things considered. However, they may already have a replacement in the building for Normal-Lott.
Jerry Tillery Could be a Perfect Replacement For Omarr Norman-Lott
Veteran defensive tackle Jerry Tillery actually had the second-highest PFF grade in Week 7 among all Chiefs defenders (79.2). He played 43 percent of the team's defensive snaps, so Steve Spagnuolo might feel confident rolling with him as Norman-Lott's replacement.
This was just the third time this season that Tillery has played at least 40 percent of the defensive snaps. He was losing some ground to the rookie, but he's clearly next in line in the pecking order. The Chiefs had several defensive tackles on the practice squad, so the fact that they chose to elevate a cornerback instead speaks volumes about how they truly feel about Tillery. He has the third-most snaps among Chiefs defensive tackles (121) behind Chris Jones (340) and Derrick Nnadi (140).
This season, the former Los Angeles Chargers starter has played in all seven games, although he's only made one start. He has seven total tackles (five solo), two tackles for loss, one QB hit, and one sack. Nnadi hasn't been as good as advertised, so there could be an open competition for the other starting DT spot opposite Chris Jones, if he does a good job as a rotational piece.
As for the Chiefs' decision to activate Knowles despite being fully healthy at cornerback, it might mean that either other teams wanted to sign him off Kansas City's practice squad or the Chiefs could be looking to move one of their guys at that position ahead of the trade deadline. It could also be as simple as just having another option for special teams.
Whatever the case, losing Norman-Lott midway through his rookie season was a big blow, as he was getting more comfortable on the field and looked like the future of the team at the position. At least, the team may not have to give up valuable assets to find a suitable replacement.