3 Second-Year Chiefs Poised for Breakout Seasons
By Joe Summers
The Chiefs have several exciting young players entering their second season with the organization. Players like WR Rashee Rice made huge impacts en route to the team's second straight Super Bowl and the future looks bright with a potential three-peat on the way.
Rice's potential suspension notwithstanding, he's firmly entrenched as a vital part of this offense and among the NFL's best receivers. There are other players from his rookie class that should take a step forward this year as well. Brett Veach has done an excellent job in recent drafts and this 2023 class has an opportunity to continue that trend.
Wanya Morris is battling for the starting left tackle job, for example, and a few defensive departures mean guys need to step up to keep the unit elite. With that in mind, let's look at three second-year Chiefs that'll play big roles this year.
3 Second-Year Chiefs Poised for Breakouts
1. Chamarri Conner - DB
Chamarri Conner is listed as a safety but his versatility prompts me to give him the 'defensive back' nod here. The fourth-round pick out of Virginia Tech finished the regular season with 36 tackles and an interception, though was leaned on heavily in the playoffs with 16 tackles and a forced fumble.
Mike Edwards and L'Jarius Sneed are no longer with the team. Bryan Cook should be back from his ankle injury but Conner will become one of the most important members of the secondary, thanks in large part due to the many ways Steve Spagnuolo can utilize him.
Conner played 99% of snaps in the AFC Divisional round win over the Bills, compiling 10 tackles in an impressive effort. I expect to see more performances like that when he's fully unleashed in 2024-25.
Friendly reminder that Chamarri Conner was an absolute dog as a rookie
— Ron Kopp Jr. (@Ron_Kopp) June 16, 2024
W/ McDuffie more on the perimeter, #Chiefs are gonna use Conner more as the Nickel on neutral downs, cause of his attacking mindset against short passes & the run pic.twitter.com/MXgG3DdNYc
Opposing quarterbacks had an 81.9 passer rating when targeting Conner in coverage, not a spectacular number but certainly promising for a rookie. Considering Conner didn't play more than 22% of the snaps in any game until Week 11, he showed plenty in his development to be impressed with.
If the Chiefs are going to have one of the NFL's most dominant secondaries again, Conner will have to be a key contributor. Trent McDuffie, Joshua Williams, Jaylen Watson, Brian Cook, and Justin Reid are obviously important too, but Conner theoretically has the most untapped potential based on what he showed last year.