The Kansas City Chiefs haven’t been afraid to rely on their rookies this season. In Week 1, two defensive rookies earned the start and each of the team’s nine rookies on the 53-man roster got snaps.
One of the two starting rookies was CB Trent McDuffie, who suffered a hamstring injury against the Cardinals and was placed on injured reserve on Tuesday. With McDuffie hurt, the Chiefs turned to seventh-round rookie CB Jaylen Watson out of Washington State during the game. Watson stepped up and performed admirably after coming in cold off the bench.
With McDuffie sidelined for at least four weeks, Watson will play a vital part in the team’s defensive secondary. The Chiefs seem quite comfortable with that scenario right now too. It’s just about building on the Week 1 performance and getting the rookie prepared to start on a short week.
“Yeah, I thought he did a nice job,” Chiefs HC Andy Reid said of Watson on Monday. “(The draft) pick doesn’t matter now, right? It’s a matter of how he continues to up his game with the things that he’s seeing there. That’s the important part and focusing in on the gameplan and being able to execute that absolutely (the) best he can. There’s a lot to do when you start getting ready for these things, especially a Thursday night, you don’t have the whole training camp to get ready for it.”
In his first starting action, Watson played 25 coverage snaps and was targeted twice. One target resulted in a pass breakup, the other a six-yard touchdown pass to Marquise Brown.
“(I) was really happy with how Jaylen (Watson) went in there and did what he did,” Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo said. “They challenged him right away, which is what real good teams do. And he made that play down the sideline, which was good to see.”
Watson beat out fourth-round rookie CB Joshua Williams on the depth chart during the preseason, but even Williams saw action in the Week 1 game in the fourth quarter. Overall, Spagnuolo was pleased with what he saw from the entire group of defensive rookies.
“I think more than anything it was just good that they got first-game jitters out of their system,” Spagnuolo said. “They got a couple of reps under their belt and hopefully, that’ll help us in a quick turnaround to playing on Thursday.”
