Arrowhead Pride
In a series of articles published over the summer, I covered the 10 biggest questions facing the Kansas City Chiefs in 2025. During the bye week, I revisited the questions. We’ll look at the other five in a later article.
Before the season, it felt like second-year safety Jaden Hicks was a natural replacement for veteran former Chiefs’ safety Justin Reid. Both are long, dense safeties who are best at playing in the box and helping in run support. However, I underestimated the coverage gap between Reid and Hicks. Reid was smart and generally in the right spots. Hicks doesn’t have that experience yet.
After struggling to start the year, Hicks’ role has lightened. He has been on the field for roughly 50% of snaps, but it changes based on the Chiefs’ need for his skill set. Against the Buffalo Bills, Hicks only saw four snaps while defensive back Christian Roland-Wallace (16 snaps) played in dime personnel alongside starting safeties Bryan Cook and Chamarri Conner.
So far, the answer is no, but it’s not significantly better or worse than last year. Defensive end George Karlaftis has had maybe his best season by getting quick pressure more often, while defensive tackle Chris Jones hasn’t played quite as well this year. In my opinion, Jones is lacking in dominant moments.
After Jones and Karlaftis, the Chiefs’ pass rush has been very poor. Two years removed from injury, I was hoping defensive end Charles Omenihu would bounce back, but he hasn’t regained his form. Defensive end Mike Danna is also less impactful than in previous years. Rookie defensive end Ashton Gillotte has some nice moments, but he’s not ready to really contribute. Rookie defensive tackle Omarr Norman-Lott was drafted to replace some of what Kansas City had in former defensive tackle Tershawn Wharton, but he tore his ACL before he could get going.
The Chiefs’ pass rush wins with Jones or Karlaftis — or from a designed pressure by defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo. Over the last two years, it has not been a fruitful strategy for Kansas City to rush four.
When I wrote the original piece, Karlaftis had not yet been extended, so he is now disqualified from a contract year. The team has exercised its fifth-year option on cornerback Trent McDuffie, keeping him under contract next season.
For the rest of the class, cornerback Jaylen Watson is having the best year. He continues to be a very good No. 2 cornerback. He’s smart in zone coverage, defends screens and stops the run. On top of that, his length and ball skills make him a positive factor in man coverage. The former seventh-round pick is a great success story. Hopefully, the Chiefs reward him with an extension this offseason.
