The Kansas City Chiefs lost their preseason opener against the Los Angeles Rams 20-12 on Saturday, in a game where minimal starters participated.
The final score was far from the most important thing that happened throughout the day, and the Chiefs got a chance to look at multiple new players across the roster.
Included in this group were Kansas City’s two rookie defensive linemen, Peter Woods and R Mason Thomas.
Both players were top-50 picks in the NFL Draft back in April, and so far through camp,
both have drawn headlines with solid play and shown flashes of becoming quality NFL starters.
Preseason results don’t matter, but individual performances can show where a player is in their development and where they need to improve.
Peter Woods
After becoming the talk of camp with multiple terrific players and flashing high-level athletic ability, Woods was fairly quiet during his professional debut.
That’s not to say he played badly, but we didn’t quite see the explosive, penetrating ability he showed through most of training camp. The Rams’ offense ran multiple rollout passes and plays that moved the pocket, preventing the Chiefs defensive line from getting too many rushes off, which can make it hard for defensive tackles to get going.
Woods still managed to show a few flashes of his talent, even if he didn’t show up in the box score.
On the snap, the Rams sell a run, but the quarterback quickly pulls the ball and rolls out to the opposite side of the field. Woods, lined up as the 3-technique, quickly works to beat the tackle across his face in the B gap to defend against the run.
When the quarterback pulls the ball, Woods quickly redirects himself and works to get free of the down blocking tackle to pursue the quarterback.
This play may not be the most memorable, but it shows where Woods will make an impact as a rookie. His ability to quickly penetrate in both the run and pass game in one-on-one situations will be where he makes plays. The burst off the ball was good, and had it actually been a run, he would have had a good shot at making the stop.
Woods was double-teamed multiple times during traditional pocket passing plays, but without those double teams, he likely would have created more pressure.
On the snap, Woods puts a big jolt into the right guard with a bull rush, visibly knocking him back, and if not for the center coming over to assist, this could have turned into a nice rush for Woods. When the center does come over to assist, Woods transitions out of power and works to get around the guard.
The ball is out of the quarterback’s hands quickly, but Woods still showed a good effort in recovering from the double team and worked to bend his way around the guard to pressure the quarterback.
There are plenty of things Woods can improve on from his first professional outing, but all in all, Chiefs fans should still be excited about his game and how he will be able to impact games when out there with the Chiefs’ full defensive line.
R Mason Thomas
It would be hard to find a player who flashed more on Saturday than Thomas.
Although Woods has garnered most of the headlines from training camp, Thomas started to come on strong during week two in St.Joe.
In the game, he showed off his quick burst off the ball on more than one occasion.
On a critical third down in the low red zone, Thomas came blazing off the snap, quickly landed inside with hands on the left tackle, and managed to slip past using low pad level. The pressure forces a quick throw into coverage and an incompletion.
Leaving Oklahoma, many labeled Thomas a pass-rush specialist, but in camp and this past weekend he has done a good job showing he can make plays in the run game.
On the snap, Thomas reads the tight end’s block and the running back’s path, and does a good job of shooting his hands through the tight end’s chest, delivering contact and knocking him back. When the back makes his read, Thomas quickly disengages from the block and helps make the stop.
While his overall game was nice, there was one snap from Thomas at the end of the first half that should have everyone excited.
On the final play of the first half, Thomas lines up out wide and goes to work on the right tackle. Even after being a bit late off the snap, he accelerates quickly and bends the arc with no trouble. The quarterback tries to roll out to buy more time, but Thomas is rolling fast around the corner and forces him to throw the ball away.
Getting off the field on critical snaps in the NFL is critical, and it seems that Thomas will be poised to play on plenty this season.
The bottom line
The first week of the preseason gave both of the Chiefs’ rookie defensive linemen a good chance to get their feet wet in a live-action scenario.
For Woods, the slow day hardly represents the flash he has shown in practice so far, and as he takes more snaps— and more snaps with other starters— he should start to find his stride rushing the passer and creating plays in the backfield.
Thomas flashed with his burst off the edge, but now he must show that he can do it consistently, and against a higher level of competition every week.
Overall, this duo is still on pace to each play considerable snaps this season, and will be worth keeping an eye on in preseason Week 2.
