The Chiefs have a problem on their defensive line, and it comes down to timing as much as talent.
Kansas City spent a second-round pick last year on Omarr Norman-Lott, hoping he could help strengthen the front. Instead, his season ended in Week 7 with an ACL tear, and the recovery has kept him on the PUP list through all of training camp and the preseason. Andy Reid said earlier in camp that Norman-Lott would be able to go this summer, but that hasn’t happened, leaving the Chiefs with a second-year player who still hasn’t gotten any reps in camp.
That puts Kansas City in a tricky spot. Even if Norman-Lott is eventually cleared when the season opens, the lack of practice time means the Chiefs would still have to bring him along carefully. They do have some internal options in Chris Jones, Khyiris Tonga, and rookie Peter Woods, but there’s also the possibility of looking outside the building, either through trades or by watching the roster cutdown market as teams trim to 53 players.
One name that fits the conversation is Bengals defensive tackle Kris Jenkins.
Cincinnati has already made its intentions pretty clear on the defensive line after adding Dexter Lawrence and Jonathan Allen this offseason, and Jenkins looks like a player who could be squeezed out. As Matt Fitzgerald of Stripe Hype, FanSided’s Bengals site, put it: “The Bengals' d-line rotation is much deeper.
Even though Jenkins was a 2024 second-round pick, he's been a virtual nothing burger through two seasons. Not big enough to be a nose tackle.
Not dynamic enough of an athlete to be an effective 3-technique, never mind steal snaps from B.J. Hill or Jonathan Allen,” said Matt Fitzgerald of Stripe Hype, FanSided's Bengals site.
“Jenkins has decent functional strength, some pass rushing juice (4.5 sacks in 29 career games), and showed a little improvement in run defense last year.”
Jenkins was a second-round pick himself, taken out of Michigan one year before Norman-Lott. That shared draft pedigree makes the fit a little cleaner, especially with the Chiefs potentially able to land him for a late Day 3 pick. If they wanted to take a chance, they could even wait and see whether Cincinnati cuts him and then try to bring him in that way.
There’s also a straightforward football case here. If Norman-Lott is still not activated before the roster is cut to 53 players, he’d have to miss at least the first four games of the season. That would leave Kansas City with a clear need for another body up front, and Jenkins could step into a rotational role without needing to be the centerpiece.
He’d also have competition. Amari McNeil, Marcus Harris, Cole Brevard, and Damon Payne would all be in the mix for playing time, with Harris expected to be his biggest challenger.
But the Chiefs don’t need Jenkins to arrive and solve everything. They just need someone who can give them another usable piece on the defensive line.
And if there’s one thing this setup suggests, it’s that a change of scenery could matter here. With Steve Spagnuolo coaching him, Jenkins would have a chance to reset and maybe become more than he’s been in Cincinnati.
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The same pressure runs through the tight end room, where Jared Wiley and Jake Briningstool are battling for the third-string spot. Up front, undrafted free agent Kahlil Benson has done enough to stay in the mix for the 53-man roster, and his rise has even opened the door to a possible starting role. For Kansas City, this final preseason game is less about the score than about which players can turn a strong camp into a real place on the roster. [Read more 🡒]