Coming into the weekend, the Kansas City Chiefs had a relatively clean bill of health. The reigning AFC champions have just a couple of minor injury situations to monitor, or at least they thought, as Saturday’s practice arrived.
There’s a new development as the club heads south to face the Jacksonville Jaguars. It’s a classic good news, bad news situation from head coach Andy Reid.
Andy Reid Drops News of Surprise Injury to Chiefs DT Omarr Norman-Lott
In his Saturday afternoon media availability, Reid revealed that defensive tackle Omarr Norman-Lott is nursing a shoulder injury. He sustained the ailment on Friday.
“The only one that didn’t practice today was Lott, Omarr,” Reid said. “He nicked up his shoulder yesterday. We’ll just see how he does here in the next couple of days.”
When asked whether it’s a serious injury, Reid erred on the side of caution but said the rookie should be fine in the grand scheme.
“Listen, I think he should be OK,” Reid said. “We’ll see.”
It remains to be seen whether this will impact Norman-Lott’s availability for Monday night’s game.
This marks the continuation of what’s been a slow start for Norman-Lott’s rookie season. The 63rd overall NFL Draft pick dealt with an ankle injury in August, limiting his availability and effectiveness during the preseason. He then got a sack in his NFL debut in Week 2.
In Weeks 2-4, Norman-Lott combined to play 55 defensive snaps. In those opportunities, he has 5 tackles (4 solo efforts and 1 for loss) and the aforementioned quarterback takedown. The former Tennessee standout owns a 50.2 Pro Football Focus overall grade, which ranks 132nd among 179 interior defensive linemen. His 62.3 pass rush grade, however, is 71st.
Assessing Kansas City’s Interior Defensive Line Options for Week 5 & Beyond
Norman-Lott is one of three Chiefs players worth monitoring ahead of Monday’s game. All signs point to defensive end Mike Danna returning from his quad injury in time for Week 5. Cornerback Kristian Fulton continues to make progress, although he was limited in practice on both Thursday and Friday.
In the event Norman-Lott misses time or is hindered by the shoulder injury, Kansas City will need its interior of the defensive front to step up. Through four games, the Jaguars rank second in both ESPN’s pass block win rate and run block win rate. Quarterback Trevor Lawrence has been pressured at the lowest clip in the sport. Jacksonville’s rushing attack, fueled by Travis Etienne, ranks seventh in EPA/play per Jefe’s Handiwork.
Look no further than the Chiefs’ Week 4 win over the Baltimore Ravens to figure out their defensive tackle rotation. Leading the group, as expected, was All-Pro Chris Jones with 39 snaps played. Norman-Lott’s 17 snaps were good for second place, followed by veterans Jerry Tillery (16) and Derrick Nnadi (13). Tillery recorded a sack in the game, and his snaps per game have increased in each week Norman-Lott was active for.
At the defensive end spot, Charles Omenihu is beginning to heat up. If Danna indeed returns as expected, his inside-outside versatility goes hand-in-hand with Omenihu’s. George Karlaftis is the straw that stirs the drink for that position, and he’s enjoying a great start to the year.
The long game is always more important for the Chiefs. They’ll handle Norman-Lott’s seemingly minor injury accordingly.
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