Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes encouraged by his newest teammate's debut performance despite struggles
There were a lot of storylines heading into Sunday night's matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers, with one of the biggest being the debut of left tackles D.J. Humphries. The Chiefs acquired Humphries two weeks ago when he was medically cleared from an ACL tear that he suffered last year. With […]
There were a lot of storylines heading into Sunday night's matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers, with one of the biggest being the debut of left tackles D.J. Humphries.
The Chiefs acquired Humphries two weeks ago when he was medically cleared from an ACL tear that he suffered last year. With Wanya Morris struggling, Kansas City turned to Humphries to be it's new starter and protect quarterback Patrick Mahomes' blindside. There was a lot of optimism for Humphries as he is a nine-year NFL veteran and a former Pro Bowler.
However, things didn't come easy for him during his first game action in a year's time. Our A to Z Sports staff writer Justin Churchill took to X to point out that Humphries allowed 8 pressures on 40 pass-blocking snaps against the Chargers, which is the second-most pressures and second-highest pressure rate (20.0 percent) allowed by a Chiefs' left tackle in a game this season.
Humphries night ended with an apparent hamstring injury (there was no postgame injury update from coach Andy Reid), leading to Morris coming in and finishing the game. Despite his rough Chiefs debut, Reid saw from positives from Humphries, and he expected a few struggles.
"I think initially it was fast for him, and then he settled down, and I thought in the second half he was playing well," Reid said. "Which, I figured that would happen. He hasn't done anything with that kind of speed out there. And then, the physical part of these guys (the Chargers), they to drive you right back into the quarterback with their bull rushes. And they're very they're very good at it. So, he did a nice job."
Mahomes also saw some encouraging things from Humphries, and acknowledged that Humphries needed to knock some rust off.
"I thought he did a good job," Mahomes said. "There's little things here and there. He's still learning the playbook, but he knows how to pass protect. That's the easy part. He knows how to run block, but the passing games with new guys – to know where he can kind of cheat and kind of get subtle cues on my cadences and stuff like that. He truly is just out there playing football. Just one-on-one reps, he did a good job today. Obviously, I'll go back and look at the film and hopefully we get him back out there soon. The battle to play all those snaps right off the ACL injury, I was proud of how he fought."
Expectations were probably a little too high for Humphries' debut because fans badly want to see the left tackle position be improved. Playing for the first time in a year and trying to learn a new offense is a tall task, and it's going to take some time for him to round back into form.
There's still four games to go before the postseason, which is a good chunk of time to get back in the swing of things. As long as Humphries is playing well by playoff time, he will be a huge lift for the Chiefs' offense.
