Josh Simmons as advertised, turnover time, and more halftime takeaways from Chiefs’ preseason Week 1 tilt vs. Cardinals
Looking at some key takeaways for the first half of the Chiefs’ preseason Week 1 game against the Arizona Cardinals.
Kansas City Chiefs football is officially back with a preseason Week 1 tilt in the desert against the Arizona Cardinals.
After a hot start, the Chiefs found themselves with an 11-point lead in the middle of the second quarter. But the preseason isn’t just about how your best players perform; it’s often about how your depth stacks up. For that reason, the lead didn’t last. At halftime, the Cardinals lead 17-14.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t meaningful things to take away from this matchup in Arizona. What did we learn about the Chiefs in the first half of the game? Here’s a look at our halftime takeaways for Kansas City.
Chiefs LT Josh Simmons is as advertised and maybe even better
The Chiefs’ first-round rookie draft pick appears to be as advertised and then some. Simmons got two series’ worth of action in the first quarter, and frankly, it was boring. But that’s precisely what you want out of your offensive linemen. If you’re noticing them, it’s typically for the wrong reasons (see my tweet about Kingsley Suamataia getting bench-pressed by a linebacker).
The first series was a three-play touchdown drive after a turnover on special teams. The second was a series with Gardner Minshew at quarterback. You might recall that the Cardinals played their starters for the first time in the preseason under head coach Jonathan Gannon because they wanted to see how they measure up against a team that regularly competes for Super Bowls. You might not have noticed Cardinals OLB Baron Browning, but it’s not because he sat out of the game. It was because Simmons completely erased any impact from the sixth-year pass-rusher. It’s a small sample size, with just under a dozen snaps, but the results are telling.
2025 might be turnover time for the Chiefs
The Chiefs finished the 2024 NFL season +6 in turnover margin, but they only had 20 defensive takeaways on the season, which was a middle-of-the-pack mark. In the first five minutes of this game, the Chiefs forced two turnovers. It started with a fumble forced by Jack Cochrane and recovered by Chris Roland-Wallace on special teams.
Then, second-year man Jaden Hicks intercepted Cardinals starting QB Kyler Murray on the following defensive series. It was more of a gift than anything else, as Murray threw the ball right to Hicks.
Turnovers have been an emphasis in training camp, so it’s good to see that hard work is paying off as they seek to force more of them during the 2025 NFL season.
The pass rush leaves something to be desired for the Chiefs
Felix Anudike-Uzomah and Jeff Bassa both got some excellent pressure against Jacoby Brissett toward the end of the first half. The problem is that Kyler Murray had a whole lot of time when the starting defensive line and the second-string defensive line were on the field. I don’t recall a single instance where a Chiefs defender had him under duress. They didn’t record a single QB hit. The two rookies who were supposed to give the pass-rush a little extra juice — Omarr Norman-Lott and Ashton Gillotte — didn’t show up as much as I’d hoped in the first half. It’s a bit frustrating when you consider the Chiefs struggled at times to get pressure against opponents during the 2024 NFL season. The idea that this might still be a problem for Kansas City is somewhat concerning.
The Chiefs’ wide receiver room has an insane amount of depth to it
I even predicted that the Chiefs’ wide receiver room could withstand some losses, but I’m not sure that I anticipated it’d be this good. Tyquan Thornton was Patrick Mahomes’ first target. Jason Brownlee had this ridiculous touchdown grab with the first-team offense.
These are two names that many people had written off, but they are already making contributions with the first team offense and on special teams.
Then there’s rookie WR Jalen Royals, with this beautiful first-down grab to keep a scoring drive alive with the second team offense.
It sure feels like there’s going to be some good players at the wide receiver position who don’t end up making this roster just because of the numbers game.
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