Khalen Saunders was part of the solution for the Chiefs against the Titans
How the oddly athletic defensive tackle has earned more snaps against the run to combat the way teams are beating Spagnuolo's defense.
If someone were to ask me for a list of Chiefs players who would start to flash more in 2022, I don’t know that Khalen Saunders would have been in the top 3. Or even the top 5-7.
It’s not that the stoutly-built nose tackle (listed at 6’0” and 324 pounds) hasn’t flashed before during his time with the Chiefs. Far from it. Saunders has at various times shown the talent that led to the Chiefs picking him in the 3rd round of the 2019 draft. He’s a very unique combination of a powerfully-built player who also happens to be athletic enough to carry the ball with some frequency in high school.
The problem for Saunders has been more availability than ability. His rookie year he missed several games, and that was the healthiest he’s been until 2022. In both 2020 and 2021 he missed well over half the season due to injury, a frustrating experience for both him and the fanbase that led to Saunders being largely forgotten when discussing the current group of players.
That said, Saunders has been able to stay healthy this year, and in limited snaps has started to show out some of the skillset that made him a tantalizing talent in the draft.
Saunders flashed against the 49ers but was more noticeable as a run defender against the Titans. On a day stopping the run was crucial, he stood out in certain aspects as being perhaps a more ideal fit at the nose tackle spot than longtime NT Derrick Nnadi. To get an idea of where Saunders was winning, I went back and charted each snap against Tennessee. Let’s talk about it, and why Saunders might be an underutilized piece at this point to combat how teams have been running the ball successfully against the Chiefs.