KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs expect to have cornerback Mansoor Delane on the field when they play the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday night, less than a week after the sixth overall pick in the draft hurt his shoulder on the opening series of his NFL debut against the Denver Broncos.
Delane made good on his immense promise right away, picking off Denver quarterback Bo Nix on the first ball thrown his way. But he was tackled on the same shoulder that gave him trouble in the offseason, and he was soon in the locker room getting checked out.
Delane did not return to the game, which the Chiefs won 31-10. But he was back on the practice field Wednesday, and Chiefs coach Andy Reid said he anticipates the first cornerback taken in the draft to be available for a primetime matchup with Indianapolis.
“There's a pretty good chance he'll be back out there, yeah,” Reid said.
The Chiefs did just fine without him, holding Nix to 131 yards passing and the Broncos to 176 total yards. And they did it while also missing safety Chamarri Conner, who remained out of practice Wednesday because of a lingering knee injury.
The Chiefs also will be without linebacker Cooper McDonald, who is going on injured reserve after hurting his knee against Denver.
Most folks had their attention set squarely on Patrick Mahomes and the quarterback's surgically repaired left knee, and then on free-agent acquisition Kenneth Walker III, who outgained the Broncos by himself with 173 yards rushing and 18 receiving. And that means many people might have overlooked one of the best defensive performances of the opening week of the NFL season.
The Chiefs shut down the Broncos on Monday night even while there were 791 points scored across the league, matching the record for a Week 1 set in 2012 and the most since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970.
“We just wanted to start the season off the right way. Last year we didn't do that,” Chiefs linebacker Nick Bolton said. “It was just our mindset. The young guys came in and played well. We put a lot of pressure on those guys.”
The Chiefs completely rebuilt their secondary after trading All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie to the Rams, watching fellow defensive back Jaylen Watson sign with them as well, then having safety Bryan Cook sign with Cincinnati. Delane was the biggest add to the backfield, but veteran safety Alohi Gilman and L'Jarius Sneed — back after a stint with Tennessee — both played well.
The big difference against Denver may have been up front, though, where rookies R Mason Thomas and Peter Woods impacted the game. Thomas had his first sack and both of them helped pressure Nix into getting rid of the ball earlier than he wanted.
“You can see the young guys' fight, day-in and day-out, their mentality,” Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones said after the win over the Broncos. “With training camp, you can learn a lot about what type of team you're going to have. The fight during those hard days, those back-to-back days, those long-drive drills that Coach Reid gives, I've seen these guys battle through it. Not only battle through it but push themselves to the limit. It showed up on the field tonight.”
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