The Jets gave Darron Lee a fresh start when they traded him to the Chiefs last offseason, but he hasn’t exactly made the most of it.
After Lee spent three underwhelming seasons in New York, Adam Gase shipped the former first-round pick to Kansas City for a 2020 sixth-round pick. It was one of Gase’s first moves as interim general manager after the Jets fired Mike Maccagnan.
Though he now plays for the Super Bowl-bound Chiefs, Lee hasn’t been an important piece of their defense this season. In fact, it wouldn’t be far off to say the linebacker has been a nonfactor in Kansas City.
Though he played in all 16 games in 2019, he rarely saw the field. He sat fourth on the inside linebacker depth chart behind Damien Wilson, Anthony Hitchens and Ben Niemann and only played in 14.48 percent of the Chiefs’ defensive snaps this season. He did, however, see a lot of snaps on special teams. He finished the season with only 23 combined tackles and zero sacks.
Lee’s best game came in Week 6 against the Texans when he started for the second time all season, played 51 percent of snaps and finished with a season-high eight combined tackles in a 31-24 loss. But after Week 6, Lee saw his snaps dwindle significantly. Lee averaged 23.2 snaps per game through the first six weeks of the season, but only played 21 total snaps over the final 10 games of the season.
Lee has yet to play in the postseason for Kansas City; it’s hard to see that changing in the Super Bowl.
Lee never lived up to his first-round billing after the Jets took him 20th overall in 2016. The former Ohio State linebacker didn’t have all the physical tools necessary to dominate on defense despite his speed and coverage ability, and he only tallied 241 combined tackles, three interceptions and four sacks in 40 games for New York.
Lee is on the final year of his rookie contract after neither the Jets nor the Chiefs picked up his fifth-year option, and all signs point to him hitting the free-agent pool after the 2019 season ends. He’s still just 25 years old and offers some appeal, but it’ll be tough for another team to give him another shot after another down season.