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The Kansas City Chiefs added six draft picks in the 2019 NFL Draft and each of those rookies made contributions during the season and postseason. This draft had a mix of offensive and defensive players compared to the 2018 NFL Draft, which was primarily defensive players for the Chiefs. Let’s take a look at Juan Thornhill’s 2019 season and see what we can project for the future.
Virginia DB Juan Thornhill – 63 overall
Stat |
2019 totals |
| Games played | 16 |
| Games started | 16 |
| Defensive Snaps | 996 |
| Special Teams Snaps | 48 |
| Total Tackles | 57 |
| Solo Tackles | 41 |
| Interceptions | 3 |
| Touchdowns | 1 |
| Passes defended | 5 |
2019 season review:
Thornhill came in and made his presence felt early. He was a star of training camp, leading all Chiefs’ defenders in interceptions. He was a bit gun shy when the preseason got underway and didn’t initially stand out, but he did enough to earn the trust of the coaching staff. He unseated veteran safety Daniel Sorensen for the starting spot opposite Tyrann Mathieu to become the only opening day starter of this draft class.
“One of the things I like, his open-field tackling,” Chiefs DB coach Sam Madison said of Thornhill at the midseason mark. “He’s been doing really good in that area. He’s improved from Week 1. We try to explain to him that this isn’t college anymore and these quarterbacks are going to lie to you. They’re going to look one way to hopefully move you and then they’re going to come back. He’s gotten better with that and the play down in the endzone when he came up with the interception, it just shows that he can get there. When you have a middle-of-the-field post safety, you want him to be able to get from two-to-three yards outside the numbers to two-to-three yards outside the numbers and he’s able to do that. He’s showing his range and hopefully, he can keep getting better.”
From a season-long perspective, Thornhill was remarkable in coverage, allowing just 0.22 yards per coverage snap according to Pro Football Focus. That number was good for the sixth-fewest in the NFL among all defensive backs. He gave up a single play of 20 or more yards one time during the entire 16-game 2019 season.
Unfortunately, Thornhill’s season ended prematurely as he suffered a torn ACL in the regular-season finale. He was placed on injured reserve before the postseason run that would make the Chiefs Super Bowl LIV champions.
2020 season outlook:
Thornhill seems motivated in his recovery, but right now we don’t even have all the details on his injury. We know that he tore his ACL, but we don’t know if there was any accompanying ligament damage. Those details can make all the difference when it comes to the recovery timeline.
The 2020 season outlook for Thornhill is very much a wait-and-see type of scenario. Even if he returns by the preseason or start of the regular season, there could be an adjustment period before he looks like the players we saw dominate as a rookie. It’s also possible that he comes back as sharp as ever and prepared to pick up right where he left off. With Jordan Lucas and Kendall Fuller set to leave in free agency, Kansas City will be hoping to see Thornhill sooner than later.
Chiefs 2019 rookie season reviews:
WR Mecole Hardman (Coming soon)
DB Juan Thornhill (You’re here!)