Kansas City Chiefs special teams coach Dave Toub confirmed on Thursday that the team expects to be without LB Dorian O’Daniel for some time after he suffered a high ankle sprain in Week 12 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He’s already been ruled out by the team for the Week 13 game against the Broncos.
O’Daniel hasn’t quite blossomed into the player that many hoped he could be on the defense, but he has been one of the most relied upon special teams players in Kansas City over the past three seasons. This year, in particular, O’Daniel is the second leading player in snaps on special teams to only Anthony Sherman. He has 292 total snaps with over 67% of the special teams snaps this year.
The team has come to rely on O’Daniel in each phase of special teams. Toub even believes he’s been one of the top NFL players in his particular role this season.
“He’s a four-phase starter, he’s on every phase,” Toub explained on Thursday. “He was playing on a Pro Bowl level this year. He’s our leading tackler, he’s doing great with blocking, so we’re going to miss him until he comes back. He’s got a high ankle sprain, so it’s going to take a minute. The good thing is we have a lot of players that we can replace him with, and we feel good going forward. We will be happy when he comes back.”
O’Daniel suffered the ankle injury on a fourth-and-6 punt by the Bucs in the first quarter of the game. The Chiefs shifted things around on special teams once O’Daniel left the game. On punt coverage, it was LB Damien Wilson who replaced him in the specific alignment. Wilson was already in on those plays and Deon Yelder was the new player added in when O’Daniel went out.
“We have something in our mind of who’s going to fill his role but I’m not going to talk about it right now,” Toub said.
It’s unclear if the team will continue to use Yelder and Wilson or have a different plan of action for Sunday night’s tilt with the Denver Broncos. Toub is holding things close to the vest, which could suggest a practice squad elevation or that a new player is made active and inserted into the special teams lineup.
When the Chiefs played the Broncos in Week 7, special teams were a big part of the game for Kansas City. Byron Pringle had a 102-yard kick return touchdown and Harrison Butker was 3-for-3 on field-goal attempts.
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