Tag: Darius Harris

Chiefs announce several roster moves on Saturday

The #Chiefs have activated LB Willie Gay Jr. from injured reserve plus more roster moves ahead of Week 5 vs. the #Bills.

The Kansas City Chiefs have made several roster moves on Saturday ahead of their Week 5 tilt against the Buffalo Bills.

In a highly anticipated move, the Chiefs have activated second-year LB Willie Gay Jr. from injured reserve. Gay suffered a toe injury in preseason Week 3 against the Minnesota Vikings. As a result, he was placed on injured reserve to start the season.

Gay was designated to return from injured reserve earlier in the practice week, and even though he’ll be activated to the 53-man roster he’s not a guarantee to play in Week 5 against Buffalo. He’ll be listed as questionable on the injury report due to his toe injury, but there’s also the question of his mental health. He missed practice on Friday due to personal reasons and later revealed on Twitter that he was dealing with mental health issues.

In order to make room for Gay on the 53-man roster, the Chiefs waived reserve LB Darius Harris.

The Chiefs also elevated DE Demone Harris from the practice squad via standard elevation. Chris Jones missed the entire week of practice with a wrist injury. Typically an elevation like this would signal that Jones might not play, but remember, the Chiefs also recently placed Joshua Kaindoh on injured reserve. Frank Clark has also dealt with injuries this season, so the elevation of Harris is not necessarily indicative of Jones’ status.

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Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo evaluates performance of Willie Gay, Darius Harris in Week 16

Both players are due for more snaps with the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 17.

The Kansas City Chiefs started off the Week 16 game against the Atlanta Falcons with the two linebackers at the top of their depth chart ruled out of the game. Anthony Hitchens remained on the reserve/COVID-19 list and Damien Wilson dealt with a knee contusion.

The plan was for third-year linebacker Ben Niemann to wear the green dot for the defense, but he would be injured early on in the game. Just like that the Chiefs were down to three linebackers who’d seen very few snaps at the NFL level. They were thrust into what would typically be a compromising situation, but two of those linebackers were up to the challenge.

“I give Darius Harris a lot of credit,” Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo told reporters on Thursday. “He practiced all week long at the SAM linebacker because we anticipated Ben being the MIKE and then all of a sudden he had to switch, but he’s put a lot of time into things. Last year when he was on IR, he spent a lot of time learning. I thought he performed pretty well. From a check standpoint, he did a pretty good job with that, and that’s what the Mike linebacker needs to do. So, was it a little hectic early? Yeah, but we kind of settled in and I thought he did a nice job.”

Harris was hyped up by Chiefs GM Brett Veach when he was signed as an undrafted free agent in 2019. Veach considered Harris to be a future starter at the position and it seems that he proved himself to the coaching staff in Week 16. To play your first snaps in the NFL and act as the quarterback of the defense is a pretty impressive feat. He did so without making many mistakes and added a fumble recovery off of a fumble forced by rookie LB Willie Gay.

Harris should see more playing time in Week 17, alongside Gay, who saw the most snaps of his career against the Falcons. Just as Harris did, Gay proved himself in a big way to the coaching staff with his performance against Atlanta.

 “Same thing,” Spagnulo continued. “What Willie does is he plays fast — He plays fast and he’s physical and that’s what you want in your linebackers. There’s still a learning curve here, I think that’s true of anybody that plays that particular position in Year 1. And again, I go back to not having the offseason and whatnot, but we’re getting him caught up. He’s certainly going to see a lot of football now, and that’s a good thing for him.”

These snaps are helping to build a foundation for the future at the linebacker position for Kansas City. Players like Damien Wilson and Ben Niemann set to become free agents in 2021. If these young players continue to capitalize on their opportunities, the possibilities are endless for the type of impact they could provide.

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Chiefs announce two roster moves on Wednesday

The Kansas City Chiefs have made a pair of roster moves on Wednesday.

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The Kansas City Chiefs have announced that standout rookie CB L’Jarius Sneed has been placed on injured reserve. Earlier today, Chiefs HC Andy Reid confirmed that CB L’Jarius Sneed had suffered a fractured collarbone.

“Sneed is going to have his clavicle fixed,” Reid told reporters. “It was fractured, so we’ll just see how that works for him as far as the time away and all.”

The rookie corner had been a real bright spot in the Chiefs’ draft class, leading the NFL in interceptions through the first two weeks of the NFL season. While he’ll be eligible to begin practicing in Week 7, they’ll be without him for some time as he recovers from this injury.

In a corresponding move, the Chiefs elevated LB Darius Harris to the 53-man roster. This is a move that should excite fans in Kansas City. Harris missed the entire 2019 season with a shoulder injury after signing with the Chiefs as an undrafted free agent out of Middle Tennessee State.

This is what Brett Veach said about him following the 2019 NFL Draft:

“This (Darius) Harris is kid is interesting. I don’t know when he will be ready because he had a little bit of a setback after the season. He played at the NFLPA game and after the game was over he went through, he wasn’t a combine guy, but he went through his pro day, went through all those visits and then got surgery a little late in this process because he wanted to show what he could do. So, that is going to set him back. I’m not sure when we are going to get him. Will he be available before camp or shortly after camp? But he is a guy that you might want to watch and maybe it’s not this year, but we think he has a lot of talent moving forward. He can be a guy that doesn’t just makes the roster but starts one day. We are excited about him… If you go back to this Harris kid, this was a kid that if he didn’t have the shoulder issue, he gets drafted. We knew that and there was a lot of competition for him. We got after both of those guys aggressively.”

With some early linebacker woes in Kansas City, you have to be happy to see this kid getting elevated and potentially becoming a contributor for the Chiefs.

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