During the AFC Championship game against the Baltimore Ravens, the Kansas City Chiefs suffered a setback when one of their defensive ends left the game early due to an apparent knee injury and did not return.
The Kansas City Chiefs have made it to their fourth Super Bowl in five seasons. However, they will have to play without one of their pass rushers. After winning the AFC championship against the Baltimore Ravens, the Chiefs announced Charles Omenihu suffered a torn ACL and was placed on season-ending injured reserve.
Losing Omenihu puts Kansas City in an unideal position while preparing to face the NFC Champion San Francisco 49ers for Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday. But defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo brought up his ‘next man up’ mentality to reporters on Friday by saying everyone on the d-line needs to step up for the veteran’s absence.
“I’ll tell you; you don’t replace that height and that length that [Charles Omenihu] has, but we’ll have guys to step in there,” Spagnuolo said. “Felix [Anudike-Uzomah] will probably have to step in. Everybody has to up their game in a Super Bowl anyway.
“Hopefully, like last week, I think it was decent in the first half where we didn’t have to play as many plays. If the play count gets up, that’s where it gets tough for George [Karlaftis] being out there a lot and Mike [Danna] and that’s when we have to have guys to step in.”
Omenihu was a dynamic game wrecker before getting injured, playing in 11 games and tallying 28 tackles, seven sacks, and two forced fumbles. Against the Ravens in the AFC Championship, the savvy veteran registered a strip-sack on Lamar Jackson, creating a key turnover for his team. Losing Omenihu is a significant blow to Kansas City’s defense, which will need some of their depth players to step up in the biggest game of the season.
The spotlight will likely be on former first-round pick Felix Anudike-Uzomah, who’s been a healthy scratch throughout the postseason after playing 61 snaps in the Chiefs’ regular season finale against the Los Angeles Chargers. Malik Herring is another pass rusher who could hear his number called on Sunday.
Omenihu was one of Kansas City’s big free-agent pickups a year ago, agreeing to a two-year, $16-million contract with the Chiefs last off-season.
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