Chiefs Drop Preseason Opener to Saints, 26-24 | Analysis

The quintessential NFL preseason game took place Sunday afternoon in New Orleans between the Chiefs and Saints

Patrick Mahomes completed his only two passes of the day, young guys flashed in ways we’ll be discussing for a while - like Justyn Ross catching his first touchdown of his NFL career after solidifying himself as the offseason storyline of 2023 (outside of Chris Jones), which will undoubtedly be the talk of Chiefs Kingdom all week. But the Chiefs ultimately dropped their preseason opener to the Saints 26-24 Sunday afternoon in New Orleans.

It’s not that there’s not plenty to take away from the Chiefs’ performance on Sunday, but as has been discussed ad nauseum - there’s no game-planning, no matchups to exploit, and no actual chance that the Chiefs run a screen pass on 3rd-and-8 up 1 with less than a minute to play in the game.

The call, which resulted in an interception and led to the loss, is exactly the kind of play that won’t happen in the regular season, so take the end result with less than a grain of salt.

It is a perfect look at preseason football. It’s about individual evaluation and getting guys back in the speed of a NFL game.

Here are some numbers from the game courtesy of our friend, Craig Stout

31 - Snaps for Conner, Boye-Doe, and Hailassie

Going into preseason week one, it was known that the starters wouldn’t get much time. It was also predicted that the bottom of the roster would get most of the fourth quarter snaps. However, it wasn’t known how much time some of the Chiefs rookies would get - particularly at the defensive back position. Steve Spagnuolo and company surprised some by inserting Ekow Boye-Doe and Kahlef Hailassie in as the second team outside cornerbacks – alongside the expected Chamarri Conner in the slot – for a significant number of snaps in Sunday’s affair.

What’s even more impressive is how well the rookies played against the New Orleans Saints’ second team offense. Boye-Doe and Hailassie set the end of the defense very well, coming up in run support and defending the short passing game well by executing sound tackling ability in space. Conner showed his athletic ability multiple time as a blitzer, beating protection and taking sharp angles to the quarterback to register a sack and multiple quarterback hurries. Hailassie had the highlight of the day from the defense, shuffling out well in his zone coverage while keeping his eyes in the backfield, then making an athletic grab along the sideline for an interception.

The focus will be placed upon the first team defensive backs coming out of this game – who largely had a performance to forget – but the second team rookies truly showed they belonged in their first NFL action. Conner is almost a lock for the Chiefs 53-man roster, but Boye-Doe and Hailassie are not names that have regularly been inserted into media predictions. After a performance like they had on Sunday, there might be some tough decisions for Brett Veach and company to make on cutdown day.

45% - Target share for the new “R” receivers

All eyes were on the Chiefs young receivers, namely Rashee Rice and Justyn Ross after the camp hype surrounding both. The focus was also on new addition Richie James and dynamic undrafted free agent Nikko Remigio to see how they fit in the offense. After one preseason game, the arrow couldn’t have been pointing much higher for each receiver. The offense flowed through the four “R’s”, channeling 18 of the 40 targets thrown against the New Orleans Saints.

Those 18 targets turned into x catches for 174 yards and two touchdowns – accounting for 62% of the Chiefs passing yards and 66% of the Chiefs touchdowns on the day. There was a clear focus by the Chiefs coaching staff to get as many opportunities as they could for these players in their first action with the team – and each rewarded the offense with positive results. James was the only player of the four to lodge a small number of snaps (just 7 with the offense), but made them count as a veteran player. Meanwhile, the young players that took the field in their first NFL action got plenty of reps to adjust to game speed and physicality, which they did with aplomb.

It’s going to be difficult to sort out the Chiefs wide receiver room. Remigio is a tantalizing athlete that may have been a terrific practice squad candidate in previous years. However, the focus on him in the offense in Sunday’s game may make him a difficult stash – and create more problems in the offensive cutdowns in a few weeks.