Chiefs vs. Texans: Rookie standouts from opening night
By Kyle Edmond
With the NFL season underway, what rookies from the 2020 NFL Draft had the most impact in the first game of the year?
Football is finally back. Somehow with everything going on, the NFL still managed to start their regular season on time and so far hasn’t missed much of a beat. As scheduled, the Kansas City Chiefs were still able to able to celebrate their Super Bowl Championship and host the Houston Texans to get the NFL season started.
Sure, the off season looked a bit different with teams not having the typical programs to bring rookies up to speed, install new systems and build chemistry in the locker room, but regardless, football is back and that is what matters.
The players that might have been hurt the most from the abnormal off-season are rookies. The 2020 NFL Draft class was a talented one, but missing that amount of time to adjust to NFL speed and everything of that nature will likely stunt the development of some of the rookies.
Even with those concerns, there were still rookies that made a difference in the game on Thursday night to begin the 2020 NFL season for both teams and on both sides of the ball.
At the top of the list of hyped-up rookies was Chiefs’ first-round pick Clyde Edwards-Helaire along with defensive back L’Jarius Sneed for Kansas City. The Texans also had rookies contribute, despite having just four members of the 2020 NFL Draft on their depth chart.
Perhaps the most intriguing rookie of the game was one that probably was known by few before kickoff and that was new Chiefs punter Tommy Townsend who replaced Dustin Colquitt who held the position for the last 15 season in Kansas City, the full duration of Colquitt’s career.
With all things considered, the 2020 NFL Draft class showed up on opening night and looked like a typical rookie class in their first game. If the trend continues, we should be in for a fun season of rookie play across the league.