Setting expectations for Felix Anudike-Uzomah in 2024
Setting expectations for Felix Anudike-Uzomah in 2024
The Kansas City Chiefs’ 2023 season ended with another Super Bowl victory that required significant contributions from many first and second-year players.
One young player who didn’t make many waves was rookie defensive end Felix Anudike-Uzomah.
The former first-round pick from Lee’s Summit, Missouri (by way of Kansas State) had a quiet first season. This was not a surprise. The team knew Anudike-Uzomah might need some time to grow — and that a solid group of edge defenders would be available in 2023. The presence of defensive ends George Karlaftis, Charles Omenihu and Mike Danna — and on passing downs, defensive tackle Chris Jones — made it hard for Anudike-Uzomah to find the field consistently.
Nearly all of Kansas City’s defensive line will return for 2024 — so Anudike-Uzomah will again have to fight for playing time. While many fans will have high expectations for him, we must remember he is still developing as a player. Still, if the team could establish a true role for him, that would help move his career in the right direction.
What we saw in 2023
As a rookie, Anudike-Uzomah played only 211 defensive snaps. In 146 of those, he was a pass rusher. He finished the season with 14 tackles (eight solo, two for loss), half a sack, a forced fumble and nine quarterback pressures.
Coming out of college, it was expected that Anudike-Uzomah’s lack of size and strength would limit his ability against the run — so the Chiefs used him primarily on passing downs.
On this play, the Denver Broncos try a zone run. An H-back goes flat down the line to cut off Anudike-Uzomah, who is the back side EDGE. He uses the wrong arm to take on the blocker — and his eyes are never in the backfield. The running back makes his cut off the H-back’s block. All Anudike-Uzomah can do is turn and watch the running back go by.
While this play has more to do with recognizing where the ball is going than it does with Anudike-Uzomah’s physical capabilities, it still displays issues he needs to correct.
As a pass rusher, Anudike-Uzomah’s speed and quickness pop off the screen. He still needs to develop his playing strength, but we have seen enough brief flashes of power to believe it can be improved.
On this play, Taylor Decker gets out of his stance quickly to match Anudike-Uzomah’s speed — but he quickly redirects to the inside, firing both hands into Decker’s chest. The blow knocks Decker back into the pocket, forcing the quarterback’s quick throw.
What we can expect in 2024
The most obvious role Anudike-Uzomah could play in Kansas City this season would be as a designated pass rusher or a pass rushing specialist — much like during his rookie season. To expand this role, he will need to play more consistently.
During this play in the regular season’s final game, Anudike-Uzomah used a brief flash of power to knock left tackle Rashawn Slater into the backfield. You can see him explode into Slater before extending into his pass rush.
This rush is fine — but with a bit more power and strength, Anudike-Uzomah would have been able to pressure the pocket even more.
Just as they did in 2023, the Chiefs are again likely to use Anudike-Uzomah for stunts and twists.
Here we see him run a tackle/end stunt with Michael Danna in which the tackle penetrates the outside while the end loops around to the inside. As Danna pulls the guard further into the B-gap, Anudike-Uzomah charges toward the center and delivers a shot to his chest.
Seeing this, the quarterback starts to step up into the pocket. Just as he throws the ball, Anudike-Uzomah gets past the center and delivers a big hit.
He could also help as a blitzer. In a few of defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s exotic blitz packages, Anudike-Uzomah was the defender who took advantage of an offensive line’s protection rules.
As the defense shows blitz on this play, the left tackle blocks the inside defender, who would (in theory) have the quickest path to the quarterback. But the offense’s blocking rules do not account for Anudike-Uzomah’s quickness off the edge. Let’s be fair: everyone looks good when they’re unblocked. But the rookie gets into the backfield quickly enough that the quarterback has no chance to make a throw.
A similar play also allowed Anudike-Uzomah to make a key play in the Super Bowl.
As the Chiefs match bodies to stop the San Francisco 49ers’ running game, Anudike-Uzomah once again takes advantage of the offensive line’s blocking rules, using his quickness to penetrate the B-gap. In the zone blocking scheme, the right tackle is not responsible for the B-gap — but the right guard is occupied with helping the center stop the 3-technique defender. This allows Anudike-Uzomah to blow into the backfield and drop the running back for a loss.
The bottom line
Most of Anudike-Uzomah’s 2023 playing time came during Charles Omenihu’s early-season suspension. Since Omenihu is now recovering from an ACL injury suffered during the postseason, Anudike-Uzomah is likely to get significant snaps during the season’s opening weeks. And while he might not yet be ready for a full workload, we should still see him on the field more often than we did after Omenhiu returned last season. Since the Chiefs retained almost all of their veteran defensive linemen, Anudike-Uzomah will still be given time to hone his skills, but seeing him on the field more consistently would be a great sign for his future.