What Chiefs Undrafted Rookie Kahlil Benson Showed In First Preseason Start

RookieKahlil Benson played just six snaps in the Kansas City Chiefs’ first preseason game.

But that insignificant number of plays vs. the Los Angeles Rams is actually significant.

By not exposing Benson to more action — and thus the possibility of injury — it shows how much the Chiefs thought of the 6-6, 319-pound, undrafted free agent.

“He has a lot of talent,” Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said.

Benson was treated as a starter, and the entire starting offensive line of left tackle Josh Simmons, left guard Kingsley Suamataia, center Creed Humphrey, right guard Benson and right tackle Jaylon Moore — the player Benson is battling for the starting right tackle position — was in for six plays before the second unit came in.

All of Benson’s snaps were clean, meaning no penalties, glaring whiffs or missed assignments, but on each play, the Chiefs also made sure to get the ball out quickly.

In fact, on his very first play, he didn’t even need to make contact with the defensive line on a quick, six-yard pass from Justin Fields to Jalen Royals.

On the next play, Benson sufficiently blocked defensive lineman Ty Hamilton for a couple of ticks on a screen pass, which second-year running back Brashard Smith took for eight yards.

Benson’s next two — not counting a screen pass negated by a Royals pass interference penalty — were rushing plays. On the first one, Brashard Smith lost yardage, but it was not Benson’s man who made the tackle. Then Benson blocked rookie defensive lineman Jaxson Moi while Brashard Smith gained three yards.

His final block — a 3rd and 18 — was on a completion far short of the first down, but it might have been his best play as he helped provide a nice pocket for Fields.

Then it was a day’s work for Benson who joined Trey Smith on the bench. Benson had been the starting right tackle during most of training camp before he moved to right guard, filling in for the two-time Pro Bowl guard who is nursing a hip injury.

“It’s good for him to be able to have some flex in there,” Reid said. “It’ll do nothing but help him — even at the tackle spot. It’ll help him once he jumps back there.”

The fact that he’s jumped in as the starting right tackle is one of the stories of training camp.

Though it represents quite an ascent for Benson, the lineman did not express any resentment that he went undrafted despite starting 12 games for the national champion Indiana Hoosiers.

“I just kind of kept my head down. I knew my time was going to come and really just stay(ed) humble,” he said. “Just making sure I was ready to be on call when it was that time.”

Because he went undrafted, Benson, of course, is on a cheap contract and represents great value for Kansas City.

He is on a three-year, $3.1 million contract, and both his base salary and salary cap hit are $885,000 for 2026.

Most of the Chiefs’ valuable assets saw little to no action in the 20-12 preseason loss. Franchise pillars Travis Kelce, Chris Jones and Patrick Mahomes played a collective total of one snap.

That reduced the game to a fairly meaningless contest, but with a month until the Chiefs’ regular season begins, one could glean the Chiefs still think highly of Benson.

“It’s a long, long road,” Reid said. “But up to this point, my hat goes out to him. He’s doing a good job.”

This article was originally published on Forbes.com