After 3-game absence, Chiefs’ Alex Okafor happy to be back healthy and contributing
Kansas City Chiefs defensive end Alex Okafor has dealt with injuries before.
He has played and started all 16 games in a regular season just once on his seven-year career, back in 2018 with the New Orleans Saints.
This season, Okafor missed the Chiefs’ Week 5’s game with a hip injury and Weeks 9-11 while dealing with an ankle injury.
The veteran defender didn’t allow himself to get down, though.
Instead, Okafor embraced the fact that injuries are part of the game and tackled his rehabilitation process with a positive attitude to get back on the field as fast as he could.
“Injuries are hard, man, because you can’t control them,” said Okafor, who joined the Chiefs on a three-year deal during the offseason. “No matter what you do, you can’t control them. It’s always hard on the mental mindset, but more than anything you just accept that it’s out of your control, and you control what you can control.
“And if you’re fortunate enough to come back in the middle of the year, make sure you’re ready for that chance. That’s what I try to keep in mind.”
The 6-foot-4, 261-pound Okafor practiced what he preached against the Oakland Raiders in Week 13, which marked his first game back from the three-game absence. The Chiefs’ Week 12 bye came at a good time and allowed Okafor to get fully healthy. He totaled 40 snaps as part of the defensive line rotation against Oakland.
While he didn’t record a tackle, Okafor he did more than enough from his left defensive end spot to draw praise from defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo and defensive line coach Branden Daly.
“He looked good in the game against Oakland,” Daly said. “I thought he did a nice job of picking up mentally where he was. A lot of times, guys who are out for a while there’s some rust. He was able to move around and I didn’t think that was an issue at all.”
The Chiefs’ defensive coordinator echoed Daly’s evaluation of Okafor.
“I was pleased with what he did,” Spagnuolo said. “Hopefully, this week he plays a few more plays. He’s valuable to us.”
Okafor’s worth off the edge in Spagnuolo’s scheme shows up in his statistics this season. He has appeared in eight games with seven starts, totaling 18 tackles, three sacks, seven quarterback hits, a forced fumble and a pass defensed. His three sacks rank fourth-best on the Chiefs’ defense despite his four missed games.
Okafor had a sideline view of the Chiefs’ defensive surge over the past month and he enjoyed watching his teammates shine.
With four games remaining in the Chiefs’ regular-season schedule, he believes the defense won’t get complacent following dominating 40-9 win over the Raiders Sunday.
Especially with the New England Patriots up next.
“I’m not going to lie to you: I don’t think it’s going to be hard for us to stay focused just because we’ve got so much more we can work on,” Okafor said. “Even though the score didn’t reflect it, I felt like we weren’t good enough (defensively) in the run game, and that continues to be something that we’ve discussed.
“So, we’ve got to get a grip on that or it’s going to come back and bite us in the (expletive) come playoff time. It’s not going to be hard for us to stay level-headed because we still can get so much better.”
Any further improvements will include a now-fully healthy Okafor.
“It feels good, man,” he said. “More than anything, it just feels good to be back with teammates.”
Chiefs moving on radio: The Chiefs have signed a multi-year agreement with Entercom that will make 106.5 The Wolf (WDAF-FM) the new flagship station of the 70-station Chiefs Radio Network. Also, 610 Sports Radio (KCSP) will become the Chiefs’ official broadcast partner. Chiefs games have been on 101.1 The Fox (KCFX-FM) since 1990. Sports Radio 810 serves as the broadcast partner through the end of this season. The team also announced that play-by-play announcer Mitch Holthus will return in 2020 for his 27th season.
This story was originally published December 6, 2019 at 5:00 AM.
