Chiefs’ Juan Thornhill is in a ‘good place’ now less than a year removed from ACL tear
Chiefs safety Juan Thornhill admits to thinking of his surgically repaired knee at times this season.
No wonder.
He remains less a full year removed from a torn anterior cruciate ligament suffered in Week 17 of the 2019 regular season. Thornhill recovered in time to return to the starting lineup for the Chiefs’ 2020 season opener, but the second-year pro arguably didn’t look like the Thornhill of old right away.
After making a solid case for the league’s Defensive Rookie of the Year award before his injury, he had to contend with the mental aspects of his physical recovery ... and regain trust in his knee.
“The biggest thing is changing my mentality,” Thornhill said. “There were times I was down on myself just questioning if I would be able to get back on the field and play to my ability.
“But then as I got out there and started working back in it, I started feeling like, OK, I feel like I can get out here and play still. I still feel confident. I have that power and speed still, so now I’ve just got to trust myself.”
Thornhill might have been attempting to do too much too fast. He suddenly found himself in what coach Andy Reid called a situational role in Week 11 against the Las Vegas Raiders, playing a season-low 11 defensive snaps.
He hasn’t been in the starting lineup the past two games, but he was pretty involved defensively in Week 12 with 41 snaps (61 percent of the Chiefs’ defensive plays) and responded with three tackles in a 27-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Going from starting free safety to contributor off the sideline isn’t what Thornhill expected coming back from the torn ACL, but he maintains a positive attitude.
“I didn’t expect to be a guy that plays a lesser role in our defense, but it’s not something that I’m like super-down on because I’m going to keep working regardless,” he said. “When it’s my turn to step in there and play, I’m going to go in there and make a play.”
The decision to pull Thornhill back a bit appeared to arrive during the Chiefs’ Week 10 off-week. Thornhill said he and defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo spent time watching film, and both came to the conclusion that keeping a balance of workload and recovery process in mind was important.
“The plan was to take some snaps off of him,” Spagnuolo said. “I think he just needs to be rested a little bit. He and I had a conversation, in a good way. I’m saying we were trying to figure out how to get him where he was at the end of last year. This is kind of what we’ve come up with now.”
“He kind of wished that we would’ve took it a little slower early in the season,” Thornhill said, “because we limited my reps maybe the first game, and then after that I was just out there going 100 percent, pretty much. And you don’t win the season in the first few weeks. You have to get better each and every week.
“So, I talked with Coach Spags and I feel like we’re in a really good place right now. We’re just taking it one day at a time, one game at a time. Hopefully, everything will play out and I’ll be back out there.”
Thornhill has a point about his snap percentage count during the first half of the season. He logged 64 percent of the team’s defensive plays in the Chiefs’ season opener before playing all snaps in Weeks 3 and 6. He also logged 97 percent or higher in Weeks 2, 4 and 5.
Now, the Chiefs appear to be comfortable with giving Thornhill all the time he needs to get back to feeling like himself. And they have depth at the safety position, with Daniel Sorensen now starting alongside Tyrann Mathieu.
Mathieu, who has been through two torn ACL in his career, gives Thornhill the perfect teammate to lean on for advice whenever he needs it.
“I’ve had a lot of questions for him,” Thornhill said. “The main thing he told me is I have to be patient. There’s going to be times when I’ll be one step away from making a play and it’s going to be real frustrating, but you can’t get down.
“He said, ‘You’ve got to keep that confidence, know that you’re a good player. You know that you can play and it’s going to slowly come back.’ That’s why I’m not going to get down on myself. I know I can still play.”
In 16 starts at free safety during his rookie campaign, Thornhill totaled 58 tackles, three interceptions (including one returned for a touchdown) and five passes defensed in 1,011 defensive snaps — third-most on the team behind Mathieu (1,095) and cornerback Charvarius Ward (1,062).
This season, Thornhill has appeared in all 11 games for the Chiefs. He’s made seven starts, with 28 tackles, an interception and two passes defensed.
“I’m definitely getting back to myself,” he said. “I can feel myself running a lot faster, breaking a lot better. I’m becoming more confident as I’m on the field.”
