What Chiefs fans can expect from a healthy Charles Omenihu down stretch of season
Charles Omenihu had sought a better performance in his season debut last Friday against the Las Vegas Raiders.
But the Chiefs defensive end made his action count.
“Did I meet my own personal expectations? Probably not,” Omenihu said. “But I have to give myself grace.”
It has been awhile for Omenihu, who tore an ACL in the Chiefs’ AFC Championship Game victory against the Baltimore Ravens. The injury happened one defensive snap after his biggest moment in the game — and perhaps his best play of the year: a strip-sack of Ravens QB Lamar Jackson.
Omenihu watched the Chiefs complete the 2023 season with a Super Bowl repeat and started the long road back. ACL repair and recovery typically takes up to a year.
He recently saw a social media post that counted it down: Omenihu had gone more than 300 days between games.
“It had been a long time since I played, so you have to be realistic,” he said. “But my foot’s on the gas. That’s my mentality.”
Against the Raiders, Omenihu lined up at defensive end for exactly half of the Chiefs’ defensive snaps — 34 of 68 — in a 19-17 victory that improved KC’s record to an NFL-best 11-1.
He was credited with an assisted tackle, and it was a big one: Omenihu and linebacker Nick Bolton teamed to stop Raiders running back Ameer Abdullah on fourth-and-1 and returned the ball to the Chiefs’ offense.
Expect Omenihu’s impact to increase. When he signed a two-year, $16 million free-agent contract before last season, the Chiefs were looking to replace Frank Clark’s production. Omenihu had been part of defensive line rotations for the Houston Texans and San Francisco 49ers.
Even though he sat out the first six games of 2023 season for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy, Omenihu turned his best year as a pro, recording a season-high seven sacks with a pair of forced fumbles.
The Chiefs could use some of that disruption down the stretch this season. Entering Sunday night’s home game against the Los Angeles Chargers, they’ve recorded just 24 sacks, which ranks 27th in the NFL. This comes after KC notched 55 sacks as a team in each of the previous two seasons.
Rehabbing had its difficult moments for Omenihu, especially during the weeks at training camp, when he was rebuilding leg strength while the team sweated through workouts. It was around that time, as the regular season was about to begin, that Omenihu at long last could see himself returning to the field.
“That’s when I knew I would be good, and I knew about when I would come back,” he said.
The Chiefs’ defense has had its struggles lately. Their pass defense has seemed especially out of sorts, unable to pair solid coverage with an effective pass rush.
Since falling to the Buffalo Bills three weeks ago, the Chiefs have pulled out victories over the Carolina Panthers and Raiders ... but their defense allowed end-of-game drives that tied the game late against the Panthers and put Las Vegas in field goal range.
The Chiefs held on in both cases, and Omenihu sees that as the bottom line.
“I have the utmost confidence in everybody out there,” he said. “They’ve done pretty well. It may not be everything everybody wants it to be, but ... we were 10-1 before I got back? I think they did pretty solid.”
This story was originally published December 4, 2024 at 2:20 PM.