The Kansas City Chiefs are expected to start Kahlil Benson at left tackle against the Denver Broncos on Monday Night Football after Josh Simmons was ruled out. The undrafted rookie is in line for his first NFL start in a game that puts him directly in front of Patrick Mahomes as the quarterback returns to the field.
That is why Benson is being searched now. The Chiefs are 2.5-point favorites, but the matchup carries more weight than a normal opener because Mahomes is set to play on the nine-month anniversary of sustaining an ACL injury last December. A rookie making his first start at one of the league’s most demanding protection spots is one thing; doing it while the quarterback is coming back from major injury is another.
Andy Reid said Benson has done a nice job for the Chiefs and said the team would not put him in there if it did not believe he could handle it. Mahomes backed that up with the kind of trust a veteran quarterback has to show when the lineup shifts in front of him. He said he has faith in whoever the coaches send out, that mistakes will happen, and that the offense has to trust those players to make the plays when they come.
Benson brings some experience with him, even if this is his first NFL start. He played 16 games for Indiana during the team’s national championship run, which means he has already spent a full season in a high-pressure, high-stakes setting. That does not make the jump to the NFL simple, but it does mean Kansas City is not asking him to learn how to play through pressure for the first time.
The catch is that the Chiefs are asking him to do it now because Simmons was unavailable after dealing with a back injury for much of the preseason. That leaves Kansas City short-handed at a key spot on the line while Mahomes returns to the field, and it turns the opener into a test of how much the Chiefs can absorb before the protection starts to crack. Bo Nix is also coming back from a lengthy rehab process after a fractured right ankle, which adds another layer to a game built around players returning and others stepping in.
What happens next depends on whether Benson can turn a first start into something stable enough for Reid to keep trusting him. The Chiefs do not have to solve left tackle for the season in one night, but they do have to get through the Broncos with a quarterback on the comeback trail and a rookie protecting his blind side.
