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By Rowan Fisher-Shotton
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Any questions about whether the Kansas City Chiefs still had it were answered on Monday night.
In his first game back from a torn ACL and LCL, Patrick Mahomes led the Chiefs to a commanding 31-10 win over their rival Broncos at Arrowhead Stadium.
Kenneth Walker, last year's Super Bowl MVP with the Seahawks, was the star of the game, rushing for 173 yards and one touchdown on 23 carries, a whopping 7.5 yards per carry, while adding 18 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown. That was the highest rushing total of any running back in Week 1, ahead of Jahmyr Gibbs (156), Derrick Henry (144), and D'Andre Swift (124). Mahomes, meanwhile, went 15 of 27 for 184 yards and two touchdowns with one interception, adding 23 rushing yards and a rushing score.
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But the unsung hero of the game was undrafted rookie free agent Kahlil Benson, who stepped in at left tackle with Josh Simmons, last year's first-round pick, out with a back injury. Benson dominated in both the run game and pass protection, logging 32 pass-blocking snaps and allowing just one pressure all night (3.2%). According to Next Gen Stats, Benson allowed the fewest pressures among all rookie offensive tackles in Week 1, including first-round picks Spencer Fano, Blake Miller, and Monroe Freeling.
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Benson looked like a seasoned veteran on Monday night, repeatedly shutting down the Broncos' top pass rushers, including All-Pro Nik Bonitto, one of the NFL's premier edge rushers, with 27.5 sacks over the last two seasons. Benson was a big reason Mahomes had such a clean pocket, getting sacked just twice, and why Walker was so dominant on the ground.
Walker flashed his home-run ability throughout, and Andy Reid emphasized feeding him the ball early. But it was Benson who opened up the run game and kept Mahomes upright, rare for any rookie in his NFL debut, let alone one who went undrafted and wasn't even a lock to make the final roster a few months ago.
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Benson started his college career at Indiana before transferring to Colorado in 2024, where he played right tackle, right guard, and left guard for a Buffaloes team that went 9-4 behind quarterback Shedeur Sanders and head coach Deion Sanders. After that season, he transferred back to Indiana and won a national championship with the Hoosiers.
Yet none of that was enough to catch NFL teams' attention in the draft, and he only made the Chiefs' roster after earning a tryout alongside more than 75 other players. Even then, he entered the season as the projected backup behind veteran Jaylon Moore at right tackle, and had never played left tackle in his college career. After Monday's performance, though, it will be hard to send him to the bench.
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