After being selected by the Buffalo Bills in the second round of the 2016 NFL Draft, Reggie Ragland was forced to miss his entire first year in the league due to a knee injury. Before the 2017 season officially began, he was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs where he saw spotty playing time up until the last couple of weeks. Now clearly more comfortable with Andy Reid’s defensive scheme, in addition to being given more consistent playing time, Ragland has taken his game to another level in his official rookie season.
Though the once explosive Chiefs’ offense has fizzled out, their banged up defense has found ways to keep them in games late. In a loss to the Giants two weeks ago, the former Alabama star linebacker saw his role expanded once more, and turned in a career day. He led the team in total tackles with nine – a career-high. He followed up that preformance with an even better one against his former team. For the second week in a row he led the team in tackles with nine, but this time added a trio of tackles for loss including this incredible tackle on the Bills’ “Shady” McCoy:
Reggie Ragland revenge game..#Chiefs pic.twitter.com/3us4Hr1eDF
— Brandon Thorn (@BrandonThornNFL) November 29, 2017
Though the Chiefs are falling apart at the seams offensively after such a hot start to the year, fans have a lot to be happy about seeing their defense still preform at such high levels despite playing a rookie at middle linebacker and missing superstar safety, Eric Berry, to injury. If anything, Ragland’s preformance has solidified his spot on the field and has reminded the NFL why he was considered one of the top defenders of his draft class. If he continues to stay healthy, expect much more of the same.
