Nick Bolton Explains Significance of Charles Omenihu, Jaylen Watson Playing vs. Bills

When the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills square off on Sunday, it'll be a meeting between two teams that should be quite familiar with one another. Despite the same old quarterback matchup of Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen, though, there are a handful of differences that have taken effect since Week 11.

On the reigning champs' side, two key defensive players missed November's regular-season outing in Orchard Park but are back for the AFC championship game. Defensive lineman Charles Omenihu and cornerback Jaylen Watson afford defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo with even more options on that side of the ball against a tough offense.

Having both players in the fold this time around should make things easier for everyone. That includes linebacker Nick Bolton, who spent part of this week explaining just how critical it is to have his teammates active on game day.

Starting with Omenihu, Bolton notes the flexibility he brings as a major plus.

"When Charles came back, you obviously saw our rush, it started heating up a little bit," Bolton said. "We started moving some guys around and, obviously, he adds some versatility to our rush. He lines up inside, outside, over the center, over the guard and kind of lets Chris [Jones] move around a little bit, too. Having him back definitely helps a lot."

Since returning from a torn ACL suffered in last year's AFC title game, Omenihu has slowly but surely worked his way back into form. He logged 225 snaps in the last six weeks of the regular season, notching six tackles and a sack. In last weekend's divisional round triumph over the Houston Texans, he had a strip-sack of C.J. Stroud and looked as good as he has in 12 months.

The versatility Bolton mentioned is there, too, as Omenihu has 166 snaps on the outside but 54 over the tackle and 37 in the A-gap, according to Pro Football Focus. Just 60% of his divisional round snaps were at a more traditional defensive end alignment.

In a similar vein, albeit with much less of a sample size since he's gotten back, Watson allows everyone else to fall into place on the depth chart.

"Jaylen coming back obviously adds some depth to the corner room," Bolton said. "We've started putting him in a little bit – we'll kind of see how this week goes and how he progresses and try to get him in as much as we can. He's physical up front at the line of scrimmage and able to put hands on [and] reroute guys and use his speed. We're definitely happy to have both of those guys back for this round."

Watson picked perhaps the most challenging time to get back in the lineup, as last Saturday was his first live action since Week 7 when he suffered a serious ankle injury. He still managed to play 40 snaps against Houston, good for 59% of those available, which held players like Nazeeh Johnson (34 snaps) back a bit. In those reps, Watson earned a 72.1 coverage grade from PFF that serves as his second-highest mark since Week 1.

The Chiefs' defense struggled immensely from Weeks 8-14, specifically, without Watson. Should he see an increased workload on Sunday, it'd be another boost. Taking some snaps from Johnson and giving them to Joshua Williams could also assist in optimizing the cornerback rotation. It's a constant game of mix-and-match, but having a more proven piece at the ready is ideal

All things considered, having too many options would be the best possible feeling for Spagnuolo, Bolton and the rest of Kansas City as the club looks to punch a ticket to the Super Bowl.

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