Chiefs OL Stefen Wisniewski making strides in return to Kansas City
The Kansas City Chiefs added a familiar face to the practice squad a few weeks back, signing free agent OL Stefen Wisniewski.
Wisniewski had first joined the Chiefs about midway through the 2019 NFL season. He played a reserve role on the team up until the final weeks of the regular season. Then he was asked to step up and start at left guard for Kansas City, a spot where he’d remain throughout the playoffs and Super Bowl LIV. He left as a free agent in the offseason and joined the Pittsburgh Steelers, but an early-year injury made him expendable to his new team.
Now healthy, Wisniewski has returned to Kansas City in a somewhat familiar role. He’s ready and waiting for his opportunity to help this team, but this time on the practice squad instead of the 53-man roster. Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy fully expects him to be able to step in when the time is right.
“Oh yeah, he looks just like Wiz [Stefen Wisniewski],” Bieniemy said. “Wiz is going to do anything and everything to make sure he’s getting himself back ready to play and getting himself right where he needs to be in case we need him to plug in right away.”
Despite some new starting pieces on the offensive line, Bieniemy isn’t concerned about chemistry or Wisniewski’s ability to pick up the offense. Everything he has seen so far is encouraging and showing that Wisniewski is the same guy he was for the Chiefs last year.
“He’s a sharp kid, he understands the system and Coach Heck does a great job with those guys on top of that,” Bienniemy continued. “That O-line group is a tight-knit group, so I’m sure those guys with the chemistry have just fell right back in place.”
The Chiefs are currently healthy along the offensive line, but that’s the one position they’ve seen the most attrition at this season. Prior to the season, they lost Laurent Duvernay-Tardif and Lucas Niang to opt-outs. During the season they’ve lost Kelechi Osemele to a season-ending injury and Mitchell Schwartz is on injured reserve with no timeline for return. Starting center Austin Reiter was banged up early on in the season too.
At some point, the team will likely need to call upon their offensive line depth. When they do need that help, Wisniewski will be ready to step in as if he never left in the first place.
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