Why Chiefs' UDFA Fabien Lovett could be a breakout candidate in 2024 NFL season
While they’ve made more investments recently, the Kansas City Chiefs have a history of finding quality contributors on the defensive line late in the draft and as part of the undrafted free-agent market. One of those additions is Fabian Lovett.
Kansas City signed an edge rusher that I think could give them some snaps as part of the rotation with his urgent, violent style of play in Charlotte’s Eyabi Okie-Anoma. Yet, I want to focus on the big bear they added in the middle from Florida State.
Lovett was tied for tenth in my interior D-line rankings and I thought his skill set was worthy of investing an early day three pick in him.
In terms of owning his space and sliding off blocks in run defense, he was up there with anybody outside of Texas’ massive T’Vondre Sweat as a guy playing between the guards.
What I always said about him was that he had an innate feel for where pressure was being applied from, and how to counter it, as he dealt with double-teams. Yet, his ability to lock out against solos and how slippery he is at disengaging and eating up the ball carrier is equally impressive.
Now, he doesn’t offer a whole lot of pop out of his stance and short-area twitchiness to be a legit part of a third-down package in the NFL, but he does have some dominant snaps of putting guards or centers on skates when left one-on-one, and his level of activity with his hands is commendable for a guy at 6’4 and nearly 320 pounds.
How Fabien Lovett will fit with the Chiefs
As a sixth-year senior who some people may look at as a two-down player, it’s understandable that the league may value other guys above him, but there’s no way he should’ve gone undrafted entirely.
Considering how Kansas City has treated their defensive front, these types of players like Derrick Nnadi, Mike Pennel, and others have been valuable contributors. Especially this past season, we saw them run the second-highest rate of base defense, and generally, they go fairly deep into their depth chart with that position group to keep guys healthy and give them quality snaps. So while those names I mentioned are still under contract, I think there’s definitely a path to playing time for Lovett since they value those early-phase run-stoppers.
Lovett can occupy bodies to allow their linebackers to run freely, as they just lost speed with the departure of Willie Gay Jr. But when they mug someone like Leo Chenal up and create even numbers up front, his ability to work off blockers and create quick stops allows them to get to longer downs and be aggressive in their pressure-packages. Yet, when they run more stop-drop coverages, Lovett can stay on the field and contribute as a pocket-pusher or someone who frees up lanes by pulling multiple bodies with him.
I think Lovett makes that roster or at the very least is one of the first call-ups from the practice squad, and he stands out as people watch the All-22 in December/January.