Getty Kansas City Chiefs defensive lineman Turk Wharton was voted the "most improved player" at the bye week.
The Kansas City Chiefs have had a near-perfect start to the 2024 regular season — with the only real negatives being long-term injuries to offensive stars Rashee Rice, Isiah Pacheco and Hollywood Brown.
Having said that, the team is still 5-0 and looks to be as fearsome an opponent as ever, motivated by their quest for three straight Super Bowl titles. And KC wouldn’t be in this position without all of their role players that have developed within their system, like fifth-year defensive lineman Tershawn “Turk” Wharton.
On October 11, the analysts and contributors of Arrowhead Pride voted on their “most improved player” of the 2024 campaign so far, and Wharton came out on top with four out of 10 votes.
The runner-up was third-year cornerback Jaylen Watson, who earned three votes, and then three other Chiefs each received one vote.
KC Analysts Credit Chiefs’ Turk Wharton With ‘Taking Advantage’ of Snaps Alongside Chris Jones
As for why the analysts and writers of Arrowhead Pride chose Wharton, contributor Jared Sapp explained their thought process.
“In a year where teams are selling out to provide extra attention to star defensive tackle Chris Jones, Wharton is more than taking advantage of favorable matchups,” he wrote. “Through five games, Wharton has recorded 1.5 sacks — on nine pressures.”
Sapp went on to call Wharton’s improvement “apparent,” especially in Week 5.
“On a crucial third down from midfield in the third quarter, Wharton dropped quarterback Derek Carr for an eight-yard loss,” Sapp reminded. “It was the only sack recorded on the veteran all night.”
Wharton is second on the Chiefs in sacks and pressures behind Jones, per Sapp, and the analyst added that the defensive lineman “appears to have taken the step that his knee injury likely stole from him two years ago.”
“Appreciation of Wharton requires the eye test,” Sapp concluded. “He is consistently a problem without accumulating counting stats while teams focus on stopping Jones and George Karlaftis. With fellow versatile pass rusher Charles Omenihu set to return in the coming weeks, Wharton could be even more of a problem as the season progresses.”
Turk Wharton Has Earned Every Bit of NFL Career With Chiefs
It’s been a long road to 2024 for two-time Super Bowl champion Turk Wharton. After entering the NFL as an undrafted rookie in 2020, the interior D-lineman made the Chiefs active roster and has not left it since — outside of injury — accumulating 70 total appearances including the playoffs.
To make things more difficult on the former UDFA, Wharton later suffered a torn ACL in 2022.
He eventually elected to return to Kansas City on a minimum contract in 2023 after that injury setback, then achieved an impressive bounce back effort last year with 21 appearances from Week 1 all the way through the big game versus the San Francisco 49ers.
Over the course of his career, Wharton has never had that spectacular season, but he has been a consistent rotational cog that does his job for defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo and does it well. He’s finished each of his full campaigns with 2.0 sacks, along with 1.0 sack in five games in 2022 and 1.5 sacks in five games this year — plus, 2.0 sacks in the playoffs.
Combining regular season and playoffs, Wharton has also racked up 108 total tackles (10 for a loss), 22 QB hits, 3 pass defenses, 4 forced fumbles (as well as 2 recoveries) and 1 interception. With one more full sack over the next 12 weeks of play, the veteran will have set a new career-high in that area.
