Kansas City Chiefs: Can Cameron Sheffield Make an Impact in 2011?

Kansas City Chiefs rookie Cameron Sheffield is heading into his second year as a pro and has yet to play a game in the NFL.

In fact, he hasn't played a down either.

During the team's third preseason game of the 2010 season, Sheffield was involved in a nasty collision with Eagles running back Mike Bell.

As Sheffield was about to tackle Bell, their helmets collided and after going to the ground, he was motionless for awhile as paramedics wheeled him off the field in a stretcher.

Sheffield was fortunate that he didn't suffer any major injuries; however, his 2010 season was over before it even got started.

This was a tough pill to swallow for the Chiefs because they drafted Sheffield during the previous offseason in hopes that he could help shore up a weak pass rush on defense.

Instead, the former Troy star was placed on the injured reserve list and he got to watch all season as his team failed to get any consistent pass rush out of their linebackers other than Pro-Bowler Tamba Hali.

This also showed up in the stats, as Hali had 14.5 sacks himself and the rest of the KC linebacking corps had just 5.5 combined for the season.

With recent reports that Sheffield is 100 percent and ready to go this offseason, the questions begin to surround the Chiefs soon-to-be second-year outside linebacker.

Can he produce at this level? Will he be able to provide solid pressure on the QB opposite of Hali?

It's possible, since Sheffield was playing well in his limited preseason playing time before his nasty injury in Game 3.

After all, he had six sacks in his last season at Troy and the last great linebacker to come out of that school is reigning 2010 NFL sack leader and five-time Pro Bowler Demarcus Ware.

This offseason will be Sheffield's time to shine at OLB, as Mike Vrabel has been showing his age; the only other person to challenge Cameron for the spot will be former undrafted rookie Andy Studebaker, assuming the team doesn't elect to select a linebacker in the upcoming NFL draft.

Studebaker could give Sheffield some good competition, but if the former fifth-round pick plays like he did in the '10 preseason, he should get significant minutes when the games start to count.

The opportunity will be there for Cameron Sheffield, but will he be able to seize it?

Tune in this offseason to find out.