It never happened for linebacker Kendrell Bell. He looked like a player coming off a year of inactivity and was only seventh on the team in tackles.

The Chiefs stayed with Bell in part because they had no alternative. This year, they might have one.

Keyaron Fox leads the Chiefs in preseason tackles and, based solely on their summer work, probably deserves to start over Bell at right linebacker.

That, too, hasn’t happened yet. Bell, except for brief periods at training camp, has been the starter.

Coach Herm Edwards is at least promoting the Bell-Fox battle as competition.

“No one has said, ‘I’m the guy’ yet,” Edwards said. “Both of them are playing well. You feel like you have four starting linebackers – and that’s never bad to have – and if you play all four, that’s fine. If we have to keep doing that during the season, we’ll keep doing that.”

Fox is trying to force the Chiefs to make a decision they would probably rather not make. They lavished a big contract on Bell last year, while Fox was a third-round draft pick in 2004, so using Fox over Bell is an admission they made a bad decision to sign the veteran.