Technically, the Kansas City Chiefs reached the middle of the season at halftime of their last game against the Green Bay Packers, but that because of he new 17-game season format the NFL has imposed. At 5-and-4, the Kansas City Chiefs as an organization, are not meeting expectations. As a former school teacher who was anti-grading in a system that required constant feedback for students, I have found the process often degrading to those being graded. While that may be the case, these Chiefs, in this year, appear to deserve grading as much as any K.C. team in recent memory. Even more than the horrendous 2-and-14 Chiefs team because they were expected to be bad and they were exactly as expected. We usually begin this process with the offense, but I’ll place defense at the head of the class and start there. I’ll cover the Defense and Special Teams today… and the Offense tomorrow.
Safety
Tyran Mathieu: A-
Mathieu didn’t play in the first game of this season, but has had 5 or 6 tackles in every game this season otherwise, except for the Bills game, in which he had 4. He began the year with two interceptions vs the Ravens and returned one of those for a TD.
Juan Thornhill: B
Thornhill started out the year not playing as many snaps as many of us thought he should. Once he got his snaps, he’s played consistently. Some think he’s back to the level he was in 2019, his rookie year, when he played lights out. PFF currently has him graded at 70.8, which is good, and he’s almost there, but I’ve yet to see him return to his ballhawking days of 2019, when he had 3 INTs.
Daniel Sorensen: F
Sorensen played on 100% of the defensive snaps in 3 of the Chiefs first five games. The other two games were at 91% and 99%. While I consider that a major failing by Steve Spagnuolo, this grade is due to the many failed assignments of Sorensen and I can think of at least two off the top of my head that allowed a TD directly. Since game five, Sorensen’s defensive snaps have been: 32%, 24%, 45%, and 35%. The only time Sorensen should be on the field is as a blitzer in he box. However, if Spags does that, it’s an advanced cue to the other team that K.C. is about to blitz. That shows that Sorensen can’t do two things well enough to keep him, is worthless to this defense, and needs to go. Dirty Dan was a good UDFA in the past, but now his skills have eroded and he needs to be cut asap.
Linebackers
Anthony Hitchens: C
Hitchens has 4 less tackles this year than Tyrann Mathieu and although he’s played one less game (he was out games 7 and 8) than Mathieu, he is considered the defensive signal caller, the QB of the defense and Steve Spagnuolo’s eye’s on the field. Like David Bell, I was convinced that Hitchens would return the his late 2020 form — which was much improved — during this season and with the addition of Nick Bolton and Willie Gay, would elevate his play as a result. While Hitchens had a good game against the Packers, his season as a whole, has not been very good and I hold him as the key piece of the front seven in not stopping he run and missing so many RB catches out of the backfield.
Ben Niemann: D
Ben Niemann has played on 60% of the Chiefs defensive snaps this season and has 2.88 tackles per game to show for it. Niemann was also a UDFA but has never shown that he’s an above average LB. He currently has a 39.1 rating from PFF, but that may be too high for him. Both Anthony Hitchens and Ben Niemann are liked because of their football IQ, but that hasn’t been evident this season. Niemann had a good year for K.C. in 2019, but tried to bulk up in 2020 and his performance went downhill. This year, he’s taken another step backwards.
Willie Gay: B+
It’s hard to believe that Gay has been on the field for less defensive snaps than Ben Niemann this year — 55% to 60% — but that may be a big reason the Chiefs defense has been slow out of the gates this year.
Nick Bolton: B+
While some may give Bolton an “A” grade, he’s still a rookie and spent part of the beginning of the season learning, which he’s still doing now.
The above play also shows why I prefer Bolton over Hitchens. Hitchens is over-reacting most of the time and is moving his body in the direction the offense wants him to go… while Bolton is reading, reading, then reacting forward… and Hitch gets there late.
Defensive Line
Chris Jones: B
The experiment didn’t work: CJ ≠ DE. David Bell told me so, but I didn’t listen. Sure, Stone Cold will be moved to DE on occasion when Spags decides to mix his DL up, but otherwise, Chris Jones belongs at DT. As long as he stays there the remainder of 2021, his grade will be an “A” again, but until then….
Jarran Reed: D+
Reed has not been the answer we thought he’d be on the IDL. A 40.6 PFF grade says enough.
Derrick Nnadi: C–
19 Tackles on 243, or 42%, of the defensive snaps shouldn’t have anyone thrilled.
Tershawn Wharton: C
14 Tackles on 42% of the defensive snaps has me less thrilled. At least Nnadi has a sack, but not Wharton. Wharton has no TFLs and no QBHits.
Frank Clark: B-
Clark has been bad ever since the 2019 season… until the past three games when all of a sudden he has awakened from the dead. In the past three games, Clark has 5 QBHits and a sack.
The defensive line and the front seven — minus Willie Gay and Nick Bolton — and their poor play has been the major reason for the Chiefs defensive woes in the first par of this season… and then… it has also been responsible for the defensive turnaround over the past three or four games. Getting Melvin Ingram, which allows Chris Jones to move back inside, not only helps Ingram and Clark but Jarran Reed as well.
Special Teams
Harrison Butker: A
“Butt” as Andy Reid now calls him, has been his usual excellent self in the first half of 2021. He’s been 26 for 26 on extra points and is 19-out-of-20 on Field Goals only missing one from beyond the 50.
Tommy Townsend: A
If you go by the game versus the Packers, Townsend would get an “A+”…
James Winchester: NG
No comment. He hasn’t lost a game for K.C. and that’s a plus.
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We’ll grade the Offense tomorrow. Until then… Happy Red Friday and… Go Chiefs!
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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne
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