The Kansas City Chiefs have a new force in town along the defensive line and that would be Tanoh Kpassagnon (pronounced: Tawn-oh pass-N-yo. it’s kind of like saying The “Paseo” our major N-S thoroughfare, only you say “N” instead of the “say” sound in the middle). He is also known as KPass and that’s how I’ll refer to him for our purposes here.
KPass played his college ball for the Villanova Wildcats so some will argue that the competition he faced was not as good as other conferences across our country. I’ve heard KPass stick up for the Big East but the perception remains. Tanoh Kpassagnon is a 6-foot-7-inch, 290 pound mass of muscle. However, he comes to the Chiefs as a more skilled defensive product than Allen Bailey who is also known for his physique. In fact, PKass was the Defensive Player of the Year in the Big East.
Let’s dive into some film. Following is a collection of 8 plays that KPass has a great effect upon. Let’s take each play, one at a time:
- Play One: Kpass is lined up in the Right DE position (on the left side of the screen). He takes on the Left Tackle and gets his hands inside the tackles hands and pads and pushes him back and then is able to sweep around him making a sack. Intentional or not, KPass is able to pick off the tackle with his own running back who comes up to block the LB on the play. Excellent speed and strength maneuver.
- Play Two: KPass is lined up in the R-DE position again on the right side of the screen this time. John Dorsey mentions in his introductory press conference that KPass progresses from year to year at getting his pads lower and lower adn here, you can see he starts out with his pads in a very low stance but pops up as he engages the LT. KPass makes a good inside move but ends up ramming his hand into the LTs facemask and he’ll get called for a penalty in the NFL for that move.
- Play Three: KPass lines up at R-DE again and makes a good solid rip move as he darts to the inside of the LT. Result: sack!
- Play Four: KPass stays inside to make a move on the a RB and is in on the tackle.
- Play Five: KPass is again the R-DE in their 3-4 alignment. He slides down the LOS and takes on the RB keeping them from getting anything but a minimal gain.
- Play Six: KPass lines up inside near the middle of the line and makes leaps to make a block of an extra point try. His height could come in handy as the Chiefs attempt to do the same.
- Play Seven: From the R-DE position again, KPass comes inside to close on the RB but is met with a low block at the knees. He sidesteps that and makes the play on the RB.
- Play Eight: KPass lines up on the other side, the Left DE position, and jumps inside to make a stop on the RB for a loss.
Tanoh Kpassagnon will surprise a lot of people in the NFL in his rookie season. Here’s a preview of tomorrow’s piece on KPass. pic.twitter.com/fJHrJXZ2Wa
— Ladner Morse (@Laddiemorse) July 14, 2017
Tanoh Kpassagnon could very well have been drafted because he’s terrific at… stopping the run. If you’ve been following the news this offseason then you already know that the Kansas City Chiefs were #26 in the league when it comes to stopping the run. So, while many of us were watching and waiting for the Chiefs to make move to draft a big name defensive lineman in the draft… KPass might just be your guy. The more tape I watch on him, the more I see him playing the run well. Yes, he has his QB sack moments, but we all want to see our defensive linemen be able to stop the run first and foremost… then apply pressure on the QB.
Mr. KPass has been touted as a “freak.” He does look freakishly good against the Big East competition. However, there were moments that have stood out. Some of you may recall another “freak” DL the Chiefs drafted who ran a 4.98 (sub-5 second) 40 yard dash named Dontari Poe. What was so astounding about that is that he was 346 pounds at the time. Well, Tanoh Kpassagnon ran a 4.83 40 yard dash at 289. Now, you can reason that KPass weighed about 50 pounds less but a 4.83 is an amazing time. J.J. Watt, who weighed 290 pounds at the combine ran a 4.84 40 yard dash. In any event. If you can recall images of Poe chasing a QB down out of the pocket and catching him, it tells a story about how athletic he was (is). Below is a picture of KPass tracking down a QB but at the last second he goes airborne: plays like this are plays you usually only see LBs or DBs make:
I doubt you’ll ever see Dontari Poe go Superman like KPass did here.
Now, let’s not get carried away here because KPass isn’t always even the first guy off the line of scrimmage when the ball is hiked. So, he does have weaknesses. Like most other DL prospects, he’s grown too dependent upon the few moves he has which do work. In his case, it’s the bull rush. He takes a stance that’s very low to the ground and by doing so can get up under the offensive lineman’s pads and once he does that he’s usually very successful at pushing them right back into the QB. That’s not going to work with NFL linemen… usually. They’re too big and stong and athletic to allow that to happen on a regular basis. But, KPass does have a good rip move that he uses when he come on the outside vs. left tackles.
In listening to Tanoh Kpassagnon talk during his media interactions plus an interview at the Senior Bowl, you can tell he’s trainable, listens to his coaches, is affable and introspective, and usually wears a smile. Consequently, I believe he’ll be ready before others think he will… which is a year from now. Here’s a quote from Mike Mayock at NFL.com:
“You wanna talk about genetic freaks, folks. Step right up. I had a DC tell me when he’s the first guy off the bus, he looks so good, he should be pick No. 0. But he’s gonna be about a year away.”
Let’s take a look at a couple more plays where KPass stops the run:
Watch for “AO Game Tape Autopsy: Tanoh Kpassagnon” in the morning. pic.twitter.com/w5v6G9HFYc
— Ladner Morse (@Laddiemorse) July 14, 2017
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In the first play, KPass lines up on the right of the screen at the Left Defensive End position. He takes an inside move, which was probably a misstep, but is fast enough to corral the RB. A mistake, but he’s able to overcome it. In the second play, KPass line’s up at the R-DE position on the left side of the screen, he’s able to beat a double-team and slide with the ball carrier until he tackles him for a loss.
Excuse the quality of the above picture but it shows another time KPass is Double-teamed and in this case he beats the Double-team and sacks the QB. At 6-foot-7-inches tall he’s just too much for a lot of linemen because he’s so strong in his upper body. His long arms help him beat a lot of blocks by punching to get free. He states that beating blocks with his long arms is something coaches want him to work on more. Once he perfects that, he’ll be unstoppable. Below, is a screen cap of him beating a cut-block by jumping over it then still making the sack.
Tanoh Kpassagnon played all four years for Villanova but didn’t breakout until his junior year. In his junior year of 2015 he had 9.5 tackles for a loss and 6.5 sacks. Then last year, he created 21.5 tackles for a loss and had 11 sacks which ranked him 5th in the nation in sacks.
While some were projecting KPass to the 3rd or even as late as the fourth round in the draft, I think that one of John Dorsey’s draft strategies… if he really likes a prospect — is to pick them a round early or in the case of RB Kareem Hunt, trade up to get their prospect if he thinks that a run on a specific position group is about to commence. That’s why I think the Chiefs ended up with both of these players. The question for any draft prospect… no matter where they’re drafted, or undrafted is, are you going to take advantage of your opportunity? Laurence Duvernay-Tardif certainly has and he was drafted in the sixth round, pick 200, three years ago.
So, where does that leave Tanoh Kpassagnon? Could he flame out? Sure. There are no guarantees in the NFL unless you’re a great GM… oh wait. While nothing is a sure thing in this league, I think Tanoh Kpassagnon’s upside is similar to Chris Jones’ ascension in 2016. Some believe if KPass is going to make it, it won’t be until next season but I think he has the ability to be a force by the end of this year. I guess we’ll see.
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