Chiefs Case Book: Safety and ILB
by Laddie Morse | March 26, 2019
Chiefs Case Book: Safety and ILB. The Kansas City Chiefs have draft needs, but the question is, can you make a case for one position over the other and more importantly, can General Manager Brett Veach do that? Two years ago, with both Head Coach Andy Reid and then GM, John Dorsey, were pitching hard for their own prospects of interest, someone they wanted to be named the Chiefs first pick in the draft at #27. However, Brett Veach, the scout, pounded the table even harder for QB Patrick Mahomes, and viola, the organization had its first first-round QB in over three decades… and he went on to win the MVP in his first season as a starter.
Taking the Fifth on the Fifth
The Chiefs current draft positions in the 2019 draft include picks numbers: 29, 61, 63, 92, 167, 201, 214, and 216. While fans can hope that the Chiefs pull off another miracle (?) and find a stellar pick in the 5th round, because that’s where their 167th pick is this year, by finding another player as good as Tyreek Hill, on the field, the realities of that happening are quite slim. Here’s a list of players the Chiefs have drafted in the 5th round in the past ten seasons:
- 2018 – none
- 2017 – Ukeme Eligwe
- 2016 – Kevin Hogan, Tyreek Hill
- 2015 – D.J. Alexander, James O’Shaughnessy
- 2014 – Aaron Murray
- 2013 – Sanders Commings
- 2012 – DeQuan Menzie
- 2011 – Ricky Stanzi, Gabe Miller
- 2010 – Kendrick Lewis
- 2009 – Colin Brown
The Chiefs hit on 3 players (in bold) out of 12 during that period of time which is probably about average around the league. The point of all that is to say, most of us, and that includes the Chiefs brass, are most concerned about getting it right when it comes to the first four picks, all within the first 92 picks in this draft. So, here I’ll make a pitch for each position of need being addressed in those top 92 picks on a case by case basis and we’ll begin today with the Safety position and the ILB position.
A Case for a Safety
The Safety position is what many are believing is the number one need of the Chiefs, even though they signed Tyrann Mathieu. With inexperienced players like 2nd year man Armani Watts and Jordan Lucas as the projected backups to Mathieu, it’s justifiable to think that another top Safety would help secure that position for K.C.. In 2018, it’s generally accepted that the Safety position was the weakest link on the team. With Eric Berry out almost the whole season and Daniel Sorensen gone for half a year, it left little in the tank as the Chiefs reached far to bring Ron Parker back to help hold things together. Only, his holding things together was more like watered down Elmer’s Glue than Gorilla Weld Epoxy.
As I’ve mentioned previously, the Chiefs may need to acquire a Safety who can do may of the same things that Tyrann Mathieu can. If not, then opposing QBs can get an easy pre-snap read on the Chiefs defense and that could make getting a stop for the Chiefs D increasingly improbable.
The challenge in creating a useful “Case” Book is that the Chiefs say they won’t be drafting based on need alone… which is essentially what a making a case for each position is based upon. Thus, it’s critical to understand the strengths and weaknesses of any particular draft. The 2019 draft is deep on Safety talent. No, there’s not a top Safety liek Eric Berry was, who was drafted by the Chiefs with the 5th pick in the draft in 2010. If oyu were a Chiefs fan back then, you’d also know that taking a Safety that high was a controversial idea. All any Chiefs fan needs to know about the 2019 draft is… the Safety position is loaded with talent deep into the draft, but not at the top like with Eric Berry. So, if you were hoping the Chiefs could replace Berry, be sure of this, there is no replacing Eric Berry. However, there are a number of other strong possibilities:
CBS Sports lists 9 Safeties in the top 89 picks of th4e draft while DrafTek lists 9 Safeties in the top 125. That means the Chiefs will have their pick of the player they like, if they decide to go that route early. I’m all in favor of taking a top Safety sometime during the first three rounds. It would likely have to be with pick #61 or #63 to get a good one who could make a difference by the end of the 2019 season. If the Chiefs decide not to take a Safety in the first round, I can understand that based upon the availability of 9 top Safeties who should be there in the top 100 picks. In that case, it would leave the door open to take a player at another position of… perhaps an even greater need. Like ILB.
A Case for a Middle Linebacker
It used to be the case that the middle linebacker called all the defensive alignments. Now, Safeties often take that role on many teams. It’s a question of who is most suited to be the quarterback of the D? In the 43 defense, the middle linebacker is critical to the success of the defense, and consequently, the team. I re-watched the game between the Chiefs and Broncos last year in Denver and so I decided to watch a few plays of Anthony Hitchens and on the first four plays, he was less than stellar:
- On the first play, from the Broncos 22 yard line, Hitchens was completely out of position, jumping one way to his right, then the other way to his left, having misread the play, RB Phillip Lindsay ran for 13 yards up the gut of the Chiefs defense.
- On the second play, from the Broncos 35 yard line, Hitchens blitzed but was not only blown up by the fullback but that FB put Hitchens on his back. The result was a successful 43 yard pass play.
- On the third play, from the Broncos 13 a yard line, Hitchens ran backwards towards the sideline as he was blocked on a jet sweep for a nine yard gain.
- On the fourth play, from the Broncos 13 yard line, Hitch “attempted” a tackle on the 5-yard line, hitting the RB high, but he simply bounced off of Hitchens, who held onto him, and the RB dragged him into the end zone.
The Chiefs were ahead at the time 10-to-3 so they scored a game tying TD while Anthony Hitchens showed me none of the skills you look for in a good middle linebacker. This is not the first time I tracked Anthony Hitchens play and each I do, he shows me that he’s not ready — and likely never will be — to take over MLB duties and run the defense for a team. In my estimation, the Chiefs are in need of a good middle linebacker and his acquisition is as important as the acquisition of any other player on the team, if not more important.
On one hand, with a new Defensive Coordinator coming in, Anthony Hitchens will likely be given the opportunity to take over in the middle and run the show. On the other hand, if Steve Spagnuolo was watching last year’s tape he most certainly saw what many of us saw. Since we also know that Brett Veach has a history of jumping up in the draft to take a player early (perceived as early) then it won’t surprise me at all to see him select Mack Wilson first with the 29th pick in the draft. However, Wilson seems to be falling down draft boards and is currently ranked #45 by CBS Sports adn #46 by DrafTek.
It also would not surprise me to see Veach jump up and take the 2nd best ILB in this draft, Mr. Devin Bush, from Michigan (ranked 20th and 28th by CBS and DrafTek respectively). Both Devin Bush and Devin White are smart players who approach the game using their “instincts” which often just means they’re able to instantly process what they’ve learned and act on it, including making pre-snap decisions.
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