Chiefs: Chenal, Chenal, Chenal: What’s the Big Deal?

Laddie Morse

I keep hearing the name, “Leo Chenal… Leo Chenal” and that he’s a star. Even Dan Orlovsky said so just this week. So, when Dan Orlovsky says something like that, my ears perk up:

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So, I had to look into it and I must say, I like… no, LOVE… what I found. Leo Chenal has become another player who must be re-signed this coming offseason.

Chenal is also, in all likelihood, the reason the Chiefs felt comfortable in not re-signing Willie Gay. Willie Gay ran a 4.46 40 yard dash, Chenal runs a 4.53… just 0.07… seven one hundredths of a second slower… which, is no time at all, especially because Chenal is much more intuitive and that makes all the difference in the world.

Now, let’s get something perfectly clear… Willie Gay was a real asset off the field with all his cheering and energy, and Chenal is not that kind of guy. However, on the field… it’s a different story.

I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating: PFF grades are not the be all, end all, of player evaluation. However, their grades do tell a story in part and that can come in handy at times. That said, here’s how Pro Football Focus graded the Chiefs top five players in their most recent game against the Ravens:

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With Leo Chenal coming in at #4, it informs us that we should take another look at his performance overall. Chenal was in on 48-out of-80, of the Chiefs defensive snaps, or 60%.

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With all the other stories about players this past offseason, it’s a shock to the system that Leo Chenal is one of the Chiefs best players (0:13):

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Chiefs Stories? Like the stories about: Xavier Worthy’s speed (which showed up in game one v the Ravens- see above), the Hollywood Brown signing, Chris Jones contract, the re-signing of Creed Humphrey, losing L’Jarius Sneed, elevating rookie Kingsley Suamataia to starting LT, Travis Kelce’s offseason activities, Clark Hunts “F” grades, the re-signing of multiple Chiefs coaches to large contracts, UDFA Carson Steele and Crocky-J, the return of JuJu, and much more… so many of these have become organizational folk lore making it all the more surprising that LB Leo Chenal has emerged as one of the Chiefs best tales of team.

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Leo Chenal

Leo Chenal is a LB who is 6-foot-3, and weighs 250 lbs., is 23 years old and turns 24 next month (10-26-2000). Many were concerned that the loss of LB Willie Gay would end up hurting the Chiefs defense. However, it looks like Leo Chenal can fill that gap and admirably. Verses the Ravens, Chenal batted a pass down (see below), which is as good as a sack in my book (0:12):

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Also in the game against the Ravens, Leo Chenal performed the duties of a Spy. A “Spy” is a defensive player who covers the opposing team’s QB one-on-one. A “Spy” is often used when the opposing QB has the ability to run. Here, Leo Chenal forces Lamar Jackson to throw the ball away… one of the positive outcomes for a good Spy (0:22).

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Leo Chenal batted down a second pass in that game (0:12):

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Perhaps the primary duty of a good Spy is to tackle the opposing QB if he tries to take off and run the ball. Leo Chenal proved he could do that as well (0:14):

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Next, also in the game against the Ravens, Chenal breaks through, with 9:28 left in the 3rd quarter, and makes a rare tackle of a rare RB, Derrick Henry (0:07).

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Certainly, it should be a priority to re-sign Chenal’s team partner — and LB mate — Nick Bolton, before they try to re-sign him. However, there’s only so much cap space that a team has and we’ll have to see if they can fit all these players under the cap limit. Some may recall when Leo Chenal climbed up the side of a double-decker bus during the Chiefs parade celebration in February of 2023 (0:23):

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Leo Chenal has been here in K.C for each of the past two seasons when the Chiefs were winners of the last two Super Bowls (57 and 58). Who knows for sure, just how much of that was due to Leo Chenal?

Here’s Jackson Krueger doing a Film Breakdown on Leo Chenal. Jackson calls Chenal, “An Unsung Hero” even though he only had 25 snaps (he actually had 27) in the most recent Super Bowl LVIII (8:57):

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At the 7:15 mark of the above video, Leo Chenal puts his hand up to block the extra point try by the San Francisco 49ers kicker, Jake Moody. If the 49ers had made that point, the game may not have been tied up at the end of regulation and the Chiefs could have lost that game.

Is Leo Chenal an important player to be kept?

You decide.

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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne

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