Chiefs Defense: A Kingdom Dream Come True

Laddie Morse

How many years has it been that the Kansas City Chiefs had a great offensive, but no one who could say they were a star on the defensive side of the ball? That’s what we thought when Dick Vermeil was in town and serving as the Chiefs Head man. We had Trent Green at QB, Tony Gonzalez at TE, Priest Holmes at RB, Willie Roaf at LT, Will Smith at OG, and Brian Waters at OG too, plus a host of others like, The Human Joystick, Dante Hall. Now… I dare you to name more than two stars on the defensive side of the ball from the Vermeil era. The point is, there have been a number of decades that the Chiefs had fairly great offensive players, but on the defensive side of the ball? A lot less.

This was even true in the Marty Schottenheimer era. He had The Nigerian Nightmare (Christian Okoye), The original GOAT QB (Joe Montana), a HoF RB (Marcus Allen) and hordes of others. On defense, we have memories of Derrick Thomas shredding opposing OLs, and… we are also left with the memory of Neil Smith going to Denver to win a title with them. Now, we have one of the best defenses in the NFL. Plus, a Defensive Coordinator in Steve Spagnuolo who will certainly end up in the Hall of Fame.

The Chiefs defense is currently #9 (a top ten group) in Points Allowed. Over the past three games, K.C. has allowed the second fewest first downs with 15. The Chiefs had the best run defense grade in week five of this season:

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Nick Bolton

Bolton is signed to his rookie deal through this season. He will have to be a priority — to get him re-signed — for Brett Veach this coming offseason. Many Kingdom fans will recall the last play of this video below. Here, he had so many more great plays against the Falcons, in Week Three, #32, white gloves, in the middle of the defense (1:01):

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Chris Jones

The Chiefs have had excellent Defensive Linemen before, just never at the same time they had other excellent defensive stars and an excellent Defensive Coordinator. This past offseason, Jones signed a 5-year, $158.75 M deal which included $101 M guaranteed. Yes, he’s that good and is deserving of it. Against the New Orleans Saints, CJ had one of his best games. It didn’t matter haow many guys they put up against him, he still dominated (0:20).

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Jones had one of his best games although he had no sacks. Jones was drafted in 2016, but by 2018, he was dominating (1:02).

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In the Chiefs most recent game against the Saints, as noted previously, CJ was dominant. However, even PFF saw his dominance:

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Chris Jones may have single-handedly won the last Super Bowl for the Chiefs when he went after 49ers QB Brock Purdy and forced him to throw off balance, which resulted in an incomplete pass. AKA Stone Cold, has also become a noted “Game-Wrecker” and this past offseason, CJ was also voted as the 6th best player in the NFL by his peers (3:40):

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Justin Reid

The Chiefs defense is strong across the board but Justin Reid has been a back end quarterback for the past 2+ seasons. He understands what Steve Spagnuolo is doing and the calls he’s making and he makes sure everyone is following through on his calls. Reid has become a stalwart of the Chiefs D.

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After the most recent Super Bowl victory, Reid had his pic taken with DC Spags.

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“Back-toBack” posted by Justin Reid

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Bringing that action – Justin Reid

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Countryboi567 — @countryboi567 — says: “If the Chiefs just run the ball and continue to play defense, there [they’re] better than 90% of the NFL.” While I appreciate his sentiment, Patrick Mahomes is still Patrick Mahomes but… if the D can remain a standout D, the skies the limit. In other words, a three-peat is in order.

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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne

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