Chiefs Defense: Who is Who and Why

Chiefs Camp, Defense: Who is Who and Why? – The Chiefs are fortunate to field a front end and back end of the defense which is going to change the nature of the defense overall. At the same time we are witnessing a team personality to make game changing plays and it is going to be highly improved. This energy level exists, it is evident among the players and is contagious. It has caught the fans up attending training camp and is obvious to the local pundits who are also becoming believers in the 2019 Kansas City Chiefs.

Before I get to areas of concern, let’s view the front and back end of the defense.

The Front End

The leadership of Frank Clark on the front end of the defense is quite obvious. Already the front is a tough bunch of players. Add Clark’s verbal leadership and you have a group of players for DC Steve Spagnuolo to mix and match to get the job done. This group will from any place along the front end, get pressure to the QB plus stop the run. Period. No doubt in my mind that this is what will happen.

There is also no doubt in my mind that the 8 or 9 players the Chiefs keep on the DL can be fielded to get the optimum advantage from each player every time they step on the field. Just who steps on the field at any time won’t be known until the moment they do but it will be any one of 8 or 9 players because that is how deep the front end players are on this roster. Two players must be acknowledged as tops in the game and they are Frank Clark and Chris Jones. We must wait to see if the Chief match up with a DE of similar strength to Clark, and if, for example, Derrick Nnadi steps up and builds in his second year of play the same type of success that Jones did. I am pretty positive about that prospect too.

Guys on the outside are strong as well: Tanoh Kpassagnon is suddenly showing a comfort level playing with his hand in the dirt, Breeland Speaks has returned to his natural position. Veach brought in Alex Okafor and Emmanuel Ogbah, and we have heard some other players making noise as well.

I am good to go on the front 4 no matter who it is they keep. If they release a player, it won’t hurt… except to give up a talent to another team. Better still? Veach could use one of these men in a trade to get stronger elsewhere. We will have to wait and see how this unfolds but Nick Jacobs tweeted on Saturday sentiments that mirror my own:

Of the Front Four alone the Chiefs have 2 proven Game Changers in Frank Clark and Chris Jones. It is quite possible that two more might arise to a more exalted status: Derrick Nnadi-DT and Alex Okafor (DE). That would be great wouldn’t it? Almost like having the fearsome foursome re-emerge in 2019.

The Safeties

I have written about the status of the safety crew as well. In the process of doing so, I demote, so to speak, Daniel Sorensen from a starter role. Indeed he may fail to make the roster in 2019. I keep Jordan Lucas as the #4 Safety if you will and with the return of Armani Watt’s the depth of the safeties is assured so much so that I can see that among the 4 players, you have talent to keep legs fresh and counter stingers and hip pointers and the like and not miss a beat. That is goodness right there.

Spagnuolo can mix and match and keep legs fresh. Starters shift with two additions. The Chiefs were blessed to add a leader in signing Tyrann Mathieu to the club. He is nearly Berry’s equal in terms of defensive ability, if not more but as importantly, he is the type of leader that is needed for the back end of the defense — something which the Chiefs had counted upon with Berry and which was missing for two consecutive seasons and more: Leadership, Drive and Poise.

Drafted as the Chiefs #2 pick in the 2019 draft was Juan Thornhill. I knew Thornhill was going to be good and during the time of playing mock GM, I wavered back and forth about which Safety I would draft. That I drafted a safety in round 1, 2, or 3 was my assured approach. Thornhill was one of the players that most often fell to my mock drafts in round 2 and he is the player who fit the needs perhaps better than all others. What I see thus far proves that Veach saw the leadership and talent and optimism of Juan who is “Juan for all and All for One!”

The Linebackers

I have been worried about linebackers for 4 seasons and more. I think the reasons for this are obvious. First, because there was no match-up with DJ on the interior and second because I knew that soon, DJ would retire. It turned out that an injury hurried the decline of DJ’s physical ability and he was released. He was able to log one more season and then retire.

Positive moves have been made as well as drafting Dorian O’Daniel. The mix of players competing for a job is pretty extensive as well. The Chiefs have added linebackers that I thought were optimum moves under the circumstances. They acquired Reggie Ragland and Anthony Hitchens. I still contend that both these players were good fits for the Chiefs defense and much misused and mis-assigned by Bob Sutton.

The Chiefs drafted Dorian O’Daniel — for speed — and then signed Damien Wilson and Darron Lee — also for speed — to the mix of players to man positions. Also on the roster in his second season is Raymond Davison and they’ve also added Jeremiah Attaochu who is a 6 year pro. Darius Harris was signed (UDFA, Rookie) and D’Juan Hines a 2 yr vet of U of H. Rounding this out, there is a leftover OLB still on the roster but I doubt that continues. He might fit the DE for the 43 as a light DE in the person of Rob McCray. Ben Niemann will, at least at this point, be one of the players retained due to his sudden enervating attacking personality as a LB and his Special teams play. I have heard as well some good things about Attaochu though little or nothing from Dorian O’Daniel.

Out of this group? Hard to tell but if I were to guess, that the retentions will be from this group (in addition to Ragland and Hitchens): Darron Lee, Ray Davison, Jeremiah Attaochu, Ben NIemann, Damien Wilson, Dorian O’Daniel.

Overall, with the front end that is going to be fielded for the 2019 Chiefs, the LB corp will automatically benefit as their jobs will be easier with the front taking on the fending role in front of the 2nd tier of the defense. Too, much has been written and disclosed by the players themselves: the defensive tasks are simplified. This will aid in the linebacking assignments being simplified and the ability of players to get their assignments done improved. I see that this is going to be a huge advantage for the Chiefs who may not have DJ but they certainly have a great group of players to employ in different combinations.

I do not think this is the ace of LB groups. It will be successful enough with the surrounding cast which will aid them in getting the basic job accomplished. Why it is that the LB’s have been largely ignored since 2013 remains a mystery to me. John Dorsey was a linebacker himself. Brett Veach certainly hasn’t ignored acquiring players. The draft has been woeful to non-existent however. I expect this to be a continued area of emphasis over the next 2 seasons. In all likelihood, the situation will be stabilized in 2019. We go from there.

The Cornerbacks

You probably caught that I was counting on Keith Reaser to be the #4 CB in 2019. Because I followed him closely with the AAF and pulled for Veach to bring him back aboard and it has unfolded that way… is why I wrote last week about Reaser who has been lost to the season because of an Achilles tendon injury. The misfortune of the lesser gods of the NFL have reached down and struck down a promising CB.

Such is the fortune, and misfortune of athletes in the NFL. Reaser was first struck by the same fickleness of misfortune 2 years ago when he was on the cusp of making the Chief’s roster and suffered an injury which would hold him out of practice and later the pre-season  games. The lit candle was extinguished for him at that time. Hence arose my watching him carefully in 4 of the 6 AAF games that were played. He was good, and tops in the league in takeaways. His feet were demonstrably quick and his speed was observable. I hoped Veach would bring him back to the fold and he did. Unfortunately, the opportunity was  soon ripped out of our grasp.

Tremon Smith is a CB from a small Arkansas School. He had shown streaks of talent but was very fast and had return ability at the same time. It appears that with the drafting of Mecole Hardman, the Chiefs are oriented to using him in the kick return game making Smith’s inroad to the 53 man roster less likely. Too, it must be that in moving Smith to the other side of the ball is saving Smith’s 4.3 speed for the teams advantage, albeit on offense but also a tacit admission that he was not going to make the roster if he remained a cornerback. This was not a good thing though because it removes 2 players from the CB role contention during the same week: and “Poof”… Reaser and Smith are gone.

Mark Fields has a heck of a lot of talent. It’s very plausible he will make the 53 man roster. He has speed, and he has NFL Pedigree.

D’Montre Wade  (6-foot-0, 200 lbs., UDFA, Murray State) – Wade did all that he could when Bashaud Breeland had a cut on the thumb. This was where Wade had the opportunity to shine and he did the most with it. I suspect that Wade will make the roster because of his game skills. He doesn’t possess the speed to be a starter from my point of view but he appears to have the intelligence and football moxie to read and diagnose: he knows where to be when it is needed and can play special teams.

The rest of the players for the Cornerbacks are a toss-up. I need to see and understand more about who the players are. I will mention two CB’s from Florida Atlantic: Both Players have length that I like which is  6-2: Andrew Soroh and Herb Miller. Note as well that Keith Reaser’s alma mater was also Florida Atlantic. I like Corners with length (6-0 plus) if they have the speed to close and intelligence to make the right reads. Footwork is a must (SAQ). I especially like at least one Corner to be 6-2 to match up with taller WR’s and help cover crossers with length over the middle. In fact, it would be good to have two such players in the CB room as the NFL is retaining WR’s with length with a greater frequency than would be seen a decade ago.

The rest? Dakari Monroe (5-foot-11, San Diego St, UDFA), Harold Jones-Quartey (3 yr Pro, Findlay U.), Michael Hunter Jr. (2-year Pro, OSU) pretty much round out the gents competing for a CB job. I don’t expect the last 4 to be the players on the roster.

I still have starters as Kendall Fuller in the slot, with Bashaud Breeland outside along with Charvarius Ward. Ward is one reason that many are so concerned about the CB players. He only has four and a half games of experience (4 as a starter). His first outing left everyone doubting he could be an NFL Corner but the remaining 3 games of 2019, Ward played very well culminating in the INT in the AFL Championship game, that would have sealed a Super Bowl appearance had Dee Ford not been so dumb as to line up offside.

That said, I believe the trade of Parker Ehinger for Charvarius Ward was one of the masterful strokes of GM Brett Veach. If this pans out, as I believe it will, K.C. has a Corner with length to pair up with Breeland and Fuller and all that is needed is a #4 and #5 CBs for the substitute roles.

Of Course, no matter what, I want Brett Veach to do the miracle work that could happen and pull of the trade to bring Patrick Peterson to K.C. to seal the championship team personnel for 2 or 3 Superbowl runs in a row. That would certainly add the talent at CB and solidify personnel but, also it would leave room for Veach to extend Jones or Hill or both to new contracts so that in 2020 the same could occur for Patrick Mahomes.

I wrote about acquiring Peterson in May and about that same time Seth Keysor wrote an article prepping for trading for Peterson and published it for “The Athletic” on May 17th. See his article –> here.

Keysor gives compelling reasons for this signing which remain valid today, maybe even more so since we are hearing even more about the Cardinals and their potential departure from Arizona… and that was just a thread of articles that were published in the past week.

An Overall Defensive Synopsis?

Here’s my umbrella view on the defense:

Spagnuolo is going to surprise a lot of people with a “Best So Far” effort but close to being “Very, Very Good.” The Chiefs defense will be highly improved over the past 2 years. I have consistently said the defensive rating should move up to the the 15th ranking… and I should add, “or better.”

With Patrick Peterson (if a trade should take place), it would be a top 10 type defense by the end of the 2019 season. Of course this means I must trust in Steve Spagnuolo. From my vantage point, I like what I’m seeing from Spagnuolo and his staff.

Let’s roll Chiefs!

David Bell — ArrowheadOne

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