Chiefs Got a Goodie in Nnadi

The Kansas City Chiefs 3rd round pick, DT Derrick Nnadi, makes me feel that way… if you don’t stop and look at him… you could miss just how good he is. While Derrick Nnadi is 6-foot-1 and weighs 315, I want you first to think about the Falcons DT Grady Jarrett (thank you Bert) who stands 6-foot-0 and weighs 305. Jarrett not only holds the record for the most sacks in a Super Bowl (from last year) with 3.0 sacks, but is also the main reason that Atlanta didn’t re-sign the Chiefs ex-monster DT Dontari Poe.

Enough about Jarrett. Someone once said that if Derrick Nnadi were two inches taller then he’d have been drafted in the first round. Maybe, just maybe, Chiefs fans should not be surprised when Nnadi has a first round effect in his rookie campaign. Kelvin Hunt of Chopchat.com, FanSided’s FSU site, has shared this from ProFootball Focus (PFF):

Then, Kelvin Hunt of Chopchat goes on to reveal:

“Those numbers are outstanding when you really think about a player that’s great at stopping the run. At FSU, the defense was taught to affect the quarterback, not necessarily sack him.”

Bill Walsh used to talk about the way he’d evaluate a defensive lineman:

“Must have the girth, strength, ballast to hold off the guard, or to step into a tackles’ block without being knocked off the line of scrimmage.”

I watched several game tapes of Derrick Nnadi now and found no better example of what Bill Walsh was referring ro:

What many fans want to know is if Derrick Nnadi can be a three-down player. More specifically, can he put pressure on the quarterback. I don’t know where the “fake-news” came from that Nnadi couldn’t get to the QB because I’ve seen it enough on his tape to be a believer. Don’t take my word:

Here’s more from Bill Walsh who could spot a talent in seconds. When watching Derrick Nnadi, I don’t think it takes hours of watching tape on him to see that he has what Walsh is looking for in a defensive tackle,

“Quick, strong hands to grab and pull are critical. This is common with the great tackles. The hands, the arms, the upper body strength and then the quick feet to take advantage of a moving man, just getting him off balance.”

Derrick Nnadi is not good by accident. He’s a hard worker and is said to have a positive attitude. It’s evident that he spends a good amount of time with the weights:

Speaking of Nnadi’s great personality, here’s the conversation BJ Kissel had with him in the moments after he was contacted by the Chiefs on draft day:

What many don’t know about Nnadi is that in his junior year — and btw, he played all four years for FSU — he had to fight through an early ankle injury but still ended up with 49 tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss, and 6.0 sacks. In fact, in Nnadi’s last three years of college, he was so consistently good that he AVERAGED: 49 tackles per year, 7.6 tackles for a loss, and 4 sacks per year. Now, about the 4.0 sacks… I know it’s only college… but anything north of 3.0 sacks for a NT is very, very good in the NFL (by example; in his 6-year NFL career, Dontari Poe has only accomplished that feat twice… and… Poe never had any numbers that good in any of his three years of small college ball).

I don’t know if you’ve had the good fortune of seeing the Bleacher Reports’ 35 second-highlight video of Derrick Nnadi so here it is:

While we’ve focused upon Derrick Nnadi’s pass pressure ability, which many didn’t think existed, it is widely known that the Chiefs #1 need on the defensive side of the football is their need to stop the run. While Nnadi has this skill in aces, it is a team game and other’s will need to learn to slide-together to one side of he field or the other leaving no gapping holes for the RB to cut through. If the Chiefs can accomplish that this offseason, they can shut down a lot of opposing team’s rushing attacks. However, I think that begins with the nose tackle:

The negatives on Derrick Nnadi were listed by Bleacher Report as, “Tested below NFL thresholds in the 40 (5.38 seconds), three-cone (8.15 seconds), short shuttle (5.02 seconds) and broad jump (96 inches).” Sometimes in he evaluation process, everything… or almost everything — they tell you doesn’t matter at all to the position that a particular prospect plays. That’s likely the case here with Nnadi. What really matters is how they perform on the field. While I’ve heard that Nnadi is the nicest guy you’ll meet off the field, once he steps on the field he’s a monster. 

By the way, this coming Tuesday, May 9, is Derrick Nnadi’s 22nd birthday. Be sure and wish him a happy birthday and welcome him to Kansas City at –> Derrick Nnadi’s Twitter page.

At tallahasee.com Derrick Nnadi tells a story about when he was a freshman and the head coach was getting on him over and over again saying, you’re soft, you’re soft, your’e soft… until Nnadi was so frustrated that he blurted out to the coach, “Then why’d you recruit me?”… and all his teammates began to laugh AND they still tease him about it to this very day. It shows a certain kind of vulnerability about him that is also a strength to character and personally, it is very endearing.

I think the Chiefs have got a goodie in Nnadi… and I couldn’t be more tickled.

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