Kansas City Chiefs Laddie Morse

Chiefs Who Will Breakout in ’19

LadnerMorse May 1, 2019 No Comments

 

 

 

 

Chiefs Who Will Breakout in ’19

 

by Laddie Morse | May, 1, 2019

 

 

Sure, the offseason is nowhere close to being over, but it’s easy to see the Kansas City Chiefs who will break out in ’19. With a brand spanking new defense, and a new DC to match, you have to figure that a couple of defensive players will dramatically elevate their games this season. Also, with the team possessing the MVP at QB they should have a breakout player, maybe two, playing with him. First, let’s take a look at the most important change for the Chiefs this offseason.

 

Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo

Steve Spagnuolo was the DC for the NY Giants in their 2007 Super Bowl victory. So, he knows how to beat the Patriots and that fact alone should go a long way with Chiefs fans in Kansas City. The final score of that Super Bowl was 17-14 and is best remembered as the “Helmet Catch” game when Giants WR David Tyree made a 32-yard catch pinning it to the side of his helmet after QB Eli Manning made a great move to get free in the backfield to launch that throw which all came on a critical 3rd down conversion. Tom Brady had 266 yards passing that day but they could only muster up 14 total points in the loss. More importantly, New York held New England to 14 points total and the Pats only had 45 rushing yards while the Giants defensive linemen perforated the Pats pocket so often that Brady was forcing passes and many were hurried or poor choices.

 

Another feature of note for NY was their DL: it was Michael Strahan’s last game, Osi Umenyiora was a Pro Bowler and Justin Tuck was also a big contributor.  The three of them provided 32 sacks that year and made life for opposing QBs a dodgeball game of death.

 

With Steve Spagnuolo directing the Chiefs new front, Frank Clark will present a weapon that opposing DCs will have to plan for… and the same is true for Chris Jones… and with those two commanding a lion’s share of the double-teams they will be facing, it leaves all other Chiefs DL one-on-one. So, with all that in mind, the first Kansas City Chiefs player who I believe will have a breakout season in 2019 is:

 

Breakout #1: Breeland Speaks

Breeland Speaks’ biggest highlight-lowlight in 2018 was his catch-and-release tackle of Tom Brady which could have helped salt that game away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To start the 2019 season, Breeland Speaks will most likely be the 3rd man up in a DE rotation with Frank Clark and Alex Okafor. Speaks should come into the ’19 season with a chip on his shoulder but he will also bring a skill-set designed more for DE in the 43 than an OLB in the 34. At 6-foot-3, 285, Speaks almost has the girth to play a interior defensive lineman, which makes him a flexible piece that Steve Spagnuolo likes to utilize in his fronts. I fully expect Speaks to take over the #2 DE role by season’s end.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chiefs ex-DC, Bob “Voldemort” Sutton didn’t use Speaks as a disruptor the way that Spags likes to use his DL. Here, you can get a vision for how the Chiefs could use Breeland Speaks. Like Okafor, Clark and Jones, Speaks is strong enough to bull rush, which helps to break down the pocket.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Chiefs will have Breeland Speaks playing a dominant role by the end of 2019.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Breakout #2: Damien Williams

Many fans, including moi, thought the Chiefs would select a top RB in the first 3 rounds of the recent NFL draft, only they didn’t go that direction. Yes, they drafted RB Darwin Thompson in the 6th round but you can be sure, he’s not meant to replace Kareem Hunt as the starter, not at 5-foot-8 and 200 pounds (Darwin will serve more of a DAT role… on steroids… plus take some carries between the tackles). Veach has said he likes RBs who go 220 pounds and while Damien Williams is 5-foot-11 and only 211 pounds, he fits the criteria much more closely and has already given HC Andy Reid a player who can do all the things he asks his RBs to do: like, catch the ball out of the backfield and lower his head up the middle with regularity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

D. Williams hasn’t ever been considered one of the best backs in the league but that may change this season. Kareem Hunt was removed after week 11 vs. the Rams last year so DWill had the last 5 games of the year to prove himself as “the guy.” With a whole offseason under his belt and the knowledge that he’s got the starring role in Reid menagerie supreme offensive scheme, he will be able to apply all of his skills to take over that job and move up the NFL RB ladder. Below is his PFF rank at #15 followed by RBs like Mark Engram II and Todd Gurley:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow, Damien Williams is only .9 points away from the top ten. You’ll also notice that Hunt was 6 places ahead of Williams on this list. One of the reasons Williams placed this high is that he was 1st in the league among ALL running back in run-blocking at 89.1. Which is not only exceptional but may give you an insight as to why Brett Veach brought him in, last offseason, in the first place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Breakout #3: Armani Watts

Yes, I know the Chiefs just drafted one of the best Safeties in the draft in Juan Thornhill. However, Armani Watts was one of he best Safeties I looked at in last year’s draft and an unfortunate injury took him out at mid-season or he might have been seen by everyone as the “number-one-starter” alongside Tyrann Mathieu. Rick Burkholder reports on Watts’ injury:

 

 

“And then Armani Watts, as you remember last Wednesday, he reported with a groin injury. He played in the game somewhat, but when he dove for the ball in the endzone and broke up the pass, he did some more damage. We did another MRI on him and determined that he has a core muscle injury that needs to be repaired. He is in Philadelphia today visiting Dr. Bill Meyers and he will be operated on tomorrow.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Watts can be expected to return too 100% in 2019 and he almost made it back last year:

 

 

 

 

Assuming Watts comes back strong, you can bet dollars to donuts that he’ll have a great year. Why? That’s not only due to his ability, but the ability of the man he’ll be playing next to: Tyrann Mathieu. There are players who make everyone around them better and Mathieu is one of the players. Although we should doubt Watts’ abilities:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Watts made plenty of those game altering plays in college too:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That was a really fun one to put together. What I realized when compiling Armani Watts hits, is that he did so much more than that. He’s not just a Box Safety. He had 10 INTs at Texas A&M including 17 Passes Defensed. Remember he’s the only Safety on the Chiefs roster (besides Daniel Sorensen who probably won’t stick on the 53 man roster this year) that was with the team the whole season, from Training Camp on, last year so he already has a grip on what is coming at every corner and will be relied upon by his peers to share all that with them. That gives him a clear head start. Many will say his 40 time was too slow for him to be counted on as a center field Safety but his play speed is much better than his 4.6 time. Give me a choice between a player with speed or… instincts for the game… and I’ll take the guy with instincts 9 out of 10 times. The Chiefs WIllie Davis, their SEC area scout said this of Watts:

 

“He might not have the fastest 40 but his instincts put him into position where he (doesn’t) have to be this 4.45 guy. He is getting to the ball because he understands route concepts…. He doesn’t necessarily need to be the fastest guy on the field because of his instincts.’’

 

 

 

 

Instincts. I think it’s really, knowledge-in-action, when you’re talking about having a feel for the game. It’s reactionary intuition. Safeties and Linebackers must have good instincts to be great at their respective positions. Watts was gearing up to have a very good season and don’t forget, he had two INTs vs. the Packers in the Chiefs final preseason game last year. I think we’ll see just how good Armani Watts is in 2019. Which, is pretty dang good!

 

 

Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you are viewing this in Apple News and would like to join the Discussion, [GO HERE.](http://arrowheadone.com/chiefs-who-will-breakout-in-19/#disqus_thread)