Chiefs: You Scoffed at the Idea or I Am Out of My Mind! -

Chiefs: You Scoffed at the Idea or I Am Out of My Mind! Admit it, during 2018’s season Brett Veach was bringing a 43 defense to the Chiefs and began planning for it and retooling in the flow of tasks and events ever since taking over from Dorsey after the draft in 2017.

I am convinced more than ever that Brett Veach did indeed plan the move to the 43 more than 1 year in advance of his second draft. He planned it. He has staffed it and the Chiefs have a very good and very deep roster for 2019. Perfect? Have to laugh at that. No such thing is possible but, this is going to be a very good team. Now I have no inside info on that but there are other authors now penning articles about this.

Also, I wrote about the fact that the players were mis-used, miscast, mis-missioned and given poor task-sets by the DC Bob Sutton. Thus 2018 was even worse than 2017. No one can deny Sutton was suddenly inept. We all saw it happen.

Let’s count the misqueues,

mis-assignments and mistakes

Brett Veach traded for Anthony Hitchens and spent a considerable sum bring a 43 LB to the Chiefs — a 34 defense. Someone over at AA wrote about Hitchens and his need to fulfill his role now being a must. Someone else wrote about Veach planning the move to the 43, and so it goes.
Veach drafted for a 34 OLB, Breeland Speaks a, 43 DE, that was good with his hand in the dirt but was a total “reach” as a player to convert to an upright 3-4 defense as an outside pass rusher.
Veach brought in Reggie Ragland who’s first year with the Chiefs was full of promise which was dashed by how he was tasked by Sutton in 2018. It just was wrong and you could see it unfold play after play. Below I address some of those problems. Ragland is good at his skill set. He can even pass defend and has the speed to the sideline either way in pursuit and follow and to the weakside he can get to the boundary. I wrote about this and his pass defense after watching his college film when he was signed away from Cleveland. I still believe he was a good pick to bring on board based on that review. He is a thumper, inside type of LB and 2018 he just was not used that way.
John Dorsey ante’d up a couple more great chunks of money for contracts to Tamba Hali, Derek Johnson, Justin Houston and Eric Berry. At the same time, Dorsey also went far over the hill in offering a big salary to WR Dwayne Bowe on the other side of the ball(paying him #1 type WR money for #2 possession Receiver talent. [I mention all five of these deals because they set the stage for the point when the Chiefs went into the ditch Cap-wise and the investments were mistaken investments as it proved to be the case. Dorsey’s over commitment hurt the team and the initial efforts of Veach due to cap room and player acquisitions. One huge advantage that Veach did get from Dorsey was the QBOF — Patrick Mahomes.
Another aid/advantage was adding Hunt through the draft. Too bad that went south and Hunt was discharged from the Chiefs with cause.

Or maybe Brett Veach was seeing down the road a piece, looking at getting players for a 4-3 defense but who were good enough athletes who could be good in a 3-4 in the Interim

Who were the players he saw for such a future shift?

Chris Jones: I was very high on drafting Jones when Veach Pulled it off. Jones is extremely strong from the 3-tech but has also been effective at 1-tech and 3-tech. When you consider the players I am observing below, that is powerful stuff.
Breeland Speaks: now to be re-missioned under Steve Spagnuolo and used from his position of strength. Breeland can 5-tech or 3-tech very effectively. Think about that.
Xavier Williams: was brought aboard to strengthen the defensive Interior especially from a 1-tech role which fits either that task to either the 1-tech from the 43 DT or the 34 NT.
Veach drafted Derrick Nnadi inside and that appears to be a superior draft pick destined to be of even greater import in 2019 with the DT role. Nnadi can 3-tech or 1-tech effectively.
Anthony Hitchens and Reggie Ragland: re-tasked and re-missioned to do a linebacker’s true role and accompanied by Deron Lee, Dorian O’Daniel and Damien Wilson – a far stronger group of LBs for the 43 defense sets and all LB’s are then on familiar ground and Ragland can pound noses and hit the RBs in the gap and not sit back in read it and wait. We saw Ragland doing this in 2017 and for a cople of games in 2018. But mostly? He was held back.
Tyrann Mathieu: along with Juan Thornhill at the back end of the defense. Add in Armani Watts and Jordan Lucas and the Chiefs have players who can play up in the box and attack the run game support aggressively — with no need to avoid resting a player to keep him fresh… I think the Safeties are going to be that strong a group.
Players like Frank Clark. A player like Alex Okafor, the former a top pass rushing 43 DE — one of the best 5-tech’s in the NFL and Alex Okafor a highly valued opposite. Indeed, Okafor should gain a lot of value with Clark playing the other side of the LoS. Now consider Nnadi, Saunders, Jones and Williams in the process with Okafor and Clark and Ogbah and Speaks. Note: There are others to consider but this is the main group.
A player like Darron Lee Whose speed brings superiority of speed from the LB role, especially with Dorian O’Daniel for when Speed is valued more than muscle and body mass.
A player like Damien Wilson who brings 43 NFL experience and time which fits the Spagnuolo LB Rotation.
And players drafted that would fill needs on both sides of the ball to be immediate contributors such as Mecole Hardman. I like this draft pick very much, regardless of which way the wind blows on Hill and Hill’s future in KC. I am certain that Hardman was on Veach’s board before the Hill fiasco came to fore and Veach might have been able to pick him up later due to Hardman coming from a program where the aerial game is underused but a program with which the Chiefs have a solid Relationship(Georgia). Again, I like Veach’s selection of Hardman for all the right reasons and none of those are named Hill. Hill merely moved Hardman up on the list. I think about what Hardman brings to the Chiefs in terms of 11 personnel for Eric Bieniemy. WOW!. IT’S GOING TO HAPPEN! Over the top blazing speed from 3 WR’s on the field at the same time and I have not even begun to add in Robinson and Pringle.
Khalen Saunders — he brings, in my mind, another top Interior defensive lineman who has the ability to penetrate but also be a run plug and double team eater from the 1 tech position. When added to Chris Jones and Derrick Nnadi, the Chiefs can push the limit on the pass rush inside and outside along with stunts. I am not subtracting out Xavier Williams here either. If there is a subtraction I think it will be Kpassagnon.

Can You See It Now?

If you see where I saw different aspects of the Defensive weakness and how Bob Sutton mis-assigned not just linebackers but also corners and safeties when you consider player losses due to injury it’s no wonder the defense could not get the job done with the personnel available.

I am not impervious to touting my own horn but I wrote in several different articles and numerous times in commentary about Veach planning the 43 two years in advance. I believe this is true and there are now other authors who are reading the same tea leaves and drinking the same kool-aid.

Now go back and review in your mind the number of times that I called attention to Sutton and his mis-assigning the roles of the LB’s, mis-using the Secondary and just plain refusing to stunt or blitz. How many times was I skeptic about having our interior LB’s 5 yards deep? How many times did I identify the OLBs missions which were not appropriate use of personnel? How often were you saying this to yourself? Then look at what you know about the players Brett Veach has brought on board. Can you see it yet?

In 2019 what should we see? A very Good and Very Deep Roster

First off, Breeland Speaks will be rushing the passer and stopping the run from far more familiar role as a defensive lineman in the 43 defense or variations. He has a year’s experience albeit mostly as an OLB but he will be up to NFL speed now.
Anthony Hitchens returns to a familiar role as a 43 “outside” LB (Strong or Week). I believe he will be the SLB with Ragland in the middle. Hitchens play will be far simplified from the 43 varied roles where he can read and react as he did when he was next to Sean Lee in Dallas and was being very successful.
Reggie Ragland will be in more true form to his skill set playing the middle of the LB sets and getting to the POI (Point of Intercepting the RB). This was what was missing from Ragland’s play in 2018. I commented many times Sutton had him laying off the LoS 5 yards and reading first, not reacting to the handoff and RB, and wasn’t hitting the diagnosed gap appropriately. That is Sutton’s missioning and not Ragland’s fault.
A defensive front with enough starter quality players that there should not be a set of downs where fresh legs in the front 7 are on the field at any given snap.
A simplified defense is fielded with well-defined roles and logical playsets and stunt calls including the Blitz.
Superior play from the safety, whether in dual mode or single-high, effectively backing up the pass defense by the cornerbacks in front of them — and a Cornerback crew that will be successful with existing personnel for the same reason — correct missioning and definition of responsibility — missing in 2018. Specifically? Ward and Breeland outside, Fuller in the Slot and Reaser emerging as the #4 CB. That’s how I see the CB area at the very least, plus others.
I am not going to say that there won’t be additions or changes. I am saying that the Veach and Reid’s side of things are very comfortable and that Spagnuolo has a lot of capable players on the defense at the same time.

Last but not least? At the back end of the defense the Chiefs will have a top player with experience calling secondary plays and play sets (Mathieu). As much as I loved Eric Berry his lack of being on the field the past 2 season hurt the Chiefs over and over again, for two years running.

What is going to be missing next is a player getting reads on the defense that DJ did from the front end. Hitchens struggled with the reads all year long but keep that in perspective: Hitchens had never played in the a 34 defense before. In 2019 I suspect up front he will be far more successful in that role since he came out of a successful program. One thing that Dallas has done is handle the LB’s. I really envied them Lee and Hitchens and then especially being able to draft Jaylon Smith and Leighton Vander Esch!

So, go on, admit it now — you scoffed at it didn’t you?

David Bell — ArrowheadOne

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