Defensive Positions: Improved, Not Improved by David Bell and Laddie Morse – The Kansas City Chiefs defense has been a big bugaboo for me for some time and most of it should be obvious to even the most casual observer. Our highly reputed players did not come through, the Defensive Coordinator became inept, frozen in time is how I would characterize him. Things changed for the better in 2019 as the new coaching staff came aboard under Steve Spagnuolo. If there is one huge improvement on the defensive side of the ball, it is the Coaching staff. Looking at changes in the player personnel illustrates where the different position groups stand — let’s take a look.
Defensive Tackles: David Bell – 2020 begins sans Mike Pennel who has a 2 game suspension. The good news he will be back for the Ravens game. This is important because the weakness of the Chiefs in 2019 was versus the run and Pennel’s arrival and insertion into the the DL made a big difference in solidifying the defense which was tops in the NFL week 11 and onward. Chris Jones is going to be a great player in the NFL. I see him as a potential HoF talent if he continues to spiral his play upward. Recall he was my draft pick that I felt must be drafted when he was chosen by the Chiefs. He is a player that must be countered and double teamed by opposing offenses in pass protection. Closing his contract out did my heart a huge amount of good. Derrick Nnadi emerged as a force at DT in 2019 and Khalin Saunders who I thought made a lot of progress in 2019 and became a meaningful participant with his snaps. Tershawn Wharton, a R/UDFA has made some noise in camp. Braxton Hoyett has one year hanging on the PS and Devaroe Lawrence is 2 seasons in. Though Pennel is out for 2 games he will be a huge cog in the middle of the DL when he returns. I see the group that will make the roser as Jones, Nnadi, Saunders, and I think Wharton, gets a nod with Pennel out. That may be an interesting situation. I see the four men though as the foundation of the Interior defense. I do hope Wharton continues his assent. As noted with the DE’s, Spagnuolo likes to rotate pass rushers from the outside to the interior. With the mix of players outside and inside, with another year experience together, the DL overall is a “force” to be reckoned with in 2020. It is showing up in camp. They play every snap with the utmost effort to help make the defense a respected entity and the Tackles are part of it, led by Stone Cold Jones. Defensive Tackle Position Group: Improved, Depth Improved.
Defensive Tackles: Laddie Morse – Under normal circumstances, Chris Jones and Mike Pennel would make nearly the best pair of DTs in the NFL. Even with Pennel sitting out the first two games, there shouldn’t be much of a letdown with Khalen Saunders and Derrick Nnadi rotating in there. Chris Jones was the best DT at getting to the QB in 2019 in the league — IMHO — because of his league best sacks-to-snaps ratio for DTs. Perhaps the most important change in the Chiefs defense late in the season — when they turned into one of the best five defenses in the league — was their incredible ability to shut down the run, especially when they had to. Since much of that was tied to Mike Pennel, I have some concerns that teams may be able to take advantage of the Chiefs D up the gut, until his return. DC Steve Spagnuolo loves to mix things up by moving his DEs inside and DTs outside in certain situations, and while CJ will excel in that scenario, none of the other DT are great like that. If Breeland Speaks happens to get DT snaps, he could turn out to be one of those versatile DL who could perform that task (although, position confusion has been a problem for him). Otherwise, it’s up to CJ to help make that package work. Having Mike Pennel for more games this season should help make this group better, and the same is true for this unit just because it’s their experience and second go round in Spags system. The Defensive tackles are Improved in 2020, if even by a little bit.
Defensive Ends: David Bell – The 2019 season proved a lot for me, even in my view of Frank Clark who struggled through injury and illness for much of the early part of the season. Clark came on and played the last 7 or 8 games of 2019 as the top DE that I knew he could be. I see Frank Clark and Tanoh Kpassagnon as the starters. Kpass proved a John Dorsey point about how long it takes an OLB or DE to develop into a force in the NFL. Alex Okafor played quality football as a starter in 2019 and had a great season underway until he was injured and missed the rest of the year. Add to that Breeland Speaks, who returns from a season in recovery from an injury. Speaks was miscast in a 2-point stance as an OLB in 2018. He is back to his native position in a 3-point stance. Out of shape, overweight andi injured before the season in 2019, cost Speaks dearly. Taco Charlton, a free agent signee, never has fulfilled his promise out of college, but I think with Brendan Daly as his DL coach, he will be a true force and fulfill his promise. He was a collegiate team-mate with Frank Clark who is a positive support. The rest of the DE mix includes: 2020 draftee Michael Dana, who is fast and moves well, though undersized (D-Line coach Brandon Daly like what he sees)… and Tim Ward… and Demone Harris. They help make this group is very strong. Keep in mind Spags likes to rotate outside players inside, to keep aggressiveness and fresh legs with rotation in and out during games. Every snap should be strong, but should be superior in the fourth quarter. Dana will probably begin on the PS. Ward and Harris have shown a strong a bid to make the roster but both will be PS players. Taco Charlton will make the roster in my view. Defensive Ends: Improved position group, Depth is also Improved.
Defensive Ends: Laddie Morse – With Frank Clark active and healthy this year, the Chiefs defensive ends group has their bell-ringer. Throw in Tanoh Kpassagnon — the likely starter opposite Clark — Alex Okafor — the previous starter opposite Clark — Taco Charlton — a college buddy of Clark’s, and Breeland Speaks… and you have as good a rotation of DEs as there are in the league. Maybe not the best two rush ends (or OLBs), but the best rotational core group. With Demone Harris and Tim Ward, plus rookie Michael Danna (who DL coach Brendan Daly loves) waiting in the wings, the depth, though unproven, is ample. I was a big fan of Emmanuel Ogbah in 2019, but he signed a 2 year, $15M deal with the Dolphins, and Veach didn’t want to match that so, that brings us back to essentially the same group of DEs as as last season except, Taco Charlton, who replaces Ogbah and Speaks coming back after MCL and meniscus injuries. However, Speaks has returned in Superman shape, ie: the best of his career, and is having a whale of a camp. Maintaining the same DL coach makes this group even stronger and smarter. Mind you, Daly has 4 Super Bowl rings to add to his dazzling portfolio. Beside the WR position (and QB of course), the DEs have the best room on the team nearly matching the WRs in depth and talent. In fact, this collection of QB-cannibals are in a league of their own and will probably end up proving they are the best collection of DEs the Chiefs have ever had. Defensive Ends are Improved and the Depth is also Improved
Linebackers: David Bell – I am wholly and completely on board with Willie Gay, Jr. I researched Gay the night he was drafted — red flags were known, however, the Chiefs hadn’t whispered a word about him so, I left him off my pre-draft LB list. What does Brett Veach do? He makes him the Chief’s #2 draft pick. My hours of research on Gay revealed to me that he was a round one type talent and our Maverick GM was picking cherries high off the tree in the 2nd round. Gay should be the SAM LB quickly, but saw action in camp at all three: MIKE, SAM and BUCK. He was with the Ones this past week, but at the end he worked SAM and BUCK mainly with the twos and sometimes as the MIKE. The question is: did he do enough to be a starter? It appears they prepped him for the next man up, for now. As it appeared on Sunday, Anthony Hitchens and Damien Wilson, whose stock rose last season, appear to be the starters. Speed and coverage is offered by Dorian O’Daniel who is very good at lateral pursuit of the run game as well. I too watched Ryan Tracy’s presentation of DOD and liked what I saw. The bigger question is: how will Spags view him this year? Ben Niemann provides solid, football IQ, and versatility that is needed at the same time and he’s been getting snaps as the #2 MIKE. Since Gay is coming in with no NFL time and no preseason games, I think they break him in slowly and have enough depth not to overload him too early. Wilson’s play in 2019 impressed me and his growth over the season tells me he can and will be counted on. When the Chiefs picked up Ben Niemann — an Iowa LB teammate of Josey Jewell — that I was highly pleased. Everything I saw about Niemann was that he was a Mr. Football type and Veach swooped in and signed him. Meanwhile, Darius Harris’s 2019 preseason flashed and Omari Cobb was signed as a UDFA from 2020. Linebacker Position Group: Stronger, Compared to 2019. Deeper.
Linebackers: Laddie Morse – The addition of Willie Gay Jr. automatically makes this unit better. You would think. I believe it’s the ascendance of both Ben Neimann and Darius Harris that could make the defense better initially. As the season progresses, Gay will have his day. It may take a little longer than I originally anticipated for him to seize a starting role, although he’s been seen with the Ones in camp at time. I’m counting on both Anthony Hitchens and Damien Wilson progressing in both knowledge and performance within Matt House’s and Steve Spagnuolo’s scheme and a second season should help both of them. While I believe this crew will be better, it may not be the stellar play Chiefs fans have been waiting for… since before Derrick Johnson left town 3 years ago. One big question mark I continue to have is: Dorian O’Daniel. At 6-foot-1 and 220 lbs. he may be smallish for a LB, but he has the speed and quickness — as Ryan Tracy recently pointed out — to shadow mobile QBs in this league, and he’d like be good in coverage. I say, “likely” because he hasn’t gotten much of a chance to do any of that under the Chiefs new DC. Hopefully, 2020 is his year… but until we see, it’s not a given. I think both David and I have played linebacker at one time or another in our previous lives… so we may be hoping for a big lift here, when only incremental changes ares forthcoming. The Linebackers will be better in 2020, but I’m not so sure about the depth.
Cornerbacks: David Bell – This group is the most worrisome group of all the player positions. What really hurts is that Bashaud Breeland is suspended for the first four games of the season and he was, at very least a solid starter for the Chiefs in 2019. His play was boosted near the end of the season as the defense jelled and his postseason was very good. That hurts not to have him for four games with a group that was already weak and would depend on newcomers to fulfill the need. That said, Chavarius Ward is a top CB in the NFL. His career surprised many and the trade to get him was one of those miracle moves Veach made. Last season, Rashad Fenton took on the Slot role as the 3rd CB starter and did admirably having been thrown into the grinder. This is his prove-it year. My view of Fenton is, to keep him in the slot… why upset the apple cart?. Early in the off-season, Veach signed Free Agent Antonio Hamilton who wants to prove he can be a starter. In the draft, the Chiefs selected the very CB/S L’Varius Sneed, from Louisiana Tech, in the 4th round. Sneed’s talent and skill is a total fit for the Spagnuolo defense. What I think they will do is work him in, get his feet wet, get him up to playing at NFL speed, and that he will be the future outside CB opposite Ward. The CB’s have been a troublesome group in the three preceding seasons ,but it worked and they got the job done in 2019, without a bunch of draft focus. This year, Veach also drafted “BoPete” Keys late in the draft, who also shows promise, but will take time to meld into an NFL player. There are several UDFA’s of note as well. I do have faith that Spagnuolo will find a way to cover the exposure of Breeland’s absence. I have more faith in Sneed than most observers. Position Group Status: Questionable until Breeland returns, Depth: Unproven.
Cornerbacks: Laddie Morse – Just as was the case many times last season, the Chiefs game plan for the first 4 games will depend upon Tyrann Mathieu stepping up and filling the CB slot role. That, of course, is because of Bashaud Breeland’s 4 game suspension (which could end up being longer because of yet another league rule transgression). That worked out well last season and while I see no reason for it not to work out well in the early going for K.C., but it means the CB position will be leaning heavily on their Safeties in the early going. With Charvarius Ward scheduled to hold down one side of the field, the other side will be manned by a platoon system with both second year man, and 2019 6th round pick, Rashad Fenton plus rookie, 2020 4th round pick, L’Jarius Sneed. While Fenton and Sneed may end up performing well, they are unknown, and that makes me uncomfortable. Another unknown is the speedy FA Antonio Hamilton. He has run a 4.38 40 but before Chiefs fans get too excited about him, he’s been in the league four years, two with Oakland as a UDFA and two with the Giants and has 199 total defensive snaps to his name. He’s a much better Special Teams gunner and has 739 snaps there, so that’s where we’ll probably see him mostly. Although, he may get some early season snaps at Corner because he will serve as depth. Bopete Keyes has shown well during camp after an orbital eye socket injury, but I don’t think he’ll be relied upon to any great degree.With both Ward and Breeland back, the CB group could be Improved, but Depth is an issue.
Safety: David Bell – I don’t know how quickly Juan Thornhill gets back to playing football. Everything that I hear is that he is working like the dickens to get ready to play. I suspect that he won’t be ready opening day, but shortly after that he will pair up with Tyrann Mathieu, maybe by the Ravens game and then the Chiefs will field the best pair of Safeties in the NFL. That would take a driven player and Thornhill is such a player. I believe he will one day be a Hall of Fame player. So that gives me the top two men for the Chiefs safety role. Thornhill is a top level single high on an Island player. Mathieu is so versatile that Spagnuolo has got him moving snap by snap in his role for that particular play. Daniel Sorensen takes that versatility in a differing set of tasks which can include linebacker, safety, and cornerback. Armani Watts had a tough year in 2018, slotted to be a starter until experiencing a core muscle tear that ended his work. He was back in 2019, but saw little playing time. The Chiefs added Free Agent Tedric Thompson who is a recent free agent acquisition along with the earlier Free Agent signed by Veach, Adrian Colbert. Safety position Group is Improved; Depth is totally solid.
Safety: Laddie Morse – The Chiefs defense rests on the broad shoulders of diminutive, 5-foot-9, 190 lbs., Tyrann Mathieu. Mathieu is the original mouse that roared. His pointing at his helmet following a play is truly reflective of his ability to outthink the opposition. His vibrato resonates throughout the rest of the Chiefs defense and he’s more than a coach on the field, and he’s more than just a cheerleader. Pair him with Juan Thornhill, someone that Price Carter believes is headed for All Pro status in 2020, and you have as good a pair of starting Safeties in the league as there is. The Safety position is also deep. Dirty Daniel Sorensen made some of the best plays last season and when the playoffs rolled around and he had to take more snaps because of Thornhill’s injury, he made one memorable hit or tackle after another helping to seal a successful postseason. Add Adrian Colbert, Armani Watts, and Tedric Thompson, and the Chiefs may have the deepest Safety room in the NFL. The Chiefs Safety position is Improved in 2020 and Deeper than ever.
David Bell and Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne
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