Players Who Should Be Most Excited to Play in Chiefs System

While it’s been highly publicized that players like Frank Clark and Tyrann Mathieu are excited to play in Steve Spagnuolo’s defensive system, there are other players who should be most excited to play in Spag’s… and Reid’s systems… on both sides of the ball. So, who are these players who should be filled with anticipation over their new digs and gigs with the Kansas City Chiefs? 

Alex Okafor

Alex Okafor is a 28 year old Defensive End who was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals 103rd overall in the 2013 draft. He spent 4 years in Arizona, and 2 years in Louisiana in pursuit of his Super Bowl dream. The past two years he had to watch as the “Minnesota Miracle” catch-and-run TD by Stefon Diggs kept his team from facing the Eagles in Philly, who were the eventual winners of Super Bowl LII… and Okafor also had to endure the non-call on the Rams DB which has changed the rule book in the NFL this offseason. That play was so severe that the the NFL fined Los Angeles Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman $26,739 for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Saints receiver Tommylee Lewis on the same play but of course, could do nothing about sending the Saints to the Super Bowl by that time.

Consequently, Alex Okafor has had to endure a lot of SB failure the past two seasons — up close and personally — and should be motivated to help make a clean run to Super Bowl LIV with his new team.

Before we get into that, Alex was part of a DL in New Orleans that included standout Cameron Jordan who had 25 sacks over the past two seasons while… Alex registered 8.5 sacks in that same span. Meantime, Alex is about to play with Frank Clark, who had 22.0 sacks over the past two seasons but, the big difference is, Clark just turned 26 years old and Jordan will be 30 in July.

Alex Okafor has never played with the likes of Chris Jones and Frank Clark on the same line at the same time.

In New Orleans the Saints ran a 4-3 defensive scheme which is similar to the scheme the Chiefs will be using. However, the similarities end right there. As Paul Pulley pointed out in his piece last week called, “The Confusion Conclusion: Chiefs New Look Defense” he hinted that perhaps the most important addition to the Chiefs, besides DC Steve Spagnuolo, is Defensive Line coach Brendan Daly:

“Hiring a new defensive line coach. DL coach Brendan Daly came to us from the Patriots, a team that uses all kinds of different alignments, tricks and stunts.”

When Alex Okafor played for the Saints his DL coach was Ryan Nielsen who was new to the NFL in 2017 and 2018. Prior to that Nielsen was the defensive line/recruiting coordinator/run game coordinator at N.C. State. The Chiefs Daly, prior to this year, was the DL coach in New England and has a Super Bowl ring to flaunt (I’m sure he doesn’t… that’s just me over-exercising literary license). Players on the Chiefs defensive front have already said of Daly, “He knows what he’s doing” and consequently the defensive linemen are all more excited to play for him.

Success breeds confidence: buying in.

In a piece called “What does Alex Okafor bring to the Kansas City Chiefs” written by Travis Steffen at ArrowheadPride, he states this about Alex Okafor:

“His variety of abilities in the passing game whether it was lining up in a wide nine, right or left side of the line, or even in a three-tech shows that he can play from any position. He displayed the ability to execute multiple stunts which will be essential in the Spagnuolo defense.”

I’m sure that’s why Spagnuolo wanted him. However, the Saints treated Alex Okafor like an inferior player when they set him up with a $400K incentive in 2018:

They may have come through on the “incentive” but Okafor was not in the top 15 paid players of the Saints in 2018. In the Chiefs new defensive scheme, I would not be surprised to see him double his sack production in 2019. The anticipation of that kind of personal production — and a Super Bowl of course — should have Alex Okafor over the moon this year.

Anthony Hitchens

Anthony Hitchens is a 27 year old Linebacker for the Chiefs who was drafted in 2014 by the Dallas Cowboys in the 4th round of the 2014 draft (119th overall) and last year signed a five-year deal for $45M with K.C., including a $14M signing bonus, and $25M+ guaranteed ($9M/year). Last year he was the Chiefs leader in tackles with 135, as has been noted here at ArrowheadOne many times before, a multitude of those tackles were 5+ yards downfield. Also noted here… is that the reason for such poor play from the Chief’s LBs last year was due to the previous defensive coordinator, Bob Sutton and the way he instructed his linebackers to approach each play.

While it may still be time to note that the Bob Sutton approach to defense didn’t work as well as we’d liked it too over the past two seasons, it’s also time to move on and recognize that the new Steve Spagnuolo approach could not be worse. Anthony Hitchens new LB Coach is Matt House and his directives will be much easier to execute than were the play calls of Mr. Sutton.

Matt House spent time with Steve Spagnuolo on the Rams staff from 2009 to 2011 so they will be in sync on coaching, preparation, and play calling on game day. The ways that will benefit Anthony Hitchens will be in both run stopping and in coverage. The Chiefs Linebackers will be asked to read run, and if it is a run, hit a specific gap. The defensive linemen will be asked to hold up an offensive lineman so they can’t get to the second level which should free up the LBs to blitz, twist, stunt, and shoot the gaps.

In coverage, the LBs will be asked to cover specific RBs, TEs and sometimes WRs who are crossing the middle, until they can hand them off to a Safety if they turn up field.

Gone are the days of Justin Houston covering Antonio Brown downfield. Thanks your lucky stars.

In 2019, the tackling will be spread out over the entire linebacking crew, and so many more of those will be within a few yards of the line of scrimmage or even in the offensive backfield… by design. If I’m Anthony Hitchens, I’m one happy camper right now. When he was asked recently “How difficult is this defense?” Hitch said,

“It’s not difficult at all actually. It’s very slim [the playbook]. Not much, but once you get it down, everyone can play fast, and, its simplified, everyone has single gaps…

It’s very similar to what I’d been playing in my first four years in Dallas. A lot of over-under 4-3 defense so, very similar situation just different terminology…

It lets you run free a lot, covered up by the 3-technique for most of the downs, for the WILL linebacker: what I’m playing.

There Are Others

There are others on this team who I believe are ecstatic to be playing in Steve Spagnuolo’s defense like Emmanuel Ogbah, but players on the offensive side of the ball as well, like Mecole Hardman and Darwin Thompson. You can only imagine what WR Mecole Hardman thought when he was drafted, “I’m going to be catching passes from the MVP and the man with the strongest arm in the NFL.” At OTAs Hardman said,

“… it’s great to be playing with him. We know what he can do, so you just got to show him what you can do, so he can have trust in you.”

You have to believe that Darwin Thompson was thrilled to get the call from the Chiefs as well. Not only is he in the same division as the similar sized Phillip Lindsey — who became a star for the Broncos in 2018 — but Andy Reid’s use of RBs out the backfield as receivers must be tantalizing for him. Thompson had 351 receiving yards last year for Utah State but Andy Reid certainly sees more than just a receiver out of the backfield in Thompson.

Get ready because we may see Darwin Thompson starting at some point in his rookie year.

What do you think? Are there other players that you think could be more amped up about playing in the Chiefs system this year?

Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne

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