Laddie Morse
In a few swift moves, the World Champion Kansas city Chiefs have changed their Defense. Not a lot mind you, but there is a difference. Let’s take a look at those changes. I should point out that now that L’Jarius Sneed is gone, Trent McDuffie is the clear cut CB#1 and the Chiefs can either use Joshua Williams as CB#2, or find another man. I’m guessing the Chiefs will draft a CB in the first or second rounds of the upcoming draft at the end of April. Then again, they’re quite competent at drafting CBs later on in the draft as well… and, this is supposed to be a very deep draft for corners.
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In the graphic above, each of the defensive players is framed with a white box if there is no change in their position, and a red box if there is a change. Let’s take each, position-by-position, to see what has been altered so far this offseason:
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DE – George Karlaftis (GK)
No real change. GK had 6.0 sacks in his rookie year and 10.5 sacks in 2023, a double digit season.
IDL – Derrick Nnadi
No big change here except, Charles Omenihu could be the spot starter when healthy. While Omenihu is thought of more as a DE, he also played inside on many plays, much like Chris Jones. Nnadi played on 46% of the defensive snaps which is about average for him over his 6 year career. Nnadi will be 28 years old on May 9th this year.
Don’t forget that just over a month from now is May the 4th — “may the force be with you” — which is being celebrated at the Empire State Building in New York with a Lego display. Here’s a link to an article called: “Hayden Christensen [young Darth Vader] lights up the Empire State Building as part of ‘Star Wars’ takeover.“
IDL – Chris Jones
Jones was an “if” at the start of this offseason but eventually, K.C. re-signed him to a record breaking deal of 5 years for $158.75M and $101M in guarantees. From sportrac.com:
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“This contract becomes the 13th highest total value deal currently on the books in the NFL, sliding in between Daniel Jones’ deal in NY, & Derek Carr’s contract in New Orleans. In terms of non-quarterback contracts however, this contract chimes in 2nd only to Nick Bosa’s $170M blockbuster in San Francisco.”
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DE – Felix Anudike-Uzomah (FAU)
FAU is beginning his second year as a defensive end for the Chiefs. So far, he is expected to take the place of Mike Danna, who I expect — now that L’Jarius Sneed’s contract is off the books — will be re-signed. So, while we currently expect FAU to replace Mike Danna, I think that may not end up being the case. Another possibility is that the Chiefs select a DE with their first pick and whoever that person is, becomes the starter. FAU was in on 20% of the Defensive snaps in 2023 and I’d expect more from him in the case that K.C. does plan on him being the starter.
OLB – Leo Chenal
Chenal was in on 40% of the Defensive snaps, or 441 times, he was in on Defense, enough for K.C. to let go of Willie Gay. While Chenal was good on tthe field, Gay was terrific off the field, a real spirit leader.
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ILB – Nick Bolton
I anticipate that the money saved by trading away L’Jarius Sneed will be used to help sign an extension with Nick Bolton. We’ll have to see if that happens. Bolton played in 8 games during this past regular season, in 2023, and appeared in 87% of the available snaps in those games. He is obviously still the Chiefs #1 ILB but the presence of Drue Tranquill helped a tremendous amount in his absence.
ILB/OLB – Drue Tranquill
Tranquill was the first move the Chiefs made this offseason as far as re-signing one of their own players is concerned. Here are Tranquill’s current contract details:
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S – Justin Reid
Some were anticipating that Justin Reid could be let go this offseason to help make cap room for other signings. Reid is a strong part of the defense and was a solid signing two years ago when K.C. simultaneously let go of Safety Tyrann Mathieu:
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S – Bryan Cook
Cook was injured late in the season in game in week 13 against the Packers. However, Cook started 12 games in the 2023 regular season and was in on 79% of the Defensive snaps in those games. Cook should end up the starter at Safety.
DC Steve Spagnuolo likes to have his Safeties (and all DBs) be flewible so they can play the slot at times and back at times and up in the box to stop the run at times… so, he needs his Safeties to be fast and smart. While Mike Edwards signed with the Buffalo Bills this offseason he was an important piece of the team that helped win Super Bowl LVIII. Here are the comparative 40 times of the Safeties on the Chiefs roster:
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S – Chamarri Conner
Some see Conner as a starter at Safety for the Chiefs in 2024. He’ll likely remain as a highly used rotational player. Conner played in all 17 regular season games in 2023 and was in on 28% of the snaps… so, it appears that DC Steve Spagnuolo trusts him.
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The Highest rated players by PFF on the Chiefs Defense during this 2023 post-season were:
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• S, Chamarri Conner (83.2)
• DT, Chris Jones (82.7)
• CB, Trent McDuffie (73.3)
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PFF – Pro Football Focus
BTW, here’s a take I agree with by JJ Watt on PFF:
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While JJ Watt is mostly right about PFF, I do think we can take PFF grades consideration of what Watt is saying.
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2024 Defensive Backups
Here’s a visual listing of the Chiefs Defensive backups. Two of the players I’ve missed on this visual representation (below) are Nazeeh Johnson and Ekow Boye-Doe. Both are full of promise. Five time Super Bowl Champion DB Coach Dave Merritt should be able to get the best out of all these young men. When it comes to the ideation of “Next-Man-Up” the Chiefs have it covered.
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I see the Chiefs may need to draft a first or second round corner to help keep that group strong. What do you think?
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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne
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