Coming Saturday–A First Look at the Kansas City Chiefs

Chiefs fans get their first hints about this year’s team Saturday night at Arrowhead Stadium.
We won’t see the starters beyond the first quarter but there are a lot of things to watch. I’m not the least bit worried about the offense—it’s the most dangerous bunch in all of football. The defense is another matter.

Despite all the breakdowns, the ’18 Chiefs were one offsides penalty against Dee Ford short of a Super Bowl appearance. Much has changed since January 20th. Ford is gone, sent to San Francisco. Justin Houston and Eric Berry are also former Chiefs. Steve Spagnolo is now the defensive coordinator. He replaces Bob Sutton.

With the change comes a new look to the defense. You can expect a much more aggressive approach. Maybe not as over the top as Gunther Cunningham back in the 90s and the mid 2000’s, but they’ll get after people. Spagnolo works with four down linemen. New to the defensive line are Frank Clark and Alex Okafor. Clark was a load at defensive end for the Seattle Seahawks. Okafor is a relentless, high motor defensive end coming aboard from New Orleans. Both fit well into the way Spagnolo wants to play defense. I’ll be interested to see how Tanoh Kpassagnon looks as he moves back to a defensive end spot after spending his first two seasons in the NFL trying to play outside linebacker in a 3-4 defense. I thought it was worth looking into, but it didn’t work out. Back in the 1970’s the Dallas Cowboys tried to make Randy White into a middle linebacker. That didn’t work either, but he was an absolute terror as a lineman. Kpassagnon has all the physical skills to make it as an end and he’s in a scheme that appears to suit him well. I’m also looking forward to seeing Khalen Saunders of Western Illinois and how he fits into the line. Saunders was the Chiefs third round pick.

The Chiefs secondary was a weak point for most of the season. Tyran Matthieu comes aboard as a safety and rookie Juan Thornhill is turning heads in St. Joseph.