Kansas City Chiefs: Tanoh Kpassagnon’s development in 2017

When I rewatched the week 17 game against the Broncos in All-22, I was surprised at what I saw. I remembered watching the game and seeing Tanoh flash from time to time, but it wasn’t enough to know how far he had come. He still has some things to work on, but the difference from preseason to week one is clear as day.

The first thing I noticed was his ability not to be a liability in the run game. Tanoh did a much better job of setting the edge and keeping his head up to locate the ball carrier. He also had much better hand positioning to keep offensive linemen from overpowering him. Not allowing offensive linemen to get to his chest allowed for him to hold his ground and attack when the ball carrier got close.

His recognition in the run game was better as well. During the preseason Tanoh was the victim of the run/pass option almost every time. We saw an increased ability to diagnose the play and react surprisingly well.

In the play above, Tanoh was able to entirely just toss the tight end to the side and set the edge. While I would like to see more aggression in a play like this and to attack the running back, he set up the play very well. This allowed cornerback Phillip Gaines to make a great play in the backfield. That’s right you heard it, Gaines made a good play.

He still needs some work recognizing the plays quicker as he was often a split second late to react. It limited his ability to take off after the ball carrier at times and play the aggressive style instead of the passive wait for them to come to me type of play.

Another thing I noticed was that Tanoh is still thinking before reacting which is causing him to fire late as well. Spending more time with the coaching staff and players like Justin Houston watching the film will help improve this. At times you would see Tanoh lunge at the line of scrimmage allowing even tight ends to get ahold of him and take him out of the play.

Altogether I was impressed with his run game. By no means is he great against the run based off the week 17 film, but he is already better than Dee Ford. Take that how you want. Given his development against the run, I could see Tanoh starting on early downs to help stuff the run.

Looking at the passing game was much more fun as we all love a good sack. Tanoh had 1.5 sacks during his first full showing. The first was a good play by Tanoh as he forced the right guard the wrong direction and then kept fighting when the guard corrected himself. The result was Paxton Lynch getting hit by this monster from behind. The other contributed sack Tanoh was left unblocked which I would be concerned if he hadn’t reached the quarterback.

My favorite part about his game against the Broncos is that he showed no signs of slowing down. Tanoh would play until the whistle and even got better as the game went on. Something that Brett Veach has been talking about all offseason in regards to the soft defensive play in the playoffs last season.

Here is one of those plays that he was just a split second too late due to not having a pre-snap plan. He was slow off the snap as he hadn’t decided what move he was going to use, and it allowed Lynch to have the ability to escape the pocket and run out of bounds. The good part about this play was that it was on 3rd and 20, which forced the fourth down attempt that led to an interception.

While inconsistent, Tanoh showed the ability to get after the quarterback. He had 1.5 sacks and a few hurries that forced Lynch out of the pocket. There are still too many snaps that you see him get stopped by one tackle. He has improved but has yet to master anything just yet. Once he polishes up his technique, he could be a monster opposite Justin Houston.

As I mentioned earlier about his bend around the edge, you can’t tell me this doesn’t excite you. Coming from a man of his size and from a small school, I wouldn’t have expected this kind of bend. He positions himself nicely to swat the tackles hands away and get underneath his arms allowing him to bend around the edge for a quicker route to the quarterback.

If we can see Tanoh have success bending like this around the edge on a more consistent basis, I can only imagine what the ceiling for his pass rush would be. Sutton did a great job lining him up on both sides of the ball. We got a good glimpse of Tanoh from both sides, and it looked like he was much more comfortable on both.

Related Story: Anthony Hitchens will improve the Chiefs defense

That’s great news for Chiefs fans who are used to Ford only being able to perform on the left side of the defense. All in all, I see a player that has developed over his rookie season into an average pass rusher. I would be comfortable if the Chiefs decided to start him week one opposite of Houston.

His abilities to play a role in the run game and from time to time make a play in the backfield, generate some pass rush, and even be able to drop into coverage (I was surprised at how well he did in coverage). I think that Kpassagnon has a good shot at starting this season early on and if he has continued to develop and polish those techniques over the offseason, we could see even an above average performance.

Next: Five Chiefs players to watch on defense in 2018

Justin Houston and defensive end Chris Jones need help along the front. Both saw outstanding amounts of extra attention in 2017 and without someone on the opposite side generating any kind of pressure, it made for a poor pass rushing performance by the defense. Hense why we saw Houston dropping into coverage all the time.