Kansas City Chiefs: Tanoh Kpassagnon and Breeland Speaks development

Breeland Speaks

Much like Kpassagnon in his first preseason, Speaks is a raw talent moving to a new position. During his collegiate career, Speaks spent time at both defensive end and defensive tackle. Given his time at inside linebacker in high school and his time playing off the ball in his senior year of college, he looks more comfortable standing up than Tanoh did a year ago.

Much like most players coming out of college, Speaks resulted in his strength in college to get after the quarterback. He only has one move which is the bull rush so far. He received the comparison of Tamba Hali coming out of college when the Chiefs drafted him by general manager Brett Veach which should get fans excited.

Much like Hali, Speaks is a power first edge rusher. Speaks is inconsistent with his hand fighting much like Tamba was coming out of college. He has shown some aggressive flashes with his hand fighting, but there is still a lot to work on there before he takes the next step. Kansas City allowed Speaks plenty of time on the field as well as he recorded 34 snaps which were 62 percent of the defensive snaps.

Something that Speaks does have over Kpassagnon is his quick first step off of the snap. He’s quicker to get off the ball and work to the outside than Tanoh at this point. While Tanoh holds the strength and length that work in his favor, Speaks would work better against slower, stronger tackles as his speed allows him to get around the outside quicker and knock them off their balance.

Speaks has been seen using his speed to force tackles out of position as they often try and prepare for his speed and then Speaks will jump inside to get a straight line at the quarterback. We saw a couple of flashes of this in the Houston game.

When it comes to working his way around the edge, Speaks struggled to take a quicker route to the quarterback. He often got pushed further outside forcing him to take a very wide angle to the quarterback making him too late. He did show some pressure on Houston which was promising, but he will have to finish as he was unable to get a sack.

Speaks showed some of the same inconsistencies in the run game as Tanoh against the Texans. He has trouble getting off his tackle at times to grab the running back. The Ole Miss product did show some ability to set the edge which was good to see much like Tanoh.

There were numerous plays, including with the first team defense, which Speaks was able to set the edge. He kept his eyes up and the tackle off of his chest to have the ability to throw the blocker out of his way and make a play on the running back. Houston ran at Speaks more often than Tanoh which gave him more opportunities and I was impressed with his ability to set the edge and finish.