Kansas City Chiefs: Does Bob Sutton have enough personnel to succeed

What went wrong the last two seasons?

Without Tamba Hali contributing the last couple of seasons, the Chiefs defense has struggled to get after the quarterback. Their draft pick in Dee Ford has been another player that cannot stay on the field the last two seasons. Even when he’s on the field, he’s nowhere near the production that Hali once was.

Kansas City ranked in the top six in sacks the first three seasons under Bob Sutton surpassing 45 sacks each year. The past two seasons have been another story as the team has fallen to 24th and 28th in the league in the sack column.

In 2016, Ford was the only option on the field at the outside linebacker position with Houston missing the first half of the season. When he did finally come back, Ford went down with an injury. In 2017, Ford played a few games into the season before not returning. Both seasons resulted in Frank Zombo getting considerable time rushing the passer.

Without a dynamic duo on the outsides, Kansas City has failed to get after the quarterback. Without the pass rush, the flaws in the secondary have come to light more than they did in the first three seasons under Bob Sutton. Only having one cornerback that’s relevant has also hurt the team. Marcus Peters was the sole cornerback worth mentioning in 2017.

Opposite of Peters, the Chiefs tried out many names from Phillip Gaines to Terrance Mitchell, and even bringing in aged Darrelle Revis. These names all struggled to stick with their assignments and were exploited without a consistent pass rush.

We also saw longtime Chiefs inside linebacker Derrick Johnson take a major decline. Coming off another significant injury, Johnson finally dropped in production. It wasn’t something the Chiefs were prepared for as DJ has always come back from injury looking even more explosive. Instead, Johnson looked slower and indecisive.