Kansas City Chiefs: Does Bob Sutton have enough personnel to succeed
Will Sutton have the personnel to succeed in 2018?
Kansas City was busy this offseason addressing the defensive side of the ball. Brett Veach made it a point following the Titans loss in the playoffs to get bigger and more aggressive on defense. Adding an overhaul of talent up front was the primary objective.
Veach replaced Bennie Logan at the defensive tackle position with two new additions. Former Arizona Cardinals defensive tackle Xavier Williams and rookie Derrick Nnadi look to be reliable and hard to move answers in the middle of the defensive line. Kansas City has struggled tremendously to stop the run over the last few seasons, and Veach is hoping that these two can help.
He also brought in inside linebacker Anthony Hitchens to put alongside Reggie Ragland. Having two players that can attack the run game from the middle should make a world of a difference. Veach then doubled down on outside linebacker by spending his second-round pick on Breeland Speaks. How might all of these pieces fit into the defense for success?
The league has been turning into a pass-heavy league over the past few seasons. To keep up with the offenses, defenses are deploying more nickel and sub packages to counter. Sutton tried to fill the hole in the middle of the defense the last couple of years by adding an additional safety to drop down inside the box.
In 2018, it seems that Sutton will be running a 2-4-5 system instead. With two down linemen, four linebackers, and five secondary members on the field, Sutton looks to attack both the run and pass. Hitchens and Ragland in the middle instead of one linebacker and one safety will allow the team to be more aggressive in the rushing attack. Hitchens can also drop back into coverage when needed to.
Nnadi and Williams should see plenty of playing time in the defensive line rotation on early downs. Williams has some pass rushing abilities as well, while Nnadi looked like an immovable object in the middle to stuff the running lanes. The question becomes whether or not they can get after the quarterback this season.
Sutton spoke this offseason about wanting to move Justin Houston around to get the best matchup. Instead, I think this is a ploy to get Dee Ford on the left side of the defense where he has had his most success. Kansas City was forced to honor Ford’s fifth-year option this offseason when he was unable to pass a physical.
The Chiefs can’t seem to move on from Ford being the starter. Instead, I think this could be a complete disaster up front if Ford is consistently on the left side of the defense. Teams love to run the ball to the right which makes it even more disturbing with Ford’s inability to even take on a tight end. If the team doesn’t start deploying Tanoh Kpassagnon or Breeland Speaks on early downs, it could dismantle all the work that the team did on the front seven this offseason.
Tanoh has looked good this preseason with the ability to set the edge and a whole new arsenal of pass rushing moves. He should be the starter in my opinion based off what we have seen this preseason. Ford should be a situational pass rusher at best, but the team will likely continue to deploy him with Houston.
With bigger bodies in the middle, the team looks better against the rushing attack outside of Ford. With two hard-hitting linebackers on the inside and defensive tackles that are almost impossible to move on the line, I can’t see the team not taking some kind of step forward this season.
If Kansas City fails to get some more disruptions in the backfield, we could see another season of secondary disaster. Chris Jones and Justin Houston were the only players up front that actually made pressure. Considering the rest of the front was disastrous, both saw extra attention with double teams and chips coming out of the backfield.
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Bob Sutton has to find a way to get his players into the backfield more consistently this season. The team has to return to the 47 sack seasons from Sutton’s first few years as coordinator for his scheme to work. If he cannot move on from Ford even with no development over the first four seasons of his career, it could be another long season for Chiefs fans. If the Chiefs find another pass rusher on the starting lineup, the secondary failures could be hidden to some extent.