Kansas City Chiefs: What Exactly Is Bob Sutton Being Paid To Do?

The Kansas City Chiefs continue to look explosive on offense, but their defense continues to be a significant concern. Bob Sutton is not earning his keep.

The Kansas City Chiefs were barely able to hold on for a victory against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday afternoon winning 38-27. While the score might make you think otherwise, a poor call by the officials in the end zone negating a 49ers touchdown was what saved the Chiefs defense.

During the first half, defensive coordinator Bob Sutton and the Chiefs defense held San Francisco to only ten points in the first half. The second half was an entirely different story as the 49ers put up 17 points in the second half, 21 if that touchdown wasn’t taken away. Regardless, the Chiefs have allowed 27 points or more in their first three games of the regular season.

It makes me wonder what exactly Kansas City is paying Bob Sutton to do. It’s not just on Sutton either, but the entire coaching staff of the defensive side of the ball. Allowing more than 1,000 yards in the first two games is a major sign of poor execution and coaching.

The entire offseason was spent overhauling the defense with new players after the organization determined it was a personnel problem in 2017, and not a coaching one. Here we are three games into the season, and the defense might even look worse than it did a season ago.

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Some of that has to go to the players. We have seen repeatedly missed tackles from players not wrapping up and blown coverages from the linebackers and safeties units. The inside linebackers look lost, confused, and slow in zone coverages in the middle of the defense. Safeties are picking up routes too late resulting in touchdowns.

Even with all of the lacking fundamentals by the players, there is still blame to go to the coaching staff. Through three games, Kansas City has only come up with one turnover. They’ve also lacked getting consistent pressure on the quarterback despite a four-sack performance against the 49ers. Allowing quarterbacks all the time in the world inside the pocket has resulted in big plays for three straight weeks.

We also have to look at the lack of development of the younger players on defense. Breeland Speaks, 2018 second-round pick, was expected to be a starter according to GM Brett Veach after the draft. Instead, Speaks looks incapable of playing outside linebacker despite getting more snaps than Tanoh Kpassagnon in the rotation.

Dorian O’Daniel has barely seen the field during a time when the inside linebackers are struggling to cover just about anyone. Including a fullback from San Francisco. Instead of O’Daniel being ready to contribute, Kansas City has been trotting out Terrance Smith. Then there is safety Armani Watts who has seen very little time despite both starters being out so far this season.

It’s not only this draft class either. Under former general manager John Dorsey, the Chiefs drafted well on the offensive side of the ball. The defensive side is arguably the opposite. Kansas City even under Veach has drafted projects on the defensive side of the ball instead of immediate starters with their draft picks.

Among those draft picks since Bob Sutton came to Kansas City, most of those projects have not panned out. Eric Murray has yet to develop into an average safety even, Ramik Wilson and D.J. Alexander are both gone after failing to develop. The only players that amounted to anything were the few that were drafted as immediate starters like Marcus Peters and Chris Jones who already had the talent to compete in the NFL.

Players like Steven Nelson and Dee Ford were forced into starting positions. Until this season, Ford has yet to show any development on the outside. The former 2014 first-round pick was supposed to replace Tamba Hali but has been a disaster outside of this season in his contract season. Steven Nelson looked to be improved this season, also playing in a contract season.

Outside of those players, the defensive draft picks have all been busts. Even players from last seasons draft have already been cut. Bob Sutton and the defensive positional coaches have failed to coach anyone up. For a coach that depends so much on talent instead of scheming around his talents strengths, they sure do a poor job developing their own players.

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Sutton’s soft defense has been a joke for years, and it continues to be a problem in 2018. Even with the massive overhaul of players, Sutton is unable to slow down opposing offenses. He’s drawn up a few good blitzes this season, but he has to get more aggressive at bringing down the quarterback if his coverage is this poor. He also has to put his players in the right spot to make a play on the ball which comes from pressuring the quarterback.

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