Kansas City Chiefs: How transition to 4-3 affects future of Chiefs defense

4-3 defensive scheme strengths

The basic principals of the 4-3 scheme are simple. Four defensive linemen are what you rely on for stopping the run and generating the pass rush. This means your linebackers play more behind the line and are meant to move in space untouched.

The Chiefs have the personnel right now to better run this scheme with guys like Chris Jones and Derrick Nnadi up the middle. Jones had a remarkable season in 2018, generating 14 sacks from the interior of the defensive line and proving he could be an effective player in any scheme.

Nnadi showed flashes of brilliance in his rookie season. Veach drafted him to help anchor a new defensive line that will showcase players like Tanoh Kpassagnon, Dee Ford, and Breeland Speaks. All of those players just mentioned played traditional defensive ends in college, even though Ford seemed to be a bit undersized.

The idea here is being able to generate pressure only bringing those four defensive linemen and that can cause a lot of problems for opposing offenses. Playing a two-deep coverage with safeties and allowing all your linebackers to play in space, the majority of the field is now taken away.

If say, a guy like Chris Jones can generate pressure up the middle, then you can see already how effective the new scheme could be.

Seven of the top ten defenses in the NFL last season ran some variation of the 4-3 scheme, showing how the trend is moving back towards those principles defensively.

However, just like the 3-4, this scheme isn’t exactly perfect.