Kansas City Chiefs: The Curious Case of Dorian O’Daniel

Why All The Love?

First, why he receives so much love out of Chiefs Kingdom, results really from a perfect storm of multiple factors aligning with the precise time of O’Daniel’s arrival to the Chiefs.

The departure of a franchise great linebacker had just left a big Derrick Johnson sized hole in the middle of the Chiefs defense and in comes O’Daniel in almost hero-like fashion ready to step in and plug up that hole.

Those were very unfair expectations for O’Daniel to walk into. Though, underperforming in the 40 and being undersized, there were still lofty expectations for O’Daniel as an athletic coverage backer. Despite his underwhelming 40-time, he at the time of the 2018 NFL Combine had recorded the fastest three-cone time for a linebacker in 12 years, which only further fueled his hype.

After the initial excitement for O’Daniel, the defense really struggled in 2018, especially at linebacker so the fire stayed fueled for fans and everyone wanted to see O’Daniel get some snaps. Then came 2019 and fans thought “okay surely this is the year we get to see O’Daniel turn into the coverage linebacker we have been longing for.”

Wrong.

He barely played a snap on defense probably due to lacking the size that new Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo requires at the position.

Now, I don’t say all this to claim that he is a bust because that is also unfair, it is just kind of curious to me that he still holds a place in many Chiefs fans’ hearts.