Chiefs made quality hire with Steve Spagnuolo
The Kansas City Chiefs enjoyed a historic offense in 2018. Unfortunately for them, it was their equally historic defense that proved their downfall.
After allowing a league record for first downs this season, Kansas City’s defense hemorrhaged time and again against the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game, losing 38-31. The result was defensive coordinator Bob Sutton being fired after six seasons. Two days later, Kansas City announced the hiring of veteran coordinator Steve Spagnuolo to replace Sutton.
It’s a good move by the Chiefs for a variety of reasons.
The move from Sutton to Spagnuolo represents a shift from a 3-4 scheme to a 4-3, but the change might not be as extreme as presented on the surface. Kansas City already has a litany of players who fit into the new scheme, and in some cases, might fit even better.
The Chiefs should be able to employ a terrific defensive line of Dee Ford — provided they bring him back –, Chris Jones, Derrick Nnadi and Breeland Speaks, with Anthony Hitchens sliding back into the role he played with the Cowboys as a 4-3 MLB. Last year’s third-round pick, Dorian O’Daniel, now fits in as the weak side backer, leaving the Chiefs to plug Justin Houston in on the strong side.
While much of this personnel is the same as last year’s, improvement should be expected. For starters, Kansas City will play a much more aggressive style of ball under Spagnuolo, who loves to blitz with corners and safeties. Spagnuolo learned from the late, great Jim Johnson in Philadelphia, where he coached under Andy Reid. In that scheme, the Eagles were one of the league’s most aggressive and creative defenses.
The main challenge for the Chiefs will be finding more talent to plug into the secondary. Kansas City has a quality corner in Kendall Fuller and an intriguing option in Charvarius Ward, but the rest of the unit is subpar. Eric Berry is fantastic when healthy, but including the AFC title game, he’s played a grand total of four games over the past two seasons.
General manager Brett Veach should be looking for at least one starting safety and legitimate depth, all while trying to add another boundary corner and, again, competitive depth. After all, injuries happen, and Ward is largely unproven.
For the Chiefs, there are legitimate championship aspirations going into 2019. With Patrick Mahomes at the helm and a plethora of offensive weapons around him, there’s no reason to believe regression is coming on that side of the ball.
If Spagnolo proves to be the right fit in Kansas City, he very well could be the difference between contention and winning it all.
