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Kansas City Chiefs defense has No. 1 potential, can do it all

By Kevin Parvizi

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The Kansas City Chiefs barely missed out on making it two-for-two when it comes to playoff appearances in the first two years of the Andy Reid and John Dorsey HC-GM tandem, but they were able to finish the season strong with a sack-parade of San Diego Chargers star QB Philip Rivers. Last season’s 9-7 finish came despite major injuries to Mike DeVito and Derrick Johnson, as well as Eric Berry‘s Hodgkin’s Lymphoma diagnosis, limiting the team’s third-best player to six games.

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Ever since it was announced that Sean Smith would be suspended for the first three games of the season, the Chiefs offseason has been filled with eventful news on the defensive side of the ball thanks to two big news updates yesterday.

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Firstly, we learned that exceptional nose tackle Dontari Poe, who has a herniated disk in his back, but we later learned from the Kansas City Star’s Terez A. Paylor that Poe has a “reasonable chance” at playing early in the season, as per Reid. The most likely scenario has Poe missing the first six games of the season on the reserve/PUP, but we just don’t know enough about his injury to make an educated guess.

While missing Poe for any number of games is a significant blow and hurts even more with the knowledge that the Chiefs won’t have their shutdown corner for three games, the news that Eric Berry has been cleared to practice trumped any sort of bad news. Despite the fact that his status for the 2015 season was up-in-the-air as late as Monday, I still ranked him fifth at the position in my safety rankings for the upcoming season, and you could easily make the case that he’s a better player than Seattle Seahawks strong safety Kam Chancellor.

Berry’s return to the team cannot be understated, because there are few defensive backs in the game that can impact a team as thoroughly as the former first-round pick out of Tennessee. Back in 2013, Berry showed off his all-around prowess with 73 tackles, 3.5 sacks, three interceptions, and a second straight season with ten passes defended. He blitzes as well as any safety, he plays the run better than a few Chiefs linebackers that spring to mind, and he’s a ball-hawk who is probably the best strong safety in the league in coverage.

That’s what the Chiefs were missing last season, and while Justin Houston is the team’s best defensive player and deserves to make the big bucks, Berry is very close to him in importance to the Chiefs. When he’s on the field, it just seems like everything else seems to fall into place, and having an all-action safety like Berry who can cover at a high level takes so much pressure off of the cornerbacks and inside linebackers. His return combined with Johnson’s and DeVito’s guarantee a massive run defense turn-around for a team that surrendered a shocking 4.7 yards per carry last year.

Poe won’t be replaced on the field for the games he’ll miss in 2015, simply because it isn’t possible to find another 6’3″, 346-pound nose tackle who is capable of recording six sacks in a season and staying on the field for every single play. The former Memphis star is a freak of nature in every sense, and there’s just nobody like him in this league.

But while Poe will be missed, the Chiefs can easily overcome his absence at the beginning of the season. It may seem like I’m diminishing Poe’s impact as a player, but this really speaks more about my respect for the rest of the Chiefs defense. Jaye Howard, whom Reid tabbed as Poe’s replacement, played pretty well last year, and a front three of DeVito, Howard, and the under-appreciated (well, not in Kansas City) Allen Bailey still looks quite solid, particularly against the run.

Of course, the pass rush will suffer, but Houston, Tamba Hali, Dee Ford, and even Berry and Johnson will be there to pick up the slack- and then some. And once Poe is back, he should be even better than he was in 2014, simply because the rest of the Chiefs defense will be better.

Aug 7, 2014; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Phillip Gaines (23) on the line of scrimmage during the second of the game against the Cincinnati Bengals half at Arrowhead Stadium. The Chiefs won 41 – 39. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

There are plenty of big-named veterans on the Kansas City Chiefs defense, but what makes this defense so scary going into the 2015 season is the youth. We all know just how good the likes of Berry, Hali, and Houston are, so it will be truly exciting to see how the younger guys step up.

Ford is a former first-round pick and is worth watching closely as a backup outside linebacker, but my eyes will be glued to the cornerbacks. Marcus Peters has shutdown potential, Steven Nelson is a good enough prospect to command rookie playing time (we all saw what he did to Houston Texans possible No. 2 WR Jaelen Strong), Sanders Commings has intriguing tools with great athleticism and size, Jamell Flemings was one of the team’s most pleasant surprises of the 2014 season, and Phillip Gaines is an easy second-year sleeper to root for.

Sean Smith is clearly a top-ten cornerback in this league after he consistently dominated last season after previously being a flash-in-the-pan CB during his time with the Miami Dolphins. He will be missed, but it’s better to miss him at the beginning of the season than it is to lose him later on. His absence will give more playing time to the younger CBs, and chances are that at least one of them will emerge; there’s plenty of talent back there.

Speaking of “talent back there”, I haven’t even gotten to the safeties. Berry is an elite player at the position, and Husain Abdullah also cracked my top 30 list on the strength of his underrated and versatile work in coverage.

Meanwhile, former Oakland Raiders strong safety Tyvon Branch is arguably the NFL’s best third safety, and he and Ron Parker, who can play CB as needed, give the Chiefs the league’s deepest safety group. If he didn’t suffer major injuries in each of the past two seasons, Branch would have cracked the top 30 safeties as a hard-hitting playmaker who can cover the heck out of tight ends.

Dec 7, 2014; Glendale, AZ, USA; Kansas City Chiefs safety Husain Abdullah (39) against the Arizona Cardinals at University of Phoenix Stadium. The Cardinals defeated the Chiefs 17-14. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

You can go through the entire Chiefs defense as many times as you’d like, and it becomes increasingly clear that they are a special unit. And with Jeremy Maclin joining forces with 2014 Chiefs stars Jamaal Charles and Travis Kelce on offense, it’s clear that the Chiefs are playoff-material again.

Berry’s return isn’t the only reason to be bullish on the Chiefs defense, because they made plenty of offseason improvements at corner and have the depth to overcome the brief losses of Smith and Poe. In the end, they’ll be stronger. I mean, the Chiefs allowed the second-least points per game last season despite a myriad of injuries/absences, a woeful lack of interceptions (just six), and poor run defense.

That will all change in 2015 with more young talent in the secondary, Berry back, and DeVito and Johnson back to help support the Chiefs run defense. And what made the Chiefs so great last year (elite pass rush, shutdown corner) will still be there, even if they’ll miss two key players at the beginning of the race to the postseason. They have a fair shot at being the NFL’s best defense in 2015, even if the Seahawks and Denver Broncos will have something to say about that.

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