Wednesday morning the Kansas City Chiefs announced that they have extended the contract of defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo. That means that the NFL will have to face the two-time defending champions with their defensive coordinator, who holds the record for most Super Bowls won as a coordinator with four.
The team initially made the announcement on the platform formerly known as Twitter.
We have signed Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo to a contract extension. pic.twitter.com/3lRY3jszlL
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) February 14, 2024
Spags, as he is known in close circles, has served as the Chiefs defensive coordinator since 2019 and has won three Super Bowls in five years with the team. He also won a Super Bowl with the New York Giants to finish off the 2007 season when they defeated the New England Patriots in the big game to ruin their perfect season.
In 2023, the Chiefs finished second in the NFL in scoring defense and total defense. This marked the first time that the Chiefs finished in the top two categories in almost 20 years.
Spagnuolo and head coach Andy Reid go back together to their days in Philadelphia. Spags was an assistant to Reid for eight seasons before becoming the head coach of the then St. Louis Rams. After being dismissed by the Rams, the duo hooked up again in Kansas City and have won three Super Bowl titles.
In their destructive path to the Super Bowl, the Chiefs turned back three of the better offenses in football by defeating the Miami Dolphins, the Buffalo Bills and the Baltimore Ravens, the latter two on the road in hostile environments with bad weather. Then, the Chiefs held the 49ers to 19 points in regulation and only gave up two touchdowns to one of the most potent offenses in the NFC. Brock Purdy might have been Mr. Irrelevant two years ago, but he was an MVP candidate this season.
Los Angeles Rams executive Kevin Demoff, who has tremendous respect for Spagnuolo from his tenure with the Rams, said on Twitter that Spags deserves another chance to be a head coach. Tyreek Hill started the Tweet by asking rhetorically why he hasn't had any interviews yet.
It is well past time to see Spags get another head coaching opportunity.
— Kevin Demoff (@kdemoff) February 13, 2024
The team & organization he inherited in STL was a mess, nobody could have had success. Yet he changed the culture/staff & players believed. An amazing human deserving of the real shot we couldn’t give him https://t.co/d82dXjC3W4
Some coaches who are great coordinators and then become head coaches often fail. See the resumes of Josh McDaniels, Vic Fangio and Robert Saleh. Spags might get another deserved shot at the top job somewhere, sometime, but in the interim, he will go down as the most decorated defensive coordinator in NFL history.
The Chiefs are in the mix with early prognostications to compete for next year's championship and earn a never before seen three-peat. There will be considerations to be made with respect two of the leaders on defense, L'Jarius Sneed and Chris Jones as they are scheduled to be unrestricted free agents in the coming weeks.
Terms of Spagnuolo's contract were not made available immediately after the news broke.