One offseason move by the Kansas City Chiefs has largely gone unnoticed, but at least one national analyst is beginning to pay attention.
NBC Sports’ Chris Simms joined Michael Holley on Monday’s guest edition of Football Morning in America (FMIA) while columnist Peter King is on vacation. During their conversation, Holley asked Simms to name a league trend that he expected would be something that everyone will be talking about over the next couple of years.
Simms spoke about how NFL defenses will be adjusting to handle quarterback runs, speed sweeps and the play-action passing game. He evoked what the Chiefs have done this offseason, specifically the free-agent signing of former Seattle Seahawks DT Jarran Reed, as a sign of how he expects NFL defenses to adjust.
“All right, here’s the issue with defenses in the league: Between quarterback runs and play-action passes, they’re getting shredded. You’ve even had teams that can’t run the ball have a lot of success with play-action passes. To combat it, some defenses have brought an extra guy in the box and gone with smaller linebackers who can run. But I think it’s going to go the other way now. You’re going to see more big people up front—300-plus pounders—to stop the run. It will be as if teams will say, ‘Prove to us that you can run against our front four before we bring down an extra guy.’ Tampa did it last year. Look at what the Chiefs are doing now. They got Jaran Reed this offseason and they’re going to play him and [Derrick] Nnadi at defensive tackle. Both of them are 325, 330ish. And Chris Jones at 315 is going to play defensive end. This is why Baltimore and Pittsburgh are always good. Same approach. And those bigs up front will allow flexibility in the back seven to stop whatever it is the defense has to stop. Quarterback runs. Speed sweeps. Play-action passes. It’s going to allow more versatility in defensive game plans. Big teams will have more versatility and the small, fast defenses won’t have the same luxury.
So the signing of Reed doesn’t just allow the Chiefs to play Chris Jones on the edge more frequently, but it’ll entirely change the complexion of the defense. Remember, stopping the run is an area where Kansas City has struggled, even during their Super Bowl-winning season. If this strategy works, you might see fewer “small” sub-packages from the Chiefs with an extra linebacker or defensive back in the box. Instead, it’ll allow them more flexibility to do different things in the secondary, an area where defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo has been known to be creative.
This also signals a paradigm shift in NFL thinking on the defensive side of the ball. Recently teams have opted for that extra defender in the box who can match the athleticism of tight ends, running backs and so on. Simms feels that the defenses who rely too heavily on those types of players will be left at a disadvantage when it comes to defending the quarterback run and the play-action passing game. As a result, we’ll see more teams going big upfront to allow themselves the most play-to-play flexibility on the defensive side of the ball.
“The game is about being game-plan specific now,” Simms said. “The days of saying, ‘We do what we do’ are over. Unless you have that once-every-few-years defense that is stacked.”
It sure is an interesting thought from Simms. The Chiefs haven’t necessarily been at the precipice of defensive innovation over the past several years, at least in the way that they have on offense, so this would be a welcomed change. We’ll see how much the Chiefs utilize that “big” defensive front with Reed, Nnadi and Jones during the upcoming 2021 NFL season. We’ll also see if this actually becomes a trend throughout the rest of the league.
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