Kansas City Chiefs 53-Man Roster Predictions 1.0
By Ben Nielsen
DEFENSIVE LINE
Interior: Dontari Poe, Kyle Love
End: Vance Walker, Allen Bailey, Mike DeVito, Mike Catapano
Cut: Jaye Howard, Jermelle Cudjo, Jairus Campbell
Practice Squad Candidate: Kona Schwenke
Last season the Chiefs base defense wasn’t 34 so much as it was a 2-3-6. Bob Sutton wisely decided to rush Tamba Hali and Justin Houston as often as possible which mean that if the Chiefs only wanted to send four rushers then they needed to take a defensive lineman off the field. Since Tyson Jackson hardly ever generated pressure it made sense for the Chiefs to do this.
Assuming the Chiefs favor the 2-3-6 formation again, the need for a lot of defensive lineman on the roster wouldn’t be very high. Six defensive line would give you a three deep depth chart if you’re mostly only playing two defensive linemen every play. Hence the reason why there are only six linemen on this list.
Between Walker, Bailey, and Catapano, the Chiefs should be able to generate more of a pass rush from the defensive line than they did a year ago. DeVito noticeably slimmed down to improve his pass rushing ability and Bailey bulked up to improve his run defense. If the Chiefs can get some consistent pressure from the line then it should help the secondary and pass defense tremendously.