Mock Draft: Ranking The Kansas City Chiefs Offseason Needs
By Ben Nielsen
Sep 7, 2014; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Chiefs inside linebacker Derrick Johnson (56) leaves the field on a cart against the Tennessee Titans in the first half at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports
ROUND TWO: Inside Linebacker
KC’s defense took a huge blow when Derrick Johnson ruptured his achilles tendon in the first week of the season. The combination of his injury with the injuries to Mike DeVito, Eric Berry, and Joe Mays dismantled the core of the Chiefs’ run defense, a unit that finished near the bottom of the league against the run.
Some of those pieces will be back in 2015, including Johnson, but after 2015 things get very dicy. Johnson is in the final year of his contract and his coming off the aforementioned injury. He’ll be 33 in November and history suggest his play will start to decline even if he comes back fully healthy in 2015.
After Johnson the Chiefs have nothing on the roster to replace him. Josh Mauga is a free agent and Mays may be released in the next few weeks. James-Michael Johnson has some skills against the pass but he’s not the kind of player the Chiefs want to hand the keys over to when Johnson’s days in KC are done.
Clogging the middle of the defense is going to be necessary if the Chiefs’ defense wants to jump from being ‘very good’ to elite. An elite defense is going to be critical if they are going to win a Super Bowl in the Alex Smith era. It’s the the blueprint Seattle used these last few seasons, the blueprint New England used at the beginning of the Tom Brady era, and the blueprint that has made Baltimore one of the most consistent teams in the AFC over the last decade.
If you follow the history of what Dorsey likes to do with his first round picks and you look at the needs of the Chiefs’ roster, selecting an inside linebacker may rank as one of the top two choices for the Chiefs once they’re on the clock. The need is clear not only for the short-term but the long-term as well.
Next: Round Three