John Dorsey: The Chiefs’ Man With A Plan

Oct 26, 2014; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Chiefs nose tackle Dontari Poe (92) congratulates defensive end Allen Bailey (97) after Bailey

Defensive Line

Then: Dontari Poe, Tyson Jackson, Glenn Dorsey, Ropati Pitoitua, Allen Bailey, Jerrell Powe, Shaun Smith, Anthony Toribio

Now: Dontari Poe, Allen Bailey, Mike DeVito, Jaye Howard, Nick Williams, Rakeem Nunez-Roches

This one is probably the hardest one for me to make a call on. You can make a pretty strong case that KC’s two best defensive lineman are Dontari Poe and Allen Bailey and they were both already on the roster when Dorsey arrived. Tyson Jackson and Glenn Dorsey were solid starters that were good against the run but provided little pass rush and never lived up to their top five pick draft slots. Dorsey was probably wise to let them move on to other teams.

I don’t know that Bailey and DeVito are any better than Jackson and Dorsey were, but I certainly don’t think they are worse. Bailey seems to be an ascending player and probably has more pass rush upside than Jackson or Dorsey ever did. Still I have a hard time saying that the defensive line is definitively better now. I like Jaye Howard as a starting caliber guy off the bench, but the 2012 team had solid depth as well with Pitoitua, Bailey, and Shaun Smith.

Maybe if KC had one more solid guy on the bench (cough..Catapano..cough) I’d give them the benefit of the doubt, but Williams and Nunez-Roches are just a little too raw for my liking. Maybe I’m just still “salty” about Mike Catapano getting cut, but I just can’t bring myself to say that Dorsey has improved the defensive line. Since I can’t say that they are any worse either I’m going to call this one a draw.

Next up, the linebackers….

Next: Linebackers