2016 Chiefs: A 1969 Hit

The Hawaii Five-O Defense

The combination of five back-end defensive Pro Bowlers, outside linebackers Justin Houston and Tamba Hali, inside linebacker Derrick Johnson, Safety Eric Berry and corner Marcus Peters, will keep this defense at the top of the hit parade in 2016.

Although some critics believe the loss of corner Sean Smith will be difficult, it can also be argued that the defense will be even better in 2016. Why? Not merely because the impact of the Chiefs top choice in the 2016 draft, DL Chris Jones, but because he should help make the defensive line even stronger as he gets more time in the rotation to help keep the others rested, but more because of the injection of three rookie cornerbacks.

Many will scoff at the idea that the addition of three rookie corners is an improvement over Sean Smith. It’s not just that. The Chiefs selected two corners last year as well in Marcus Peters and Steven Nelson so going into the season with five young corners is a great benefit, not necessarily a risk. Commenting on his pool of youthful defensive backs at the three-day mini-camp head coach Andy Reid said this past week,

"“I grew up with that whole Bill Walsh thing where he went in with the four rookies in the secondary and won a Super Bowl. I’ve seen it done the other way, so I’m not quite as worried. As long as they can play, I’m okay.”"

We may not know much about the exact abilities of these three new corners but the day they were drafted I was at first disappointed then I was hit with the idea that Andy Reid had something up his sleeve. One attribute I can appreciate about Mr. Reid is that he’s always been about adapting. He may have started out running his own version of the Bill Walsh West Coast offense but it looks very different than that now. Consequently, it doesn’t take much creativity as a fan of his to get clues as to what he’s going to do next from the moves he makes in the offseason.

Take John Dorsey’s comment about, “You can never have enough defensive backs” and mix that in a bowl with Andy Reid’s creativity and you get a defensive backfield that perhaps runs with… one less linebacker than usual or… Eric Berry up to fill for a linebacker while the rest of the backfield is all cover corners… or… whatever else Andy can dream up.

The realization that the Chiefs didn’t go out of their way to sign a “replacement” for Sean Smith now makes me much more comfortable moving forward.

Next: The offense is a boy named who?