Kevin Pierre-Louis was “too slight” to play with Seahawks
By Matt Conner
We recently asked Lee Vowell of 12thmanrising, our Seahawks blog, some questions about new LB Kevin Pierre-Louis.
The Kansas City Chiefs and Seattle Seahawks recently pulled off an interesting (and rare) swap of one player for another with no other assets or future considerations involved. Trading linebacker for linebacker, the Chiefs gave up D.J. Alexander, who was named to the Pro Bowl as an alternate last season for his special teams play, to Seattle for Kevin Pierre-Louis.
To get a better read on KPL and why the Seahawks were willing to trade their former fourth round pick (2014), we reached out to Lee Vowell. Lee is one of the experts writing at 12th Man Rising, our Seattle Seahawks blog on the FanSided network, and he told us more about Pierre-Louis’s history and what Chiefs fans can expect moving forward.
KPL came into the NFL after an incredible Combine performance. Did he display that sort of speed/athleticism on the field with the Seahawks or did it seem like he was more of a workout warrior?
Pierre-Louis has good speed and athleticism, but he is a bit too slight for what Seattle wants to do at linebacker. The other issue is that the Seahawks simply do not play many snaps with three linebackers. This limits the chances he gets, of course, and he does not have the ability to cover receivers as well as KJ Wright or Bobby Wagner. There’s simply no room for him in the starting lineup.
Pierre-Louis has been solid on special teams, though. Not great, but solid. He did have a costly penalty in last season’s playoff game against the Atlanta Falcons which negated a huge Devin Hester return. The Seahawks may have remembered that play in wanting to trade him.
If Pierre-Louis was still with the Seahawks today, what would be his role and expectations heading into 2017?
Heading into 2017, Pierre-Louis would have the same expectations as his last few seasons. Mainly, to play special teams well and get very few chances to play linebacker. His role would really never change in Seattle with the two excellent starters in front of him.
Was Pierre-Louis hurt by the depth in front of him, or did he just fail to step up in a way?
On nearly 70 percent of snaps the Seahawks play a base defense of 4-2-5. Mike Morgan played the SAM position for the majority of the rest of the 30 percent in 2016. Morgan was a better tackler than Pierre-Louis and more reliable to Pete Carroll. Morgan came from USC as did Carroll. Now neither Morgan or Pierre-Louis are Seahawks. Pierre-Louis just isn’t good enough to take the spots of Wagner and Wright.
The other issue is that Pierre-Louis is entering the final year of his contract. He may have priced himself out of Seattle. Alexander for Pierre-Louis seems like a straight up trade, but the Seahawks will control Alexander at no more than $775K for two more years. That was interesting to Seattle, obviously.
What should Chiefs fans expect moving ahead?
I don’t know if Chiefs fans will notice much difference on the field between Armstrong and Pierre-Louis. Both players are so similar. Kansas City may have been thinking in terms of dollars after 2017 and freeing up a spot in 2018.