Kevin Pierre-Louis will need significant time to learn playbook

Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid admitted that new linebacker Kevin Pierre-Louis will need quite a bit of time to learn the playbook.

Last week, the Kansas City Chiefs pulled off a surprising swap of linebackers with the Seattle Seahawks, sending D.J. Alexander for Kevin Pierre-Louis. The move was a shock considering that Alexander was name a Pro Bowl alternate last year for his excellence on special teams and Pierre-Louis was largely unknown. Yet it’s clear the Chiefs have high hopes for Pierre-Louis, even giving him first team reps with the base defense at inside linebacker in practice on Sunday.

However, if you’re curious how he’s handling things so far, you might have to wait a few weeks to really get a good sense of his ability in the Chiefs defensive scheme. For now, head coach Andy Reid compared his learning the playbook to “learning French overnight,” stating just how hard it is for a young player to come preloaded with another playbook and its own terminology to something completely different. From camp on Sunday, Reid addressed KPL’s arrival:

"More from Arrowhead AddictFormer Chiefs cornerback in legal trouble in Las VegasChiefs Kingdom: Get ready to break contract newsChiefs news: Travis Kelce wants to host fan ‘chug-off’ in GermanyPodcast: Breaking down the Chiefs biggest roster battlesKC Chiefs send Dave Merritt to NFL coaching accelerator“He did some good things. He is learning. He’s learning French overnight here. The terminology is not the same from where he has been. It’s really from scratch. Sometimes you will get that player that will run the same terminology, but that is not the case here. He is working through it. He is spending a lot of extra time learning the defense. He will get it. It won’t happen overnight, but he will get it here.”"

Pierre-Louis has appeared in 34 games over the last three seasons for the Seahawks since being selected in the fourth round of the 2014 NFL Draft. He’s only started a single game, with 16 total tackles and 1 fumble recovery to his name. His blistering Combine entering the NFL likely kept his name fresh on the minds of Chiefs scouts and new GM Brett Veach, who took a flyer on the quick linebacker in hopes of unlocking something special.

Pierre-Louis will turn 26-years-old in October.