A complete guide to fixing the Kansas City Chiefs run defense
Defensive line
I explained at the beginning my thoughts about the Chiefs always coming out with just two down linemen for most snaps. That is definitely an issue in my book and we need to see some more three down linemen going forward. Another issue is most of the defensive line has been inconsistent this season.
One of the biggest questions that I get regarding the run defense is, “Well is Bennie Logan just not as good as we thought?”. Actually, defensive tackle Bennie Logan is one of the two consistent players that are good against the run, the other being Justin Houston. Logan has been a huge addition and contributor to this defensive line. Big improvement over defensive tackle Dontari Poe from a year ago.
Logan does draw a lot of double teams but you will still see him making a play even taking on two blockers. Especially when you have only one other down lineman, he’s going to get a considerable amount of attention. I think that Logan has probably been the most consistent player on the Chiefs defense this year.
Defensive end Chris Jones, after coming off a great rookie season, has had some flashes but nothing consistent. We have seen games like that of the Eagles where he had three sacks, two forced fumbles, and an interception. Then you will go games without hearing about him at all. The same kind of goes for Defensive End Allen Bailey. While he has some big games, there are games where you don’t see him much at all.
Like I mentioned earlier about the scheme where when the Chiefs come out in two down linemen set, it’s usually Jones and Bailey that are on the field. While they are both good defensive ends, they don’t handle the double teams nearly as well as Logan.
The Chiefs also like to rotate out their defensive line pretty often. Let’s look at this last game against Denver to show you what I’m talking about.
Bennie Logan – 39 snaps (53%)
Allen Bailey – 55 snaps (75%)
Chris Jones – 36 snaps (49%)
Rakeem Nunez-Roches – 20 snaps (27%)
Jarvis Jenkins – 20 snaps (27%)
While it’s nice to be able to always have fresh bodies on the field and to help prevent injuries, you often don’t have your top guys out there. Logan is on the field for only 53% of the snaps against a team that way running all over us is a mistake. Not to mention the Chiefs brought in defensive tackle Roy Miller to help with the run but he hasn’t been active the last couple of games.
Hopefully, the Chiefs can find a way to fix some of these things and at least slow down the run. I don’t expect them to be one of the top run defenses in the league but what we have seen so far is not acceptable. Something has to change.