Kansas City Chiefs are adjusting schemes to fit players’ talents
By Matt Conner
The Kansas City Chiefs are making it clear that they’re adjusting both offense and defense to their players’ specific abilities this offseason.
There are myriad ways to build a team in the National Football League, but it often begins by laying the vision down as a foundation and moving forward from there. A team will hire a head coach and general manager and together they will envision what sort of football team they would like to build.
Together the pair will come up with the style of offense they want to run, the type of defensive schemes will work best and the characteristics of desired players. Then over the course of time, the general manager will set out to acquire those players for his coaching staff in order for them to best utilize their talents.
However, unless you’re an expansion franchise, every new coach and GM must work with the team that’s already in place. Roster turnover is a significant part of a building (or rebuilding) process, and that takes time.
For teams like the Kansas City Chiefs, the foundation has been laid for some time even as they’ve installed a new(er) general manager in Brett Veach. Andy Reid and his staff know the types of players they want, and the team has been acquiring them for the last six offseasons. But it sounds like, more than ever, the Chiefs aren’t just bringing in players and forcing them to adapt. Instead the schemes are adapting to the players.
Take, for instance, some recent quotes from Sammy Watkins, the newest addition to the wide receiving corps. Watkins spoke highly of his brief experience with the Chiefs to reporters during offseason training activities, and he specifically highlighted the Chiefs willingness to allow him to create mismatches. He’s learning new positions and skills as they move him around, instead of leaving him at a single position and forcing him to produce from a single spot.
"“It’s fun for me because I’ve never been able to learn slot routes and stuff like that—not because I couldn’t, but I just didn’t have an offense that was available to move me around to different places,” he added. “It’s been fun and I can actually visualize the offense and where it’s going, and it’s going to be something else.”"
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For those paying close attention this offseason, that idea should sound familiar from the Chiefs given recent remarks by new outside linebackers coach Mike Smith. When discussing the defensive ideas heading into the season, Smith said that instead of leaving pass rusher Dee Ford and Justin Houston entrenched in their typical spots on the outside opposite the other, the goal was to analyze the opposing personnel and react accordingly.
"“If there’s a tackle that’s big and a little bit slower, Dee’s [Ford] got one of the best get-offs in the league. He’ll line up on him. If the tackle is a little bit smaller, Justin [Houston] will go tear him up a little bit. That’s kind of what we’ll do. We’ve got to get our best player on their worst offensive lineman, wherever that might be.”"
One school of thought would be to leave Ford and Houston in their respective positions and let them learn how to best their opponent over the course of the game. Reps will help them find the opposing tackles weaknesses, so to speak. However, in recent years, it’s been clear that maybe Houston in particular hasn’t been used to greatest effect. Now it sounds as if the Chiefs are intent on maximizing their investment.
If that sort of creative maneuvering is being emphasized on both sides, this could mean great things for the Chiefs moving forward. The team has an impressive number of highly skilled players, guys who stand out even among their peers at the NFL level. If the Chiefs are focused on leveraging these skills by creating greater mismatches than ever, the stats could pile up on both sides.