Kansas City Chiefs: Dorian O’Daniel could solve defensive problems

The Kansas City Chiefs lost Terrance Smith due to injury which forced Bob Sutton to deploy Dorian O’Daniel. It could be just in time for the Chiefs defense.

The Kansas City Chiefs have been the talking point around the country this season due to their explosive offense under first-year starting quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, and head coach, Andy Reid. They’ve also been part of a negative storyline around the nation given their defensive issues. Kansas City ranks last in the NFL in total yards per game given up and is on pace to set NFL records at this point.

While that is a rough stat to swallow, yards given up are not only anything new in defensive coordinator Bob Sutton’s defense, but yards are not the important stat. The Chiefs rank 22nd in the league in points per game allowed at 26. They’ve looked better over the last three games averaging 22.3. Those three games also include the two games the defense showed up against the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Cincinnati Bengals.

While the defense has given up more points than last season’s poor unit, how much of that is due to the shootouts Kansas City’s offense has continually forced? The Chiefs tend to jump out to an early lead in most of their games forcing the opposing teams into a shootout. It also turns into the defense playing more conservative in the second half to not allow the big plays. Forcing teams to make smaller plays keeping the clock moving.

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One of the biggest issues on the defensive side of the ball has been the inside linebackers in coverage. Kansas City brought in linebacker Anthony Hitchens from the Dallas Cowboys over the offseason to be a three-down linebacker next to Reggie Ragland. Coming into the season, we knew that Hitchens was more of a thumper style like Ragland and that while he was decent in zone coverages, he struggles with man coverage even in Dallas.

Both inside linebackers not only don’t have the speed to play in man coverage against these slot receivers, tight ends, and running backs coming out of the backfield, they also don’t seem to be fully healthy. Ragland and Hitchens missed significant time in training camp and the preseason due to injuries. Between those injuries and what seems to be Sutton’s scheme forcing them to hesitate, neither has looked good so far this season consistently.

Sutton has been substituting Ragland with linebacker Terrance Smith in obvious passing downs which hasn’t been much better. Smith has been typically a special teams contributor in previous years. Honestly, I think he should stay there. It doesn’t matter of course considering Terrance Smith has been sent to Injured Reserve due to a knee injury.

The injury happened during the bloodbath when Kansas City dominated the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday night. Following the injury of Smith, Dorian O’Daniel was finally able to receive more than just one or two snaps for the first time this season. The third round pick from the 2018 NFL Draft has been called for by all of Chiefs Kingdom and he’s finally getting a shot.

I’m not going to sit here and say that I’m the only one that’s been calling for Dorian O’Daniel. All of Kansas City has been calling for him to get playing time considering his abilities and strengths being exactly what the Chiefs have been lacking at the linebacker position. O’Daniel’s college tape showed off his great play recognition, speed, and closing ability. All of which Kansas City has been needing, but the organization has been unwilling to send out the rookie linebacker.

The first play from O’Daniel against the Bengals where he flashed was a run play towards the end of the third quarter following Patrick Mahomes‘ interception. Cincinnati chose to run the ball against the Chiefs dime coverage with O’Daniel being the only linebacker on the field. Unlike what we’ve seen all season from the Chiefs linebackers, O’Daniel had zero hesitation and quickly saw it was a run and closed on the running back.

Even in the run game, Hitchens and Ragland have been hesitant to attack. Whether that has to do with players thinking too much and slow to react or Sutton’s defensive scheme, it’s been rough to watch. Offensive linemen have been able to get to the second level all season to grab ahold of Kansas City’s linebackers. Former Chiefs linebacker Derrick Johnson was so dominant against the run because he would diagnose the play quickly and react before linemen could get ahold of him.

The very next play on second down the Bengals chose to hit another weakness which is throwing to the running back coming out of the backfield. Once again, O’Daniel made a big play leveling Joe Mixon in the backfield for a loss. Given his quickness to diagnose plays and speed to close on plays is a major trouble for offensive linemen.

His emergence might have come at a perfect time for the Chiefs defense. While Kansas City has been needing a player like O’Daniel the entire season and could have been used against the Patriots, he could help defeat the Los Angeles Rams next month. Getting some games under his belt before facing Todd Gurley, who is on pace to break records this season, could be huge for Kansas City.

It seemed that Sutton wanted to finally get O’Daniel some playing time already before Terrance Smith got hurt as he saw some playing time in the first quarter against Cincinnati. Smith’s injury likely gave him a much bigger snap count, but regardless, Chiefs fans should be excited about moving forward with O’Daniel whether it was forced or not.

Kansas City’s defense has been taken advantage of by running backs in both the running and passing game so far this season. A front seven that was supposed to be much improved this year has looked anything but that. Adding O’Daniel into the mix on a large snap-count total could be a major turn for the Chiefs defense to not be an elite defense, but a passable defense that won’t lose games for the offense.

The Chiefs are heading into the second half of the season where the schedule lightens up some. After arguably the hardest schedule to start the season, O’Daniel can get some playing time in games that the Chiefs should win by a large margin. Preparing him for the Rams over the next few weeks could be a blessing and help solve running backs bringing nightmares to Chiefs fans.