Kansas City Chiefs sign linebacker Jeremiah Attaochu

The Kansas City Chiefs have signed veteran linebacker Jeremiah Attaochu to a one-year deal, who played for the New York Jets last season.

The Kansas City Chiefs have bolstered their linebacking corps with the signing of NFL veteran Jeremiah Attaochu on Monday, per Nate Taylor of The Athletic.

Attaochu is familiar to the Chiefs and their fans after years of playing in San Diego when he was a member of the Chargers. The Bolts were the team that drafted him into the league in the second round of the 2014 NFL Draft, and he played in SoCal from 2014 to 2017. He started 13 games and played in 38 during that span.

Attaochu latched on with the New York Jets for the 2018 season and played sparingly in 11 games. He had 9 total tackles, 2 sacks and 5 quarterback hits for the Jets. He has 12 sacks in his career, and he’s likely to vie for that sort of role in Kansas City as a rotational pass rusher.

The Chiefs are likely going to use him as a sub package end to come in on obvious passing downs and that’s where he received a majority of his snaps last year with the Jets. The Chiefs are switching to a 4-3 under look, and Attaochu profiles well as a SAM linebacker who can rush the passer from the line of scrimmage but drop back to cover a tight end if the particular play calls for such deception or developments.

Attaochu was a star pass rusher at Georgia Tech, where he set the school’s all-time record for sacks in his career with 31.5. Unfortunately, he’s been unable to replicate that success in the pros. The Chiefs will be the fourth team—along with the Chargers, Niners, and Jets—to try to unlock that potential.