KC Chiefs: Emmanuel Ogbah trade could shore up defensive needs

The K.C. Chiefs got a much needed win against the Washington Football Team this past Sunday after a rocky start to the season. However, the Chiefs’ performance still left a lot to be desired, despite the crucial victory, and many of the same concerns coming into this game remained concerns thereafter.

One of the biggest issues hindering the Chiefs and their disappointing defense to date is the complete lack of pass rush. The Chiefs rank dead last in the league in sacks through six weeks and have failed to get production out of their high-end talent along the defensive line.

What’s most disappointing is that the Chiefs have a quarter of their cap space invested in the defensive line and it may be their weakest position on roster. From Jarran Reed being a disappointment to the Chris Jones experiment at defensive end being nothing short of a failure, there haven’t been many bright spots along the front four for Kansas City.

Steve Spagnuolo’s defense is mostly predicated on the front four getting pressure. For the defense to work properly, they have to apply pressure so there isn’t as much responsibility given to the linebackers and secondary to cover for more than five seconds. Otherwise It’s just not feasible.

The KC Chiefs should target a familiar face in defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah.

All of that being said, one would have to wonder if a potential move could be on the horizon. Maybe even for a familiar face in pass rusher Emmanuel Ogbah.

With an abysmal 1-5 start to the season, the Miami Dolphins have been a massive disappointment after securing an impressive 10-6 record in 2020, and they could find themselves being a potential seller at the NFL trade deadline if they don’t get things together.

Conveniently, former Kansas City Chiefs defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah, who was a key contributor on the 2019 Super Bowl squad with 5 sacks through 10 games, is in a contract year with the Dolphins after originally signing a two-year $15 million deal in the 2020 offseason. If Miami isn’t going to compete and neither side is thinking long term, the Chiefs should make a phone call immediately to try to acquire Ogbah.

It should be noted that the Chiefs should’ve never let Ogbah walk in free agency to begin with, but he is the type of presence on the edge that the Chiefs are sorely lacking right now.

Frank Clark looks like he knows this is his last year in Kansas City and Mike Danna is a fine young player who has pleasantly surprised this year, but he’s ideally your third or fourth pass-rusher on a really good team.

Ogbah had 9 sacks in 2020 to go along with 25 solo tackles, 21 quarterback hits, 6 tackles for loss, 5 pass deflections, and 3 forced fumbles. He was arguably a top 10 defensive end. If you could add that to this Chiefs team, it could fix half their defensive issues. He is the big and lanky type of defensive end that D.C. Steve Spagnuolo likes to have, but he also has underrated speed-rush ability and can close very fast on quarterbacks after turning the corner. Ogbah’s run defense is an added bonus.

Ogbah’s skillset would allow the Chiefs to move Chris Jones back inside full-time and then you’d really be cooking with a starting unit that potentially features Ogbah, Jones, Reed, and a rotation of Mike Danna and Frank Clark on the other end.

Unfortunately, there would be one hurdle in trying to make this move happen and that would be cap space. The Chiefs only have $2.8 million in cap space right now (per Spotrac) and Ogbah’s base salary for 2021 is $7.5 million. The Chiefs would likely have to send a contract back in the deal or maybe even cut somebody to make it happen, but if they’re serious about improving the pass rush and making a Super Bowl run, they can find a way to make it work.