KC Chiefs: Questions need to be asked about Dorian O’Daniel

For the longest time, K.C. Chiefs fans have asked, “How can Dorian O’Daniel not get on the field over Ben Niemann?” It’s a fair question.

O’Daniel’s lack of playing time in the past was easily explained as “He doesn’t know the playbook”. To me, that excuse has worn out. And if that really is the reasoning, then it simply doesn’t make sense because it seems as if none of the defensive players really know the playbook all that well. Most of the players on this team struggle to line up prior to the snap on defense and there’s constant miscommunication.

I know it seems like every year there’s at least one of these pieces questioning the lack of snaps for O’Daniel, but something feels different this time around. Fans are actually starting to press Steve Spagnuolo and the coaches about playing certain guys and rightfully so.

It took six weeks into the season for the coaches to figure out Juan Thornhill should be the starting deep safety over Dan Sorensen. Everyone in the world can see Sorenson is unplayable except for the people paid millions to make those decisions. We’ve also seen Chris Jones play a lot of snaps at defensive end up to this point even though it was obvious weeks ago that the experiment had failed.

Dorian O’Daniel deserves more opportunities for the Chiefs.

With that being said, why should the simple explanation of “the coaches know better” satisfy anyone? Do they know better? Do you feel that Ben Niemann has truly earned the snaps he’s playing?

O’Daniel has really fallen out of favor in Steve Spagnuolo’s system ever since he first took the job, but any time the Chiefs have been thin at linebacker or had to play O’Daniel out of necessity, he’s gotten a handful of snaps here and there. Sure enough, he’s flashed just about every time he’s put on the field.

Go back to Week 1 of 2020 against the Texans and O’Daniel had a sack on Deshaun Watson in limited snaps and then was never to be seen again. O’Daniel even played as recently as Week 4 against the Philadelphia Eagles when Niemann went into concussion protocol and showed really good discipline playing quarterback spy on Jalen Hurts.

Why is it O’Daniel can never sustain any playing time, though? I feel it is just stubbornness from the coaching staff.

I’ve watched Niemannget beat in coverage all season long and struggle to shed blocks—so much to the point I questioned why there was no willingness to try something new. The last straw for me was this past Monday against the New York Giants when tight end Kyle Rudolph abused Niemann in man coverage which resulted in a touchdown. Following the game, snap counts showed that Niemann played 74 percent of the defensive snaps. More than any other linebacker. Why? Just, why?

There’s absolutely no way O’Daniel is worse and that’s just where I’m at. I understand the coaches see the players at practice every day and it’s easy for fans to clamor for the next guy when one isn’t getting it done,. However, for whatever reason, Niemann isn’t getting the job done in games and regardless of what goes on in practice, the Chiefs can’t keep rolling out the same thing.

O’Daniel is probably the most athletic linebacker on the Chiefs roster besides Willie Gay who is a freak of nature. We saw him flash under Bob Sutton in 2018 and close hard on tackles. He has the speed to cover running backs out of the backfield and he kind of has the build of a hybrid linebacker/safety, which is more ideal for covering tight ends—something asked of Niemann which doesn’t work.

So, why not try out O’Daniel at WILL linebacker and just see what you can get? It’s not like it can get any worse than what you have in Niemann. If it fails, fine, but at least you’re dying with your best athlete on the field.

There needs to be more questioning of the coaching staff about what is keeping O’Daniel off the field. We have a right to hear an explanation. Because the current one isn’t cutting it when you look at the play of other linebackers on roster this season.