Charles Omenihu will raise ceiling of KC Chiefs pass rush

Defensive lineman Charles Omenihu raises the ceiling for the Kansas City Chiefs pass rush.

The Kansas City Chiefs made a big addition to their pass rush late Tuesday night when they signed San Francisco 49ers defensive lineman Charles Omenihu to a 2-year, $20 million deal. The deal is essentially for $16 million with the rest of the aforementioned $20 million being in incentives for Omenihu.

Coming over from San Francisco, Omenihu possesses a lot of exciting physical traits that will now be at the disposal of defensive line coach Joe Cullen. His size is also indicative of yet another prototypical Steve Spagnuolo defensive end as Omenihu stands at 6’5″, 280 lbs, and is mainly a power rusher.

Looking purely at the stats, Omenihu doesn’t really impress anyone. He racked up just 20 combined tackles and 4.5 sacks last year with San Francisco and he totals just 11.5 sacks over his first five seasons.

However, you have to be willing to actually look under the hood when it comes to Omenihu. His pass rush win rate was among the best in the NFL last season and that is a more telling fact about Omenihu than just his sacks. In the end, pressures are king, and Omenihu has been one of the best in the league at generating pressure recently thanks to his quick get-off at the line of scrimmage.

Another positive to the Omenihu signing is that he is as versatile as they come. He’s lined up plenty both on the interior and outside and we know how much Spagnuolo loves to move his guys around the line and exploit matchups. On some plays, you’ll find Omenihu lined up opposite Karlaftis, and you can expect the Chiefs to put him inside next to Chris Jones on obvious passing downs.

To put Omenihu’s productivity into perspective, Frank Clark had 39 combined tackles, 5.0 sacks, 8 TFL, and 13 QB hits last year for Kansas City. Omenihu had 20 combined tackles, 4.5 sacks, 3 TFL, and 16 QB hits. When you factor in pressures, Omenihu had more as well as more quarterback hurries. So, you’re getting a good deal as Omenihu can come in and replace Clark’s production for a much lesser cap hit than Clark.

To top it off, Omenihu is still just 25 and coming off arguably his best season in the NFL. there’s still a lot of upside and potential as Omenihu will now get to play next to one of the best interior defenders in the league in Chris Jones and a pretty good edge in George Karlaftis. Omenihu ultimately raises the ceiling of the Chiefs’ pass rush.