With all of the attention on the offensive side of the Kansas City Chiefs' coaching changes, it's important to also stay in touch with possible alterations on the defense. That's because Joe Cullen has earned a couple of interviews already as teams zero in on options for defensive coordinator. A potential exit could force the Chiefs to shift some parts around.
Cullen has been the Chiefs' defensive line coach for four seasons after coming over from the Jacksonville Jaguars. This offseason, he's taken interviews with the Washington Commanders, to join Dan Quinn's team, and the Baltimore Ravens, to help build Jesse Minter's first coaching staff. Other teams might come calling, but it would behoove Andy Reid to consider who could take Cullen's spot, if necessary.
One man already very familiar with the position and fellow coaches is Terry Bradden, a veteran coach who served with the Chiefs from 2017 to 2024. As it turns out, his availability on the job market could line up with the Chiefs' needs.
A longtime defensive assistant coach for the Kansas City Chiefs is available once again—if Steve Spagnuolo needs him.
Bradden joined the Chiefs as a defensive assistant under Bob Sutton in '17 and was kept by incoming defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo in 2019. From there, he earned a promotion to assistant defensive line coach before moving to the college ranks in 2025. That's when the University of Nebraska hired him away to serve as Matt Rhule's defensive line coach.
Unfortunately for Bradden, Rhule let him go after a single season. showing him the door, along with his defensive coordinator John Butler, in order to hire Rob Aurich as his new DC from San Diego State. That makes Bradden a free agent coach in the meantime, and while hiring someone who was newly fired isn't all that exciting on the surface, he could be a good fit as a familiar face for a unit that could lose Cullen to a new team.
That said, the Chiefs aren't without options. Matt House and Brendan Daly are already in-house with experience as positional coaches, which would make it easy to insert Daly back along the defensive line while giving House a chance to focus on linebackers. It also might be good for the Chiefs to consider some new blood on the defensive side instead of recycling through former coaches.
For now, Cullen remains the defensive line coach, and perhaps that's where he'll stay. But Spagnuolo has several places to turn in the event he has to reconfigure his staff, whether with internal or external options.