Is a defensive 4-3 change coming to KC?

[arrwheader]

I saw this article from arrowhead addict. The guy had an interesting theory that KC might be thinking about switching to the 4-3 scheme based on some recent draft picks and other things. Thought it was worth discussing. What do you say experts? Any merit to what this guys saying?

Full article here:

https://arrowheadaddict.com/2018/10/...ges-andy-reid/

Does Brett Veach have a secret master plan to fix the defense?

Thomas Welte1 h ago
Has Brett Veach been planning on a long-term defensive overhaul for 2019 that includes a change at defensive coordinator?

Patrick Mahomes has taken the NFL by storm and made believers out of even his harshest critics, and the Kansas City Chiefs are widely considered to be Super Bowl contenders this season.

In the midst of the best start to a season a quarterback in a red and gold (and possibly any other color) uniform has ever had, there is a layer of anxiety from the Kansas City faithful. The offense is firing on all cylinders and has grabbed the attention of the media, but the defense leaves anyone who has followed the Chiefs with a gnawing sensation in their gut on game day.

The Kansas City Chiefs defense is bad. The Chiefs are currently last in the league in total defense. Even after a good showing against the Blake Bortles-led Jaguars, the Chiefs are still giving up nearly 20 yards more per game than the next worst defense, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

While many are drooling over Patrick Mahomes, there remains a great many of us who are sitting at home having flashbacks to 2003, or to the 2013 wild card playoff games against the Colts, or the infamous no punt game. There is no shortage of victories squandered away by subpar defensive units in Kansas City Chiefs history.

Is it possible though that general manager Brett Veach has a secret master plan to fix the maligned unit? Or is the young shot caller for the Chiefs in over his head? Let’s take a look.

I am an avid podcast listener and have to drive a lot for my work. This combination leaves me with plenty of time to dive into a collection of true crime stories and conspiracy theory breakdowns. It was on a particularly long drive back in May, just a few weeks after the NFL draft, that I began to ponder what on earth the Chiefs were doing to their defense. This is when I started to form my own conspiracy theory about the Chiefs and the plan they have for their defense.

The Chiefs traded Marcus Peters this offseason. That move has been discussed ad nauseum, but it is worth mentioning simply because it made (and still makes) very little sense. They brought in Anthony Hitchens who had spent the past year playing inside for Dallas in their 4-3 defense. Then the draft came.

The Chiefs selected Breeland Speaks and announced him as a linebacker, an edge defender. Breeland Speaks is 283 pounds and ran a 4.87, oversized for a linebacker and not possessing the speed you want when dropping a guy into coverage. Their next selection was Derrick Nnadi who was a run stuffing nose tackle, but a bit undersized for a traditional 0 tech nose. Next came Dorian O’Daniel, an undersized but athletic linebacker from Clemson.

What do all of these players have in common? None of them are limited to, or traditional fits, in a base 3-4 defense. I watched a lot of tape on Speaks after the Chiefs drafted him, and Ole Miss played him all over the field. In my opinion, Speaks looked like a prototypical base (left) defensive end in a 4-3. Derrick Nnadi is a natural 1 tech, lining up between the center and guard and defending the run. Dorian O’Daniel makes sense as a weak side linebacker.

So here it is, my thought out theory: Brett Veach is stocking the Chiefs with defenders to make the switch to a base 4-3 defense in 2019.

As of this writing, 7 of the top 10 defenses in the NFL run a 4-3 base defense. I will add that caveat that in today’s NFL the gap between defensive philosophies is narrowing, and no team plays out of only one formation.

That said, as the rules have changed to create a cushion around the quarterback and wide receivers the league defenses are moving away from heavy press man schemes that rely on jarring the quarterback with a pass rush. That is not to say that teams are straying away from pass rushers, but instead they are focusing on using athletic linebackers and safeties to create disequilibrium in the short to intermediate parts of the field, a defensive line to apply pressure, and corners who are aiming to not give up the big play.

This defensive evolution appears to be a marriage of concepts from the Tampa 2 defensive philosophy and the Seattle Seahawks Legion of Boom philosophy. Looking at the Philadelphia Eagles defensive lineup may help you visualize the concepts.

Andy Reid ran a 4-3 defense in Philadelphia, but inherited a 3-4 team in Kansas City. Reid brought in Bob Sutton who, despite the teams recent struggles, did an excellent job of coaching in his beginning years in Kansas City. Things have changed drastically since then and I firmly believe Sutton will retire this offseason. This opens the door for the Chiefs to make a change on defense since, as their defense sits right now, they are not married to any particular defensive philosophy. They have several players who could play in either scheme.

So who could the Chiefs bring in to coordinate a new defense? Let’s look at some options.

[kccrow]

I love a 4-3. I think the base fits better against the current NFL because you have 4 guys dedicated to the LOS and usually employ a WOLB that can cover well. You usually have quicker, penetrating defensive lineman and quicker OLBs as a whole. You're already ahead of the game when it comes to switching to a subpackage. Running a 3-4 means slower personnel and, in the case of the Chiefs, having two slow ILBs.

Houston at LDE and a rotation of Jones/Speaks and Nnadi/Williams on the interior looks good. The question, really, is if Kpass can be a true RDE. Ford is a bit too light in the pants and would really need to just be let go unless he were signed as a situational rusher but I think he'd be a bit expensive for that.

Linebacker becomes a huge problem. The Chiefs might have a WOLB in Niemann. I think you'd do okay with Hitchens at SOLB or MLB. You can't put Ragland (just slow) or Smith (just completely sucks) in this defense. Dorian O'Daniel, I think he remains a subpackage linebacker that maybe takes the place of Hitchens on passing downs. Who knows what he really is yet. You're probably re-tooling the linebackers. This team really needs two free safeties as it is, one to play single high and one to play $ situationally.

I support the transition because you really have the same # of holes as current. Only difference is whether or not Tanoh can replace Ford and be an every-down DE.

[dtrain]

Teams are attempting 47 passes per game on the Chiefs defense. That’s why their yards allowed numbers are so inflated. And since Week 3, after having to face Rivers/Big Ben on the road, the Chiefs defense is only allowing 21ppg. I don’t think they’re as bad as we assume.

[RaidersOftheCellar]

Originally Posted by dtrain

Teams are attempting 47 passes per game on the Chiefs defense. That’s why their yards allowed numbers are so inflated. And since Week 3, after having to face Rivers/Big Ben on the road, the Chiefs defense is only allowing 21ppg. I don’t think they’re as bad as we assume.

Yeah, not sure why people can't look past the yardage stat.

They've been fairly good when it mattered most. When a stop was needed and while building a lead. It's only human nature to lower the intensity level when up 3 or 4 scores.

I am really disappointed in the run D so far. All the talk was about how improved they'd be in that area. But it's hard to even evaluate it when no one's been running.

Get Berry and Houston healthy, maybe deal for one of the Arizona guys, and if Nnadi and Lucas continue to contribute, we'll have something there.

[BossChief]

I’d like to see the defensive stats in games to the point where the defense wasn’t in prevent and take the prevent stats out of the equation.

We have jumped to huge leads in most games and then the defense went into kill the clock mode and we gave up hundreds of garbage time yards in every game.

Are they a good defense? I’m not sure, but I’m not sold that our current defense is flat out terrible. We’ve played the best offenses in football and have given up the majority of the yards and points in total garbage time.