Until Bob Sutton is gone, there is no hope for this defense.

I would say it's quite likely that they manage an average defense next year, rather than 2 years from now.

Obviously that depends a little on a few x factors, like who (if anyone) replaces Bob.

Bailey finished 54th in the league in sacks with 6.0, which puts him tied for 37th among defensive lineman, 11th amongst 3-4 defensive lineman, and 10th amongst 3-4 defensive ends.
Bailey finished tied for 60th in the league in tackles for defensive lineman, which puts him 24th amongst 3-4 defensive lineman, and 18th amongst 3-4 defensive ends.
The league has roughly 116 starting defensive lineman with about 36 starting 3-4 defensive lineman and 24 starting 3-4 defensive ends.
He's at the end of the top 1/3rd in sacks and the end of the middle 1/3 in tackles. To me that puts him at or above average for starters in the league. A guy that can be middle of the pack as a starter in this league is not JAG.
I didn't see Bailey as a guy consistently rode like a horse. I saw linebackers that run away from the play.


Offer your rebuttal.

His primary responsibility is to 2 gap and the Patriots, along with plenty of other squads, have regularly ran right at him with good amount of success. 6 sacks doesn't erase that.

Look at the film.

I did watch the film. For starters, this isn't a pure 2-gap scheme and just about no 3-4 is anymore. It's a mixture of 1 and 2 gap responsibilities with the LBs taking on gap assignments along with the DL. When I watch the film I see, primarily, linebackers that can't flow to the ball downhill and can't shed blocks. To top it off, 2-gap responsibility doesn't mean occupy 2 blockers. I'm not saying you're insinuating that, but several around here do. Bailey won a lot of one-on-one's and forced a second blocker to account for him anyhow. Even if Bailey were tying up 2 blockers every play, it wouldn't rightly matter the way the LBs played this season. It was atrocious.

All that said, I'm right with you on allowing Bailey to walk this offseason. Where I don't agree is that the Chiefs should do it because he sucks. He isn't anywhere near the best 3-4 DE but he's far from the catastrophic liability he's made out to be around here. He's also a relatively durable player and a veteran leader on that front. I think KC needs to inject some youth and some lower pay grades wherever possible on defense and his vacating a spot is an easy place to do it.