How much does fixing the front seven fix the secondary?
 

Thinking to our off-season plans and the draft this is the question I keep asking myself.

The conventional wisdom I've seen with most of our off-season moves + mock drafts has been to address the secondary.

My gut tells me if we solve the riddle of the run game and find a true ILB that isn't Ragland that our pass defense will improve by virtue of not being put into so many tough down/distance situations where they are having to do guesswork at the snap.

I think what I learned this year is figure out how to get the ball in Mahomes hands as much as possible. If that means we overcorrect and throw all our resources into fixing the run game, then so be it.

I'll take my chances with Pat winning a game where he gets to touch the ball on a dozen possessions v. the games where teams bleed us for 7 minutes a drive and he gets to touch the ball on 5 drives.

The secondary just needs talent, they're so grabby because they aren't skilled.

Outside of like Fuller that secondary is a pile of complete meh.

We’ll be fine

New scheme/better players is the only thing thatll fix the secondary. We led the league in sacks and the secondary couldn't cover a guy for more than a sec. The front 7 isnt the problem with our passing D.

Exactly.

this particular secondary had no idea what their responsibilities were half of the time.

Either they're all developmentally challenged, or the coaching did a shit job of preparing them.

It's a fair question but spagnuolos history tells you his priority will be fixing the secondary by fixing the secondary. It will be his #1 priority. So the question might be... How much does our new emphasis on the secondary help our front 7?

This. The defense was so fubar'd this year it's hard to tell what was coaching and what was player. The sacks are easily explained because the other team was behind almost always and all the DL did was line up and rush. They didn't pay attention to the run.

When the defense can't get off the field multiple times on 3rd & 10, I stop worrying about our run defense.

Then when they line up in an obvious passing down & we can't stop the run for less than 10, that's coaching. Gotta be able to find the tells.

I like Ward, actually.

Would've liked to see a full season out of Watts as well. Think they have decent players in Ward and Watts.

John Dorsey and Brett Veach both collectively refused to use high draft picks on the secondary outside of Peters and Russell. It's no surprise that our secondary was complete shit.

Watts will be a good role player. Another year of experience for Ward will help, especially since he seemed to make some pretty big strides from the SEA game to the AFCCG. They’ll definitely need to add another player though. Nasir Adderley in the first round and a second round CB would make huge strides. Fuller will be great. It was his first year on the outside and he was playing for a reeruned DC. There were so many communication breakdowns bc Sutton’s scheme is complicated. Fixing the blown coverages due to communication issues alone will help a ton.

The chiefs also LOVE small school players which can sometimes be frustrating. But if that continues then I’d imagine they’ll look at Donnie Lewis Jr in the draft. Especially if they want to spend their first rounder on another safety.

Actually, our secondary doesn't really need as much help as some think........ provided that our young guys continue to develop as planned. Watts, Lucas, Ward, and Smith need to step up and fill those positions. Fuller is good, Nelson is likely gone. Pick up a solid corner and safety either in FA or the draft, and that should do it. If Berry somehow returns to form, even better.