Chiefs All-Decade Team - Inside Linebackers
 

With the end of the decade, it's time for us to select our all-decade team for the 2010s. Credit to Direckshun for the idea; I'm just implementing it.

Here are the rules:

1. I'll put up lists of position groups one at a time.

2. Each list will contain guys who had at least one notable stat line in their career. I'll generally put them in descending order of some key stat.

3. The stats will contain ONLY their body of work between 2010 and 2019 for the Chiefs. No pre-2010 stats and no stats for other teams.

4. The number of roster spots will be the same as the number of roster spots on the 2019 Super Bowl roster for the Chiefs.

5. You can use whatever criteria you want to select the team. It can be total stats for the decade, it can be dominance in a shorter period, it can be playmakers who didn't screw up badly, whatever. It's your call. Feel free to use any criteria not listed in your decision. For example, if you know that Terrance Copper was an amazing blocker, you can build that into your decision.

6. In a subsequent poll we will determine which players are the starters on the all-decade team. In the first round, you're just going to fill the 53-man roster.

Our next position group is inside linebackers. FOUR inside linebackers will make the all-decade team. So pick FOUR inside linebackers.

No one in b4 poll.

I'm going to be interested in seeing how Jovan Belcher fares in this poll. He had the second-most starts at ILB in the decade, but he also ... you know.

DJ, Ragland, Hitchens, Lee

Basically, DJ and the guys who won the SB.

Good lord what a depressing list.

Mark Simoneau?!?!

Holy shit.

Wasn't a 3-down player?

Was inconsistent at sticking blockers and making plays in the run game in spite of that being his primary job?

Murdered Cassandra Perkins and then killed himself in front of his head coach, leaving his daughter without any biological parents and scarring Romeo Crennel for the rest of his life?

What? What are you talking about? Finish your sentence.

1. Derrick Johnson
2. No one else

What a garbage group, (outside of DJ). LMAO

This is a really tough one to pick. Obviously, DJ is on the list, but after that I'm not so sure. My other three are:

Hitchens - I think he's come on and shown value, and he's held the job at a top-four pace in terms of starting.

Josh Mauga - He was the quarterback of the defense during his era. He wasn't an all-star, but he earned his job and held it for a while.

DJ Alexander - He made a pro bowl as a special teams demon, and in the very limited game action he got, he did well. I still remember that he made one of the best run stuffs of the decade during some meaningless game.

But man, this is hard. The other contenders are:

Jovan Belcher - I try to keep the off-field stuff out of the equation, but in this case it rises above my threshold enough that I can't discount it. The all-decade team needs to be a group that passes basic public relations muster. On the field, he's an obvious all-decade guy, but I couldn't vote for him.

Reggie Ragland - He certainly made some plays this year, but the truth is that he's a one-down linebacker. That's fine and valuable, but not all-decade material.

Ben Niemann - He has thrived for an undrafted guy, but like Ragland, he's a one-down player.

Cory Greenwood - This guy is one of the best special teams linebackers we've ever had. I strongly considered him, but I think Alexander takes his spot in this regard.

I voted for Belcher idgaf. His play on the field was better than most of this trash list, and would we have even fired fat Scott without him?

If DJ's hands weren't made of stone he'd probably have 20+ INT's too. I wonder if they keep stats on dropped INT's?

Same thing goes for honey badger

It's one of those three.

DJ
Hitchens
Ragland
DJ Alexander (great special teams player)

For a franchise who's been as good as we have for the last seven seasons, we've really had some shit talent run through here.

Outside of DJ this list is a bunch of two-down backers and special teamers who started out of necessity.

I really thought Ukeme Eligwe would be good. And I disregarded Jovan Belcher's....early retirement and just looked at stats. I didn't know he had that many tackles.

People were complaining about the other position groups but I thought those lists were decent. This list is trash. By far the worst position group we've had so far.

I seem to remember a lot of hype surrounding nico johnson (not on CP, but by chief fans). Never showed a bit of that on the field.

I knew the Chiefs had been weak at ILB, but goddamn this list is shit Rain Man.

Don't blame me. Blame Pioli. It's his fault.

Derrick Johnson was the primary ILB in a our 3-4 defenses for 8 seasons, guys. We kind of nibbled around the edges occasionally trying to find somebody who might be cheaper and younger when he started to exit his prime, and they got plenty of opportunities as injuries started to rack up on DJ towards the end, but the truth is we never invested in the 2nd ILB spot at all. Two 3rd round picks in Nico Johnson and Ramik Wilson, sure, but neither of them were intended to be "thumper" guys like Belcher was in Romeo's 2-gap. We kept them around based on how well they could play DJ's spot, and given they were 3rd round picks, more than likely they weren't going to become reasonable dependable replacements.

And why should we have tried to solve the problem any differently? We were in nickel and dime situations under Sutton more than half the time... hell, probably more than 2/3rds of the time. Derrick Johnson was playing great and even came back strong from an achilles tear in 2014.

Yeah, the list is crap, but we're all acting surprised and dismayed for some reason. The franchise's all-time leader in tackles was in his prime during most of this decade. Kind of hard to find other players when a guy is entrenched at that alpha position for so long and the other ILB spot is basically a 1-down situational position.

DJ had a flair for making big plays

Belcher. Stone cold killer

Ragland. Solid

DJ
Hitch
Ragland
Niemann

So many of these polls have been shocking reminders of just how bad we were for sooo long... maybe one or two guys then it’s a bloodbath

Damn, we need to draft a 1st rd ILB

LJ is the only one

How is DJ not 100%?

I'm assuming that we have a few voters who fat-finger the buttons on each poll, given that Mahomes wasn't 100 percent.

The obvious three and Joe Mays just because I like him.

Yeah, that’s good enough logic for me.

People are voting for Jovan Belcher.

People are voting.

For Jovan Belcher.

Jovan Belcher.

What a horrible list.

Could you imagine the excitement if Veach were to find us a gem at LB like DJ was?

This defense would be filthy.

Whoever didn't vote for DJ should be perma-banned no questions asked, no recourse.

You make the most random out of place comments. Wtf is wrong with you. What's your learning disability?

I'm the camp that Hitchens is better than people think. Is he 100% worth his contract? No. But he's maybe 80% worth it. We really sucked when he was out. So score it as like a straight B for Veech imo. (or Dorsey I guess - too lazy to look it up)

Outside of DJ it's crazy how incredibly terrible our ILBs have been. That's something we really need to invest in and I think getting some badass linebacker would make this D insanely good.

Anyone voting for Jovan Belcher should be see the same fate.

Shut up

Yep. This whole exercise has provided even more proof that Amdy is a great coach, and rabblerouser is a moron.

I had a brain fart where I felt sorry for the guy, but I completely forgot he killed his baby mama.

You guys voting for Belcher, you should be ashamed. **** him and **** you.

Totally ****ing disgusting.
Should not have been an option in the poll, **** you for posting him as an option. The man was not even a ****ing human being. He murdered a defenseless woman in cold blood, then took the cowards way out in front of the team. Brought that shit to work, literally. Way worse day for me than the day of DT's memorial at arrowhead when I delivered one of many vans full of floral arrangements for #58. Why is Belcher an option. He might have played for us but he gave up being one of us the moment he pulled that trigger? **** you op.

Yeah I'd like to take my choice back if I could. For some reason I remembered the suicide but completely forgot about the murder until right after I clicked submit.

He had cte. Go **** your own selves.

Still very tragic and terrible and all that but his play when he was still in his mind earned him a spot

People are voting

For Jovan Belcher the PLAYER

THE PLAYER

Can I change my votes to all 4 for Belcher?

bring back eligwe

Yeah, **** people with mental illness and brain injuries that do awful shit! :rolleyes:

Hawt Take Central on full display in this post.....

This is a fair point, but we ran a 3-4 for a decent amount of the 2010s. We were trotting out two ILBs for more than half the decade. Of all those draft picks, FA trash heap guys and promoted special teamers you'd think someone would have stuck.

Why Lee instead of niemann? He had a bigger impact

Man, it's a rough start to my Monday when a floral delivery guy tells me to **** myself. Floral delivery guys typically only bring good tidings.

Next Decade: Kenneth Murray.

DJ, Ragland, Hitchens, and Niemann.

I never thought a linebacker would be able to make the decade list for a single hit on an opposing QB - but damn if Niemann didn't do just that. Jimmy G. looked like he was lifted off the face of the earth after that hit.

Hitchens also delivered a really under-rated hit on Jimmy when we were down 20-10. It was a similar situation was Niemann's. That hit is where I'd argue Jimmy started noticing our blitz and he never seemed fully centered after that moment. Shoutout to Spags for doing what we've always begged our defensive coordinators to do - instead of sitting back and hoping the 49ers would make a misstep, we sent 5-6 on almost every passing play. Once Jimmy took some hits, just seeing the rushes had a huge impact on him too.

Gave Niemann a vote solely for his hit on Garoppolo in the SB

I'm kind of hoping that Josh Mauga gets a couple more votes so the KC Star doesn't come down on us.

Love the indignation. Love it. Let the anger run through you in defense of a guy who murder-suicided and orphaned his daughter in the Arrowhead parking lot.

The mental illness is completely real but Christ. He murder-suicided and orphaned his daughter in the Arrowhead parking lot.

And he filled the gap. Don't forget that part.

It looks like Mauga versus Belcher will come down the wire for one of the ILB spots.

I'm going to go with DJ (duh!) and Hitchens with maybe a nod to Niemann. DJ was the 2nd greatest ILB the Chiefs have ever had only behind MR. Willie Lanier. Hitchens wasn't as good in the 3-4 as he was last season in the 4-3, but still better than most of the raggedy ass clowns we've had back there. Niemann takes a lot of heat, but he's young and will learn. He's not afraid to stick his head in there and knock the snot out of a RB.

I don't get why anyone is voting for Belcher. Even purely on the field, it's not like he was clearly better than the other options. He just played the most. And the defense wasn't particularly good the years he started either.

He was clearly better than reggie ragland is.

Why the hell do we need 4 of them??

This, I'd have gone with 2, maybe 3.

Yeah, I think going with the Top 3 should be the move here. There's just a vast difference between the top vote getters and the tie for 4th at the moment.

I just voted for DJ. That's a lot of dookie on that list.

Hey, HEY! Are you questioning Andy Reid, whose Super Bowl winning team featured four inside linebackers? Huh? Huh? Are you questioning Super Bowl winning coach Andy Reid?

(Honestly, I can't tell if Darron Lee is officially an ILB or an OLB, but I think he's technically an ILB.)

Okay, our all-decade ILBs are Derrick Johnson, Reggie Ragland, Anthony Hitchens, and ... um ... and ... Jovan Belcher.

At this point, and for no reason in particular, I wish to remind people that this tournament was Direckshun's idea. Please direct any comments to Direckshun.

Who the hell is that guy and what cross can we put him on!

By what measure? Traditional stats are inconclusive and they were both run stoppers on teams that sucked at stopping the run. I'm not a huge PFF guy, but for what it's worth, Ragland's season grades (77.6, 54.3, 67.7) are better than Belcher's (60.1, 59.4, 63.1).

I don’t know if we win the Super Bowl without Ragland. Our run d was complete shit before he started getting playing time on run downs

Just scrap the damn 4th guy. Direction is a loon anyway, so don't use his ideas.

Other than DJ that is just ugly

Well that proves my point. PFF is always wrong unless they agree with me.