Chiefs using early 2000s Eagles as a model for rebuilt secondary

[DenverChief]

Over the past week, the Chiefs have made franchise-altering decisions.

They released Justin Houston and Eric Berry, two of the team’s most veteran defensive playmakers. They also traded away their most productive edge rusher, Dee Ford. These moves left Chiefs Kingdom in a state of frustration because they couldn’t see Brett Veach’s vision. They didn’t have a look at a plan for the defense. It wasn’t until the announcement that former Texans safety Tyrann Mathieu would join the team that tension began to ease.

Just ahead of Mathieu’s introductory press conference Brett Veach took a moment to explain the process behind bringing in Mathieu.

“One of the things that was really interesting when we started this free agency process with Coach (Steve) Spagnuolo was I remember him coming down to the office after we gave him a list of safeties to watch,” Veach said. “He would go down the list and he would say strengths and weaknesses and, ‘I like this guy,’… ‘Here’s what he can do, here’s what he can’t do.’ He got to (Mathieu) and he said, ‘I’m struggling to find what he can’t do.’ I said, ‘Say no more, we’re going to get him.’”

There are few players in the NFL who have no weakness to their game, especially when it comes to defensive backs. It might seem like hyperbole, but I think the Chiefs truly believe it. In a conference call Veach went as far as to call Mathieu “the ultimate chess piece.”

Both Spagnuolo and Andy Reid had the luxury of coaching another safety who had a similar type of role and impact during their time with the Eagles — Hall of Famer Brian Dawkins.

The early 2000s Eagles defense was built around Dawkins and his ability to do a bit of everything. He was a ballhawk, a master of the hit stick and a weapon in the blitz game. Mathieu is expected to have the same type of impact on the Chiefs defense. Yahoo Sports’ Terez Paylor talked to Mathieu perhaps filling a similar role:

“It made the hair stand up on my back a little bit,” Mathieu said to Yahoo Sports. “I’m a football historian, so I know everything about the players that came before me, and when Coach Reid mentioned Brian Dawkins … all I think about is him jumping over people’s heads and catching all those interceptions, and that’s the kind of player I want to be.”

Dawkins was a special talent that made a special impact on the Eagles defense, but he wasn’t the only special player in that particular secondary. They also had Pro Bowl corners Troy Vincent and Bobby Taylor.

While looking into these two teammates of Dawkins, I realized the similarities between Vincent and current Chiefs corner Charvarius Ward. Both players have near identical size and athletic traits. It occurred to me that the Chiefs appear to be rebuilding their secondary in the image of the early 2000s Eagles, but they’re still missing a piece. They need to find their Taylor.

It wasn’t common at that point in NFL history to find a corner that was 6-foot-3 and over 200 pounds with great movement skills. His size and movement were the only things that made him a special player, though; he was also known for his ball skills. Taylor had 78 pass breakups during his nine seasons in the NFL.

The Chiefs were looking at a player in free agency, Ronald Darby, who has 54 pass breakups in just four seasons in the NFL. During two of those seasons, Darby missed significant time with injury. While Darby doesn’t appear to be joining the Chiefs, it’s clear to me that they’re searching for a player like Taylor to complement Mathieu and Ward.

As the free agent market for corners continues to thin, they might struggle to find the type of corner they’re looking for. Right now, Morris Claiborne or Rashaan Melvin might be their best remaining option in free agency.

It also explains their interest in Vanderbilt CB Joejuan Williams in the draft. He finished in the top 10 in pass breakups in FBS in 2018. He also has similar height, weight, and movement skills to Taylor. The Chiefs could certainly be looking to prioritize this player in the draft as they rebuild the Chiefs’ secondary and shape it into a 2.0 version of 2000s Eagles.

https://chiefswire.usatoday.com/2019...ndary-rebuild/