Chiefs sign Alex Okafor [restructured]

[ShowtimeSBMVP]

The #Chiefs are expected to sign former #Saints DE Alex Okafor, source said. He gets a 3-year deal worth up to $24M.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 14, 2019

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by oldman

Right now, I like this signing. Would I have liked to keep Houston? Sure, but not for the cash he was going to eat up. I'm beginning to think pressure in the middle might be more effective than from the edge.
But our real flaw last year was not being able to stop the run. You can have a sack to create 3rd and long, but when the opponent continues to convert with 15-20 yard runs, you stay on the field forever. I don't care how good our offense is, if they can't get on the turf, we don't win.

It can't be understated. Somebody said yesterday they weren't actually the 31st ranked D because they had so many attempts against them. That person was partially right. But I had no idea until I looked just how bad it actually was.

The Chiefs were 31st in yards. Useless stat.
They were 24th in points against. Definitely not 31st.
They were 32nd in pass attempts and 31st in pass yards. This was that person's point. They gave up a ton of yards because they gave up a ton of attempts.

But here's where things go south.

They were 17th in rushing attempts but 27th in yards. Obviously, that's a quality issue rather than a quantity issue. And their poor run defense REALLY shows in the following:

They were 30th in average time of drive, 32nd in plays per drive, 31st in yards per drive, and 28th in points per drive.

In summary, the defense simply couldn't get off the field. Part of the reason they gave up so many yards is because they faced so many attempts. That is true. However, it is not completely true they faced so many attempts because of the offense. They faced so many attempts because they couldn't get off the field.

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

It can't be understated. Somebody said yesterday they weren't actually the 31st ranked D because they had so many attempts against them. That person was partially right. But I had no idea until I looked just how bad it actually was.

The Chiefs were 31st in yards. Useless stat.
They were 24th in points against. Definitely not 31st.
They were 32nd in pass attempts and 31st in pass yards. This was that person's point. They gave up a ton of yards because they gave up a ton of attempts.

But here's where things go south.

They were 17th in rushing attempts but 27th in yards. Obviously, that's a quality issue rather than a quantity issue. And their poor run defense REALLY shows in the following:

They were 30th in average time of drive, 32nd in plays per drive, 31st in yards per drive, and 28th in points per drive.

In summary, the defense simply couldn't get off the field. Part of the reason they gave up so many yards is because they faced so many attempts. That is true. However, it is not completely true they faced so many attempts because of the offense. They faced so many attempts because they couldn't get off the field.

All I can add to this is that having a stable defense makes "scoring too quickly" a moot point.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

It can't be understated. Somebody said yesterday they weren't actually the 31st ranked D because they had so many attempts against them. That person was partially right. But I had no idea until I looked just how bad it actually was.

The Chiefs were 31st in yards. Useless stat.
They were 24th in points against. Definitely not 31st.
They were 32nd in pass attempts and 31st in pass yards. This was that person's point. They gave up a ton of yards because they gave up a ton of attempts.

But here's where things go south.

They were 17th in rushing attempts but 27th in yards. Obviously, that's a quality issue rather than a quantity issue. And their poor run defense REALLY shows in the following:

They were 30th in average time of drive, 32nd in plays per drive, 31st in yards per drive, and 28th in points per drive.

In summary, the defense simply couldn't get off the field. Part of the reason they gave up so many yards is because they faced so many attempts. That is true. However, it is not completely true they faced so many attempts because of the offense. They faced so many attempts because they couldn't get off the field.

It also shows that teams are trying to frustrate mahomes by keeping him off rhythm by keeping him off the field. If we force teams to pass a few good things happen... Spags' emphasis on corners will hopefully lead to DB's not dropping easy INTs. If not, the other team attacks us vertically and scores quickly. I have a feeling our D will give up a decent amount of points and yards, but we'll significantly reduce opponent TOP and will force more turnovers.

[oldman]

That's my point. Keeping PMII off the field keeps the score lower and TOP becomes more important. My other point about pressure up the middle is that guys like Brady and Rivers don't like big uglies in their face.

[saphojunkie]

Originally Posted by tyton75

Nnadi - solid on the interior in the 3rd round
O'Daniel- flashed when in the sub-package
Watts- looked like a starter till his injury
Tremon Smith- excellent kick returner in the 6th round

Mackenzie better be of some use or that pick was thrown away

Speaks looked like crap in the 3-4 most of the time.. but I believe he will look much better in the 4-3. Fingers crossed

Speaks hit the QB 8 times in 4 starts.

Houston hit the QB 12 times in 12 starts.

If you’ve written the book on Speaks already, you are jumping the gun.

[loochy]

Originally Posted by saphojunkie

Speaks hit the QB 8 times in 4 starts.

Houston hit the QB 12 times in 12 starts.

If you’ve written the book on Speaks already, you are jumping the gun.

How many times do you think they dropped Speaks' fat ass into pass coverage?

[kgrund]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

It also shows that teams are trying to frustrate mahomes by keeping him off rhythm by keeping him off the field. If we force teams to pass a few good things happen... Spags' emphasis on corners will hopefully lead to DB's not dropping easy INTs. If not, the other team attacks us vertically and scores quickly. I have a feeling our D will give up a decent amount of points and yards, but we'll significantly reduce opponent TOP and will force more turnovers.

Crazy thing is, I think Veach foresaw this LAST offseason. He was focused on stopping the run last offseason for this very reason IMO. However, as has been well documented, it did not get fixed. I really think his approach last year (if the run D fix would have been successful) was to encourage shoot outs.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by loochy

How many times do you think they dropped Speaks' fat ass into pass coverage?

How many times do you think they actually dropped Houston into coverage?

Justin Houston has never dropped into coverage more than 25% of the time under Bob Sutton. He took 719 snaps last year. If you used that as a conservative measure, he still rushed the passer on at least 540 snaps.

Speaks played 492 snaps.

[loochy]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

How many times do you think they actually dropped Houston into coverage?

Justin Houston has never dropped into coverage more than 25% of the time under Bob Sutton. He took 719 snaps last year. If you used that as a conservative measure, he still rushed the passer on at least 540 snaps.

Speaks played 492 snaps.

It's weird that it feels like Houston was out there a lot - not so much last year but in the prior years. Was it just cases of the QB noticing and picking on Houston?

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by loochy

It's weird that it feels like Houston was out there a lot - not so much last year but in the prior years. Was it just cases of the QB noticing and picking on Houston?

2 years ago that was certainly the case. He has been a step slower since the injury.

The sad thing is, the Chiefs pass defense was much better with him in pass coverage than with him rushing the passer in 2017. Scary.

[Raiderhater]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

Anyone who thinks spags was going to turn this around because of scheme change alone wasn't watching our defense last year. I would love for Houston and Ford like players on our defense. But resigning them with no flexibility to add anyone else wasn't the answer.

We needed a defense overhaul. We'll probably have 7 or 8 new guys with significant roles once we spend the $15m and finish the draft. Speaks, kpass feel like new players because they're finally playing in a scheme that fits. Not as drastic but id say the same as well for odaniel. So basically we've got 10+ guys who aren't bottom of the roster guys. They may not be sexy but they are good bets to contribute right away. We are in year 1 of a rebuild. If we kept Houston and Ford around we'd be bandaiding the wrong defense instead of blowing it up. We have to crush it with the draft. But this is the right approach.

Excellent post is excellent.

[Hoover]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

It can't be understated. Somebody said yesterday they weren't actually the 31st ranked D because they had so many attempts against them. That person was partially right. But I had no idea until I looked just how bad it actually was.

The Chiefs were 31st in yards. Useless stat.
They were 24th in points against. Definitely not 31st.
They were 32nd in pass attempts and 31st in pass yards. This was that person's point. They gave up a ton of yards because they gave up a ton of attempts.

But here's where things go south.

They were 17th in rushing attempts but 27th in yards. Obviously, that's a quality issue rather than a quantity issue. And their poor run defense REALLY shows in the following:

They were 30th in average time of drive, 32nd in plays per drive, 31st in yards per drive, and 28th in points per drive.

In summary, the defense simply couldn't get off the field. Part of the reason they gave up so many yards is because they faced so many attempts. That is true. However, it is not completely true they faced so many attempts because of the offense. They faced so many attempts because they couldn't get off the field.

And thus couldn't it also be stated that the reason we were able to have such a good pass rush (you know number of sacks) is because Ford, Houston, Jones and the rest of the crew simply had the most opportunities?

I'm all onboard taking a giant wrecking ball to last year's defense and starting over. Its the smart thing to do.

[duncan_idaho]

I like this signing if for no other reason than improving the run defense.

I don’t expect the pass rush to be as productive, but long, run-based, clock-chewing drives are the No. 1 threat to the Chiefs offense.

Those were relatively easy to achieve last year, and the Patriots and Ravens both exhibited that late in the year.

A 43 under combined with adding Okafor and Speaks as starters on the edges will drastically improve the run D.

Next area of improvement is to add playmaking in the secondary and add guys who can hone in on the short area of the field and improve performance against quick routes. I feel like they’re close on that... adding a Cb and a S who can play the deep middle are still key parts of that.

[srvy]

Originally Posted by The Franchise

Haven’t heard one thing about Houston having a visit anywhere.

Supposedly Pittsburgh and Baltimore are very interested.

[St. Patty's Fire]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

I like this signing if for no other reason than improving the run defense.

I don’t expect the pass rush to be as productive, but long, run-based, clock-chewing drives are the No. 1 threat to the Chiefs offense.

Those were relatively easy to achieve last year, and the Patriots and Ravens both exhibited that late in the year.

A 43 under combined with adding Okafor and Speaks as starters on the edges will drastically improve the run D.

Next area of improvement is to add playmaking in the secondary and add guys who can hone in on the short area of the field and improve performance against quick routes. I feel like they’re close on that... adding a Cb and a S who can play the deep middle are still key parts of that.

I’m sure Mathieu is going to be moving around a lot, but I believe they want him to be the deep middle guy mainly. I can’t remember who exactly had the quote that said that but one of our beat writers had it.

Obviously, plans in March change, just throwing it out there.