Chiefs All-Decade Team - Inside Linebackers

[Rain Man]

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.

[Dunerdr]

bring back eligwe

[ChiTown]

Originally Posted by bringbackmarty

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

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

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by RealSNR

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.

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.

[tyecopeland]

Originally Posted by rabblerouser

DJ, Ragland, Hitchens, Lee

Basically, DJ and the guys who won the SB.

Why Lee instead of niemann? He had a bigger impact

[Rain Man]

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.

[58-4ever]

Next Decade: Kenneth Murray.

[Chiefspants]

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.

[carcosa]

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

[Rain Man]

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

[Direckshun]

Originally Posted by tyecopeland

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

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.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Direckshun

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.

[oldman]

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.

[Jamie]

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.

[tyecopeland]

Originally Posted by Jamie

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.

[Pasta Little Brioni]

Why the hell do we need 4 of them??