Fixing KC Chiefs’ defense can start with playing Juan Thornhill over Daniel Sorensen

[Hammock Parties]

CO SIGN

https://www.kansascity.com/sports/sp...255010742.html

Daniel Sorensen should be remembered as an important part of the Chiefs’ first Super Bowl championship in 50 years. He can be part of another winning team. Thus concludes this column’s run of nice words about Daniel Sorensen.

He should no longer be a starting safety for the Chiefs, starting with Sunday’s game at Washington. His deficiencies are not just outweighing his positive impact, but he has by now crossed that awful threshold from yeah-but-there-are-other-problems to holy-smokes-this-is-just-unsustainable. It’s time for Juan Thornhill to start, and for him to get the 98% of snaps that have so far been Sorensen’s.

“Overall we haven’t been good,” Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo said. “That’s a true statement. That’s reality. To focus on one person I don’t think is fair. Did Dan struggle a little bit last week? Yeah.”

Spagnuolo is being gracious. Sorensen is Pro Football Focus’ third-lowest graded safety, earning the lowest tackling grade and fourth-lowest coverage grade among 61 safeties with at least 50% of their team’s snaps.

But we don’t need PFF’s numbers here. Sorensen has played poorly in all five games this season and was yell-out-loud terrible against the Bills. He repeatedly misses tackles and had two snaps where he was the primary coverage defender on passes that went for a combined 114 yards.

You might remember these as the plays where fellow safety Tyrann Mathieu threw his hands in the air in exasperation, and in the post-game press conference left no doubt what he was feeling.

“I felt like we were in a fairly decent coverage, so you don’t expect anybody to be wide open,” Mathieu said when asked about his hands-in-air pose. “I do that on good plays, as well. But, yeah. Kind of embarrassing.”

Mathieu is a good person to bring into this, actually. He is the heartbeat of the Chiefs’ defense, and has been since arriving as a free agent before the 2019 Super Bowl season. He hasn’t been great so far this season, either — nobody on defense has, really — but it’s hard to think of a solution to the Chiefs’ problems on defense that doesn’t involve Mathieu.

This is a little bit of speculation, but the situation is further complicated by Mathieu’s contract situation. Chiefs general manager Brett Veach has been clear that the team wants to sign Mathieu long-term, and Mathieu has said he’d like to stay.

The Chiefs can’t want these frustrations to change that dynamic, either by raising the price of an extension or by tempting Mathieu to look around. If Mathieu is saying these things out loud, then we can only imagine what he and others are saying and feeling in private.

This part is not speculation: Mathieu’s frustrations are a symptom of what everyone else in the locker room is seeing. Successful football teams are built largely on effort and cohesion, and nothing can torpedo morale more effectively than the feeling that a group isn’t all-in together. If 10 guys feel like they’re doing their job on a snap ruined by one man’s failure, well, that’s when guys start checking out.

This past week, leading up to the Washington game, happened to be one of those weeks in which the Chiefs made some of their assistant coaches available to media, including defensive backs coach Dave Merritt. He was asked about the primary problem in the secondary and referenced eye discipline three times in his answer. Then he was asked what he meant by that.

“If I’m looking at you and I’m supposed to be watching you, I gotta watch you,” Merritt said. “I can’t all of a sudden go watch someone else. So whether you’re coaching pop Warner, little league, your kids in basketball, if that’s your man, you teach your kids to cover that guy. “You don’t turn around and just start looking somewhere else: ‘Oh, there’s a bird, oh there’s a butterfly.’ No, you cover your guy. That’s what I mean.”

It was hard to hear that and not think about the long pass last Sunday to Bills tight end Dawson Knox. Sorensen was in good position on the play until he started looking back at the quarterback and lost track of his man.

The Chiefs have passed the point where they can still play Sorensen over Thornhill and retain credibility. And look, the problems are not all Sorensen’s fault. He’s doing the best he can. He is what he is — 31 years old, a regular starter for just the third time in eight years. A veteran with fading athleticism being regularly exposed by opponents who are increasingly thirsty over what they see on tape.

I want to be clear about something here. I’m not sure I’ve ever written a column calling for one player to rise above another on the depth chart. Not because I’ve never had my opinions, but because those opinions are outweighed by the fundamental truth that the coaches want to win and have vastly more information than sportswriters or fans.

And there must be some reason that Sorensen has been playing over Thornhill. Maybe there’s a confidence issue related to coming back from an ACL tear late in the 2019 season. Maybe it’s because he couldn’t take part in OTAs, and/or because he experienced a minor injury setback in the preseason. Maybe it’s something else that we have no way of seeing.

But the time has come. As a rookie, Thornhill and Tyrann Mathieu formed one of the league’s best safety pairings until Thornhill’s injury. At his best, Thornhill has the classic center-field range of a free safety, the speed to run with fast receivers and a skill-set that complements Mathieu’s.

At this point, if he’s not better than what we’ve seen from Sorensen, the Chiefs have even bigger problems than we thought.

[Hydrae]

Part of the issue is that Dan's skill set (haha!) is to play closer to the line which leaves Tyrann playing the deep role. With Juan, he can play the deep role which would free Tyrann up to play closer to the line where he is more effective. Even playing Armani deep would help with this adjustment.

Did you know, Thornhill was on the field early against the Browns? During that short time, Tyrann had both of his interceptions. Coincidence? I think not.

FREE JUAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[UChieffyBugger]

No one cares what you heard. Kick rocks.

[The Franchise]

Originally Posted by Hydrae

Part of the issue is that Dan's skill set (haha!) is to play closer to the line which leaves Tyrann playing the deep role. With Juan, he can play the deep role which would free Tyrann up to play closer to the line where he is more effective. Even playing Armani deep would help with this adjustment.

Did you know, Thornhill was on the field early against the Browns? During that short time, Tyrann had both of his interceptions. Coincidence? I think not.

FREE JUAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When our defense was decent….it was because Thornhill covered deep, Sorenson played close to the line and Mathieu was allowed to roam.

[CoMoChief]

Sorensen never had the necessary athleticism to begin with, was always a couple steps too slow, and it's being exposed now that he's aging and skills are declining.

[staylor26]

I’ve defended Dirty Dan over the years, but it couldn’t be more obvious that he’s washed at this point. It’s beyond time to give Thornhill the starting job alongside Mathieu.

Between replacing him with Thornhill and adding Gay, this defense will look a lot faster.

[scho63]

Sorensen is too ****ing slow to play deep and too old to play 100% of the snaps.

Even the least educated fan can see this.

[-King-]

Originally Posted by The Franchise

When our defense was decent….it was because Thornhill covered deep, Sorenson played close to the line and Mathieu was allowed to roam.

Yeah but what if we changed every single one of their roles? Wouldn't that be brilliant!

-Spags

[petegz28]

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by Hammock Parties

I still think he could be a very good 20 snaps a game nickel linebacker.

You want the league leader in missed tackles in at linebacker?

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

You want the league leader in missed tackles in at linebacker?

Better in coverage than Niemann and Hitchens.

[Hog's Gone Fishin]

I'm starting to get convinced now,

Still leads the team in tackles!

[PAChiefsGuy]

Originally Posted by Hammock Parties

Better in coverage than Niemann and Hitchens.

But also worse against the run, yeah no thanks....

[PAChiefsGuy]

Originally Posted by staylor26

I’ve defended Dirty Dan over the years, but it couldn’t be more obvious that he’s washed at this point. It’s beyond time to give Thornhill the starting job alongside Mathieu.

Between replacing him with Thornhill and adding Gay, this defense will look a lot faster.

And move Chris Jones back inside give Dana more snaps and D should do a lot better.

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by PAChiefsGuy

But also worse against the run, yeah no thanks....

let them run

[OnTheWarpath15]

I'm usually not "that guy" when it comes to injury - but if the Chiefs are telling the truth and Chris Jones is missing another game with a "wrist contusion" - especially considering other guys are playing with broken ****ing bones - then **** Chris Jones.

This shit is getting old.