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The NFL preseason games are a dress rehearsal for players, coaches, and fans for the expectations for the regular season. Kansas City Chiefs coordinators and coaches are eager to see their plays in practice executed in a game and for specific players to fulfill expectations.
Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo has been at the forefront of the team’s recurrence on defense. The Chiefs have improved since Spagnuolo took over as defensive coordinator in 2019, culminating in a Super Bowl title that same season. Spagnuolo shared his thoughts on the players he’s eager to see on Saturday as the team prepares for another title run.
”I’ll tell you, Khalen Saunders, because he missed a lot of last year,” Spagnuolo said. “You know, he had the elbow, so it’ll be good to get him up and going again. I’m going through the Rolodex, obviously all of the young guys, but Khalen sticks out. Juan (Thornhill) because he dealt with the injury. You want to see if those guys are back. Those would be the guys that would stick out to me, and obviously the young guys that we don’t know anything about.”
Saunders staying healthy this preseason and producing on the field will be crucial if he’s to make up for lost time in 2020. The former third-round draft pick could prove to be a vital rotational piece along the defensive line in Kansas City. The same goes for Juan Thornhill, who has already run into some injury issues during training camp.
Spagnuolo also has his eyes on undrafted free agent Devon Key, who has made an impression on several veterans in camp.
”I think I’ve talked about Devon (Key) before,” Spagnuolo said. “I think he’s done a heck of a job from the mental part of it. We’ve actually added on to him because we think he’s got that part of football, which is chin to the hairline. What we don’t know is in the heat of the battle, so we’re going to find out a little bit of that in the game. But so far, he’s functioned pretty well, and we’re happy with that.”
Spagnuolo has had plenty of good things to see about his players but made sure to point out the impact of second-year lineman Mike Danna.
”Yeah, Mike Danna is one of my favorite guys and was from the beginning,” said Spagnuolo. “Because of the way I look at it, he’s a young guy who came in his rookie season, and after a month, you’d have thought he was a 10-year veteran, the way he operated, the way they function around the building, the way he practices he when coach Daly gives him something to work on. He takes that right into whatever game we can play and in terms of thought, but he’s been terrific.”
As training camp rolls on, Spagnuolo has seen some positive signs from the defense, but the real test comes with the preseason. There he can properly evaluate certain aspects of his defense that he just can’t simulate during practice.
“The thing that’s always hard, obviously, is I don’t know where we are with tackling,” Spagnuolo explained. “Now, the coaches do a great job as best we can at simulating. Where I’m going is when we put the pads on, Coach Reid allows us to what we call ‘wrap and release.’ The thing that doesn’t get used here in training camp anymore because we don’t go live is defensive arms. Then, you go out to these first games, and everybody is doing what I call ‘block-tackling,’ which I don’t like. It’s like a swear word. To me, I’m going to be really looking for that, and I’m going to be looking for the operation between whistle and snap. Not snap to whistle as much—I mean, coaches will take care of that—but I’m looking for operation and how guys function. I think that’s important.”
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