Arrowhead Pride
For the fourth straight year, I’m considering the 10 biggest questions I have for the Kansas City Chiefs for 2026.
My first question centered around the offensive tackles. Now, let’s talk about the linebackers:
An underrated advantage of the Chiefs’ defense over the past four years has been the ability to play three good linebackers simultaneously.
For years, Kansas City has poured draft resources into finding good linebacker play. Over the course of three drafts, the Chiefs used two second-round picks on Willie Gay Jr. and Nick Bolton, along with a third-round pick on Leo Chenal.
By 2022, the Chiefs had assembled one of the league’s highest-quality linebacker corps. Those three drafted players found good synergy with each other. Gay had the explosiveness and athleticism to play well sideline to sideline and in space. Chenal was the hammerhead that could take on blocks and eat space. Bolton was the complementary middle linebacker to those two players with his intelligence and reliable tackling in the run game.
Kansas City’s linebacker room really found its groove in 2023 once Drue Tranquill was added to the mix. That year’s defense was special for many reasons, including the cornerback play and the presence of defensive tackle Chris Jones in his prime, but the linebackers made an underrated impact on that defense.
All three of the young guys understood the defense inside and out, which allowed defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo to vary his fronts. Gay and Chenal, in particular, thrived in this context, where they were allowed to blitz and play more on the line of scrimmage.
Tranquill was the perfect addition to that group as well. Tranquill was good at blitzing, but also had more coverage versatility than Chenal and Gay.
After the 2023 season, Gay left in free agency but continued to do a good job maximizing the trio of Bolton, Tranquill and Chenal over the next two seasons.
Chenal was important to unlocking different fronts because he could play head-up over an offensive lineman and occupy a gap. Tranquill continued to be a productive player and Bolton continued ascending and rounding out weaknesses in his game.
Unfortunately, this offseason brought the departure of Chenal. Chenal had his limitations and will likely never be a good three-down linebacker. I can understand how the Chiefs arrived at the feeling that paying Chenal for a part-time role wasn’t the best use of their salary cap space.
However, I do think the Chiefs will lose an important skill set within their defense.
Most teams do not have three good linebackers, let alone one or two. The Chiefs’ defense was unique in its ability to match teams with its “Base” defense and still have good defenders, especially against the run. Chenal played a massive part in that. He was a chess piece that helped counter the opposing team’s run game.
Having the ability to play base defense...
