Arrowhead Pride
Kansas City is once again offering an opportunity to a former first-round pick.
Last week, the Kansas City Chiefs signed free-agent defensive lineman Jerry Tillery.
Many across the NFL media landscape have written him off as a bust. But Tillery has positional versatility; he should be a good fit for defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s defensive front. If he’s put in the right situations, he could contribute in Kansas City.
A first-round pick (28th overall) out of Notre Dame in the 2019 NFL Draft, Tillery will be playing for his fourth NFL team. He spent four years with the Los Angeles Chargers, two years with the Las Vegas Raiders and last season with the Minnesota Vikings.
Having collected only 12.5 career sacks, Tillery hasn't lived up to his first-round billing. Just the same, he’s been able to generate pressure. At 6 feet 6 and 295 pounds, he has the size to rush from on the interior on passing downs, along with the length to move to the edge on running downs. This versatility has kept him in the league — and is where his value to the Chiefs will be found.
Tillery has a good first step. When he penetrates the backfield, it’s often by quickly getting off the line of scrimmage and shooting gaps.
Here, he does a good job of using his long frame to take advantage of a stocky guard with shorter arms. While he doesn't display elite bend, he has enough to turn the corner on the interior offensive lineman and get pressure on the quarterback.
As we see here, Tillery displays good lateral mobility, which will be a good fit in Kansas City’s stunts and twists on the line of scrimmage. Spagnolo and defensive line coach Joe Cullen run several of these looks in every game — just as Minnesota did with Tillery last season.
The Chiefs have always put a premium on batting passes down — and on this play, Tillery shows the lateral mobility (and long arms) to be effective in that role.
Most of his deficiencies come into play in the running game. He doesn't possess the mass (or the base strength) to consistently hold the line of scrimmage or take on double teams. This naturally limits the snaps he can take on the inside. But his mobility does allow Tillery to play a few snaps a game along the edge on running downs, where he can set the edge.
In one-on-one situations where Tillery can create separation, he can play two gaps — but this is generally the case on draw plays.
Despite this, Kansas City may use Tillery as a designed penetrator on running downs, looking to make plays in the backfield — or funnel the running back to where he can be contained.
This is the just sort of move we often see general manager Brett Veach make: a low-risk, high-reward signing of a former first-round selection who...
