The Amateur Hour podcast made a really good point about the turnover on the Chiefs defense that I hadn’t realized. In the front seven, the Chiefs have turned over almost every position since the beginning of the season.
Let’s go back to training camp. What did the Chiefs front seven look like? Derrick Johnson and Josh Mauga on the inside, Justin Houston (coming back) and Tamba Hali on the outside and Dontari Poe, Allen Bailey and Jaye Howard on the defensive line.
What does that front seven look like now? DJ and Mauga are both done for the year. Houston is currently out while Tamba splits snaps with Frank Zombo. Poe is the only starting d-lineman that remains with Chris Jones and Rakeem Nunez-Roches among others stepping in there.
So the Chiefs have turned over five (kinda six if Tamba’s more of a part time player than we realized) of the spots in the front seven. You hope Houston comes back and that number drops by one but that’s up in the air.
This isn’t breaking any news here and I knew injuries were a big deal this year but I didn’t realize it was that significant.