You’d be surprised at how many pressures Tamba Hali had last year

The consensus, or close to it, seems to be that Tamba Hali is old. That’s not a shot at you, Tamba! I’m just pointing out that 33 years old coming off multiple knee surgeries is considered old in the NFL even if it’s about the same age as me (and I am young and spry, not old).

It felt like Tamba was getting old last year because his snap counts plummeted compared to previous years. Some of that was due to his age, some of it due to his knee and some of it due to the Chiefs having two pretty good pass rushers in Dee Ford and Justin Houston (when healthy).

Did Tamba’s play drop as much as we thought? This graphic shows pressures from the right side of the defense for 3-4 linebackers:

Kinda crazy, isn’t it? Also crazy: Tamba played in 53 percent of the Chiefs defensive snaps with 37 pressures. Chandler Jones had 56 pressures but played in 88 percent of the Cardinals snaps.

After the season it was reported that Tamba wanted to play four more years. Most of us thought that was insane, and it is a little. I would be very surprised if he were to play four more years. But could he give the Chiefs another season like last year in a situational role? This stat suggests he does still make an impact on fewer snaps.

I asked MNChiefsfan, who watches more Chiefs than I do, how much Tamba has left.

“If you review his snaps, he was actually pretty productive and got attention on a snap-by-snap basis,” MNChiefsfan said. “The problem is his actual sack numbers plummeted so people don't notice overall effect he has. Most LT's had a very tough time with him on pass rushing downs, and he's still a significantly better run defender than Dee Ford.”