The Kansas City Chiefs traded DJ Alexander to the Seahawks for LB Kevin Pierre-Louis and the NFL world has reacted on Twitter. This isn’t one of those trades where you immediately have a strong opinion because we don’t know much about Kevin Pierre-Louis and DJ Alexander was mostly a special teamer.
However, Alexander was a Pro Bowl special teamer so my take is that Pierre-Louis should be able to match or beat Alexander in special teams OR offer some sort of value on defense (which Alexander didn’t).
We still don’t know whether Pierre-Louis can do that but we do have opinions! Here’s what SB Nation’s Seahawks site, Field Gulls, had to say:
As for Pierre-Louis, it’s just never worked out for him in Seattle. Drafted in round four back in 2014, KPL failed to establish himself with the coaching staff as worth inserting into the team’s defensive rotation. His lone start came in 2015 when Bobby Wagner was injured and couldn’t play in the team’s home loss to the Panthers. Otherwise most of his snaps have been on special teams, and unfortunately this (sketchy) penalty against him in the playoff defeat to Atlanta last season, thus wiping out a huge Devin Hester punt return, proved to be an enormous game-changing infraction.
We collected some of the takes on the trade.
Have confirmed Seahawks are trading Kevin Pierre-Louis. So ends career of former 4th round pick who never quite lived up to hopes.
— Bob Condotta (@bcondotta) July 28, 2017
Judging by snap counts, Kevin Pierre-Louis is predominantly a special teamer. Just 3 regular-season games w/ 40 or more plays on defense.
— Pete Sweeney (@pgsween) July 28, 2017
LB Kevin Pierre-Louis has
— Kingdom Connection (@KingdomConnektN) July 28, 2017
34 games played & 1 start in 3 seasons
1 PD
1 FR
32 Total Tackles 16 Ast.
So it looks like Kevin Pierre-Louis only played 71 snaps last year. He DID have one game where he played 40 (vs ATL). Let's take a look...
— Seth Keysor (@RealMNchiefsfan) July 28, 2017
Kidding aside, I like this snap. Waits for RB to commit and just EXPLODES into him. That's not bad. Looks like he's got quickness/speed. pic.twitter.com/YDax7Tu4qA
— Seth Keysor (@RealMNchiefsfan) July 28, 2017
Odd. DJ Alexander was a Pro Bowl special teamer, but KC has ST talent. Maybe KPL will have a larger role on defense somehow? https://t.co/ebBp6jVyHz
— Joshua Brisco (@jbbrisco) July 28, 2017
One of the mental health heroes I discovered in 2016 was @Seahawks LB Kevin Pierre-Lewis (@MrHyde_24). #BellLetsTalk https://t.co/P3tdnsUFOh
— Mitch Sanderson (@MitchThinks) January 25, 2017
DJ Alexander's value would never be higher coming off of Pro Bowl, KPL's value is as a 3rd down ILB.#Chiefs
— Ryan Tracy (@RyanTracyNFL) July 28, 2017
The Chiefs have Taub. He'll make two new pro bowlers out of this UDFA class...
— Gordon McGuinness (@PFF_Gordon) July 28, 2017