When the Kansas City Chiefs traded LB DJ Alexander to the Seahawks for LB Kevin Pierre-Louis, I thought it was a special teams trade. Alexander was mostly special teams-only and I didn’t see a ton of defensive experience from Pierre-Louis.
The Chiefs, however, saw some potential on defense as Pierre-Louis as he’s listed No. 2 on the depth chart behind Derrick Johnson. Chiefs DC Bob Sutton sounds impressed, too.
“I think he’s done a great job, I’ve said this before, he’s got really good quickness,” Sutton said this week of Pierre-Louis. “He’s an attacking, physical type of player. He’s got some good athletic ability, he adds some speed to our defense. He’s one of the guys that I think of that has come in out of nowhere and kind of had to merge into this whole thing on the run and I think he’s done a really good job. We’re using him in a lot of different places and so far have been really happy with his performance on the defensive side.”
Dave Toub said he is playing special teams too but that he is getting more and more defense so they may have to reevaluate that.
The Chiefs have a number of options at inside linebacker, including young guys and veterans like Josh Mauga so for Pierre-Louis to stand out in that group is a good sign. Along with rookie Ukeme Eligwe, I’m starting to like some of the Chiefs young options at inside linebacker.