Kansas City’s linebacker corps is among the league’s best, but the defensive line needs to step forward this season.
On Wednesday, the football analytics site Pro Football Focus published their 2025 rankings for two defensive position groups. First, Dalton Wasserman considered the linebacker corps of every NFL team, ranking the Kansas City Chiefs fourth behind the Philadelphia Eagles, Detroit Lions and New England Patriots.
4. Kansas City Chiefs
The Chiefs have several trustworthy players for different linebacker roles. Nick Bolton is the leader of the defense, though his PFF grades have declined since his first two excellent seasons. Leo Chenal ranks second in the NFL over the past two seasons with a 91.8 PFF run-defense grade. Drue Tranquill is a consistent performer who has recorded a 68.8 PFF overall grade across his two years in Kansas City. Special teams ace Jack Cochrane and fifth-round rookie Jeffrey Bassa provide additional depth.
Then Zoltán Buday ranked the defensive lines, putting Kansas City in the middle of the pack. (The Pittsburgh Steelers, Eagles and New York Giants topped this list).
15. Kansas City Chiefs
Chris Jones is arguably the NFL’s premier interior defender, furthering a prolific career by earning a position-leading 90.2 PFF overall grade last season. But despite Kansas City’s continuous investments in the defensive line, there is not much talent around him.
While former first-round pick George Karlaftis earned a career-high 69.8 PFF overall grade in 2024, it ranked only 38th among edge defenders. On the other hand, Felix Anudike-Uzomah, who was also a first-round pick, barely got any playing time last season and ranked 70th among edge defenders in PFF overall grade.
My take
Wasserman is right that Kansas City’s MIKE linebacker doesn’t have superb PFF grades. But he rightly refers to him as the “leader of the defense.” It is Bolton’s ability to be coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s on-field leader that makes him worth the three-year, $45 million contract to which the team signed him in March. Chenal — now entering his fourth NFL season — has steadily improved his play as his defensive use has increased, although he remains a key special-teams player. A year ago, Tranquill signed a three-year deal worth $19 million that recognized his versatile play for the Chiefs after inexplicably being released by the Los Angeles Chargers in 2023. And there’s reason to expect that Bassa — a jack-of-all-trades for the Oregon Ducks — will help maintain the second level of the defense in the years to come.
If you’ve read Nate Christensen’s excellent analysis published in these pages on Wednesday, you shouldn’t be surprised by Buday’s ranking of the Kansas City defensive line. Jones continues to be the unit’s most consistent performer. In the coming season, he’ll need more help to keep the Chiefs’ defense operating at a high level. That should come from Karlaftis — who might yet end up on a contract year this season — and Charles Omenihu, who hopes to finally get a full season under his belt with Kansas City. Anudike-Uzomah will be facing a do-or-die season, while Danna will also need to step up after a mediocre 2024 campaign. The good news is that with cornerback Kristian Fulton now in the secondary, Spagnuolo may be able to run enough man coverage to give the defensive line enough time to get home — just as it did in 2023.