Chiefs LB Leo Chenal's role evolving to include more pass rush
Kansas City Chiefs LB Leo Chenal's role has seemingly taken a turn to start the 2023 NFL season. As a rookie, the team struggled to find ways to get Chenal on the field opposite Nick Bolton, Willie Gay Jr., and former Chiefs LB Darius Harris. Now, Chenal is averaging 10 more snaps per game through […]
Kansas City Chiefs LB Leo Chenal's role has seemingly taken a turn to start the 2023 NFL season.
As a rookie, the team struggled to find ways to get Chenal on the field opposite Nick Bolton, Willie Gay Jr., and former Chiefs LB Darius Harris. Now, Chenal is averaging 10 more snaps per game through two weeks because his play and performance warrant more opportunities. His role and responsibilities have evolved beyond playing just off-ball linebacker.
Chenal's now getting some consistent work in a two-point stance as a rush-linebacker on the line of scrimmage in 3-3-5 nickel packages. His ability to mix and match in those scenarios is similar to a player like Dallas Cowboys LB Micah Parsons, who has made a name for himself with his defensive versatility.
Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo spoke about Chenal's ability as a pass-rusher on Thursday.
“Every guy on the team will tell you, not just the defense, that Leo (Chenal) might be the strongest pound-for-pound guy that we’ve got on the team,” Spagnuolo said. “He’s strong, I mean real strong. You can see what he does to tight ends, now he’s even kind of brought that to tackles. He’s always had a little bit of pass-rush instincts. He had a little bit of it at Wisconsin, kind of from off the ball, not on the ball. But there are a lot of places where we feel like we can use Leo and we want to try and do that as much as we can. A little bit of it is dictated by what the offense is putting out there. But I’m real happy with what Leo has done and we’re going to keep trying to use him as best we can.”
According to Pro Football Focus, Chenal has just 12 pass rush snaps in two games this season. It might not seem like a lot, but it's already more than half of the pass rush snaps that Chenal had in all of the 2022 NFL season. It's still a far cry from the 57 pass-rushing snaps that Parsons has through two games, but it's a good start for the second-year linebacker.
Against the Jaguars alone, Chenal created four pressures, hurrying QB Trevor Lawrence to throw at multiple times throughout the game. Only DT Chris Jones and DE George Karlaftis created more pressure during that game. It's a small sample size, but it could prove a useful strategy to use Chenal as a pass-rusher against a banged-up Chicago Bears offensive line in Week 3.
What we know is that the team is actively looking for more opportunities to get Chenal on the field, whether it's as an off-ball linebacker or up on the line of scrimmage as a pass-rusher.
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Featured image via Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports
