excellent news-great hire

We really need a MLB like Dallas has.

So far a well respected staff. Brilliant so far.

Is Al Harris still around? And if so does he stay? Seems to be the only one left from Sutton's staff.

That's the thing this defense always lacked under Sutton. I hope beyond hope that bringing in new coaching fixes it all but I fear that some players are going to have to go too.

As the Pioli guys started to age, get injured, or leave, the new guys being brought in weren't disciplined and didn't listen. That's goal #1 for this defense - discipline and cohesion. Working as a unit.

He did a reasonably good job last year, all things considered. There's no reason to not allow him to continue to work under a new guy and continue to learn. He'll get better.

Oh dude, bust out the rake and a box of Hefty lawn bags; this staff is about to sweep asses out the door.

I think everyone of respectable merit will get a fair evaluation, but I fully expect to see a metric shit ton of turnover on ALL levels of salary not just post-camp, but leading as far as into November. It will be slower at that point of course, but it's going to take some time to see who can play what in this new defense.

How many new starters will we see on Defense assuming Ford stays

I was ok with the spagnuolo hire. Realistically I felt we needed to just jump a few spots on defense and he could do that better than sutton. My biggest complaint was that spags has a good scheme, but I wanted him to push innovation on defense the way he did offense.

Holy shit these new hires change the game. Spagnuolo can now learn from an innovative nfl defense and a rising star in the SEC. And in house he has an experienced playcaller to help with adjustments, something some giants fans have said we needed. I think we can throw tendencies out the window. Spags has had a year off to study nfl defenses, a head coach who will push him to innovate, and one hell of an experienced staff.

Jones, Hitchens, Fuller are really the only FOR SURE starters I can think of next year.. the rest are maybe/probably's like Houston,Ford, Berry, O'Daniel, Speaks, Watts

How about now? Still doomed?

It's about to get dolphin rape up in here.

Yep.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Three days after Kentucky announced defensive coordinator Matt House had decided to stay in Lexington amid interest from the Kansas City Chiefs, the Wildcat assistant has reversed course and decided to leave for the NFL job.

House was reported to be a candidate to be the Chiefs' new linebackers coach. After the initial announcement he was staying at UK, multiple NFL reporters tweeted House had wanted to take the job but was prevented from doing so because of his buyout at Kentucky.

UK players were informed of House's decision to leave the program Tuesday morning, a source told the Courier Journal.

More UK football: Kentucky finding offensive linemen early in 2020 recruiting cycle

With House gone, there are several likely candidates within Mark Stoops' staff to take over the defensive coordinator responsibilities. Stoops promoted from within the last time the job was open, elevating House from special teams coordinator to defensive coordinator after D.J. Eliot left the program.

UK defensive coordinator Matt HouseBuy Photo
UK defensive coordinator Matt House (Photo: Michael Reaves/Special to The Courier Journal, Courier Journal)
Special teams coordinator Dean Hood was a former Power Five conference defensive coordinator at Wake Forest and FCS head coach at Eastern Kentucky. Defensive backs coach Steve Clinkscale served as defensive coordinator at Cincinnati before coming to UK, and outside linebackers coach Brad White is considered a rising star in the business thanks to his NFL experience and work developing Josh Allen into the National Defensive Player of the Year and an early first-round NFL draft prospect in his first season at Kentucky.

Stoops will also have to find a replacement for House's recruiting ability as the defensive coordinator just finished a productive year recruiting Georgia, where Kentucky signed four players in its 2019 class.


House, who previously worked for Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo with the then-St. Louis Rams, led a UK defense that ranked sixth nationally in scoring defense and 23rd in total defense a year ago. Kentucky must replace seven starters from that defense in 2019, including Allen and the entire secondary.

According to the terms of House's contract, he would owe UK $150,000 to buyout the remaining year of the deal, which paid him $650,000 per year through the 2019 season.

Awesome!!!

I am seriously pumped about this defensive coaching staff. I think it is fair to say that, with the scheme change, better position coaching, and what I imagine will be at least a couple picks in the first three rounds going to that side of the ball, this defense will be absolutely unrecognizable from the carnival of shit it was last season.

If you add in the fact that Bailey, Ford, Houston, and Berry are all major roster decisions, this offseason is going to be really exciting. Not as exciting as anticipating Patrick Mahomes II saving the franchise, but it is up there.

I think every one of us will enjoy the process so much more, knowing that we could very easily be going into the single greatest football year of our lives. We know we are super bowl contenders in March. last year it didn't occur to us until October. This is going to be fun as hell.

man, I'm really excited.

If they take the track of sign an older cheaper vet + draft his replacement, this defense could look real good real fast.

I don't mind a Vinny Curry, but as I've said a bunch of times, give me Chris Long + Jaylon Ferguson and that's a killer DE situation even after letting Ford and Houston go.

Sign a FA S and pair it with Adderly. Find any one of the aging CB's that are past their big money days and pair them with a Baker or a Orunwariye.

I'm hoping House and Daly can give AR some insight into how defenses they used were able to stymie air raid attacks. With that knowledge, AR can make needed adjustments to his offensive scheme.

How much do these hires seem like what Reid did on the offensive staff when he first got here? Just loaded up on innovative, young and tested coaches and then proceeded to be ahead of the curve every year since. I'm expecting the same results on the defense now. Very exciting.

So, the defensive coaching staff is:

DC: Steve Spagnuolo
DL: Brendan Daly (patriots)
LB: Mike House (UK)
DB: David Merritt (NYG)
BBQ QT: Britt Reid (Joe's KC)

Haha should be BBQ QC

Quality Control. Don't let Pops eat undercooked burnt ends.

Can Dee Ford play a 9-tech or are we going to risk using a Tag next year to find out? If it doesn't work than his worth drops like a rock and he won't be worth as much in trade.

How much is he worth in trade now? Ford had better numbers than Mack and Khalil went for a two 1st. :)

9 tech strictly rushing the passer? Sure. Setting the edge on a run or having to reduce down because of a offensive shift.. ehhh not so much. I would rather see Ford tagged and traded if possible, and let JH play the weak end. If you cant trade Ford, there will be shuffling between base and nickel/dime sets. I wouldnt want houston consistently in the 5tech, though he certainly would be fine.

One thing that hasn't been talked about is Branden Daly's intel when it pertains to the Patriots. He will have been in the room as they planned how to stop Mahomes and co, so he will be fully clued up on their tendences just like Detriot and the Titans were last season with their head coaches being former Patriots. I honestly think Daly could be huge for us IF we meet the Pats in the playoffs again.

The focus should be to stop the run. We can't let teams control the clock the entire game and keep our MVP on the sidelines.

Yep.

I thought that was the focus last off-season.

While this team is gutter trash in the secondary that front 7 should perform better than it has, hopefully this new staff gets the most out of them.

Both Veach and Spagnuolo are excited about having Dee Ford on this defense next year.

That guy will be playing for the Chiefs next year. You can mark it down.

He is a great player.

Based on what?

In the interviews Veach did last week, he wasn't enthusiastic at all about Ford. Everything he said was very matter-of-fact and very much GM-speak.

It not like he's going to say, no we don't want Dee Ford back, he sucks and **** him for wasting our chance at a super bowl

Exactly.

But wouldn't 'cha LOVE it if he did?... :)

The guy had a borderline stellar season.

Veach said he is "excited" to bring him back and mentions he was last year what they envisioned when they drafted him in the 1st round back in 2014.

He didn't show nearly the same enthusiasm for Houston.

If we were being real about all of this, they'd cut Berry and Houston just for the fact that they are both constantly missing games.

No, they should pump Ford up. You make him feel good about staying or other teams know they are trading for a guy liked by his team making his worth higher.

Houston was pretty darn good once we moved him to DE and let him attack. The problem is the stupid contract we gave him. If we restructure his contract then we are locked in even longer for a guy with a bum knee. Big risk.

Not really. They can just convert some of his base salary this year to signing bonus and it won’t keep him here any longer than 2019 probably. But it’d just wind up costing them more dead money in 2020.

Houston needs to get a new contract with less money or he needs to go.

Moving his money to the future is not helpful when we have other big deals to sign.

If they're as tied at the hip as some suggest, then trading Houston might REALLY "dampen the spirit".

But seriously, what do you do with Berry? If he wanted to play at a high level for 2019, wouldn't he have already been to the surgeon for his Haglunds so that he could have proper time to heal and train, to be ready for opening day?
Conversely, I've read here that if he gets the surgery there's also the chance that he could further jack his foot/leg. So it would appear that as far as being a healthy impact player goes, his best days are behind him. Seems to me that unless he really IS this "priceless cheerleader" of sorts, the June 1st cut is the best option for both parties in terms of moving on. Do really think they're going to let this guy just languish on the sidelines until his contract runs dry? That seems like it would be rather depressing for both parties.

Oh shut up. :p

I agree.

Berry should restructure too. I know he is in very good position to refuse but that contract looks ugly right now.

That’s what the Royals have to do with Alex Gordon. It really does suck.

He didn't show any enthusiasm for Ford either. If you would actually LISTEN to the interview, the word "excited" is about as un-excited as you can get.

GM-speak.

The Chiefs may just have to bite the bullet and cut Berry loose, you don't save much money but he's about worthless now.

If constantly missing games is the bar that's set, then Ford needs to go too.

yes please.

I know none of you agree, but yes.

He never played DE in our 3-4. He played OLB.

Out of the three, Houston is still the best player and could contribute the most. He's certainly the most trustworthy in terms of rushing, tackling, and defending the pass.

Is Dee Ford worth keeping and paying large $$$ for the one thing he can do somewhat well? Is it worth it when you throw in to consideration that his track record of staying healthy and on the field is less than ideal?

And isn't it the most prudent move to cut Berry June 1st and get whatever meager cap savings we can when we need defensive depth?

From a practical standpoint, it's very easy to see which moves make the most sense. But without all of the details( Berry )as well as whatever Spags and Co. may be thinking about these three, it's incredibly hard to try and guess what the final outcome is going to be.

JakeF thinks he was playing DE when he was rushing the passer and OLB when he was covering

LMAO

Hopefully someone does a mashup video after the season of all the sports reporters saying “spags” over and over

Spags
Spags

If Berry has his surgery then yes , If he's not having surgery to fix his problem he should be cut.

I guess people are just frustrated with the rush defense but Ford was clearly better than Houston last year.

Ford ranked no. 37 to Houston's 80th ranking on PFF top 100 players of 2018.

Ford got the Pro Bowl honour and not Houston despite the latter having the name recognition.

Any ranking of the top players in 2018 will have Ford above Houston.

People just need to put respect on that guy's name. He was great last year. I dont care if you want to call him a one-trick pony or whatever, Ford was arguably elite this past year.

And then you look at their age, both having had injuries in the past, I dont see how Ford won't be the better player next year, short of injury.

What?

Holy ****shitballs. I knew that boy was dumb, but Christ... :shake:

I mean I’m kind of guessing here but it sure sounds like it.

He seems to think them using Houston less in coverage means that he was playing DE.

When are they going to announce all the staff? Seems like this is dragging out a bit

Short of injury, and therein lies the rub.

Ford is gonna get hurt next year. It's gonna happen. The guy simply can't stay healthy.

That’s probably a good thing.

That’s why we’re franchising him and not giving him s multiple year extension

We'd be better off letting him walk.

He's no good in coverage, barely respectable vs. the run, and is a pure speed rusher.

He's a glorified one dimensional pass rusher. If we want to tag-n-trade just to get a 3rd or 4th or something in return then fine...

If they tag him, they better trade him. 15+ million for him to get hurt is a steep price.

Especially considering the Houston and Berry situations.

Were it not for Berry, I'm sure they'd keep Ford without a thought. But when the cap gets tight, the microscope resolution gets tighter.

Nah it’s only 1 season and he is going to do everything he can to stay on the field so he can get that next deal.

If he gets hurt, he gets hurt. Only 1 year paying him big money and we come out clean in 2020.

what? you've put the guy down for a long time (13 sacks and 7 FF is just :rolleyes: remember?) and now you think they'd keep him at 15 million without a thought if it wasnt for Berry?

man, try to at least be consistent.

If he gets hurt, that $15M is wasted. We could get 2 players for that money, 2 players that can actually finish an NFL season more than once in a career.

It might be different if it weren't for Houston and Berry but neither of them are going to take a pay cut. That's unicorn rainbows stuff. The Chiefs aren't going to cut either of them, they're just going to suck it up and pay them.

Cut Berry, restructure Houston, tag Ford.

Cut Ragland and Sorensen.

I've seen a bunch of people making posts that indicate they don't really understand the responsibilities or importance of responsibilities in the 3-4 OR the 4-3.

I am not sure this is possible, but I like the sentiment.

Just think Berry is going to continue to be an albatross. I really, really, really hope he has the Haglund's corrective surgery and we don't have to worry about cutting him, because we are too excited that he has returned to form.

If they go that route, it's a great situation as he will have to abandon caution and play lights-out( to the best of his ability ). That means we'll find out just how strong and resilient his body really is, and we should be able to put the guessing game regarding his health to rest.

I stated what the Chiefs would do. That has nothing to do with what I would do.

@ByNateTaylor: On this snowy day, according to multiple sources, Sam Madison is a leading candidate to join Steve Spagnuolo’s staff as an assistant in the secondary. Madison was a cornerback under Spagnuolo when the Giants won the 2007 Super Bowl. He could replace Emmitt Thomas.

I like this. He was a smart player, technically sound.

Well they're obviously light years smarter than you

Who the hell is Sam Madison?

ROFL

They're getting there. Took 'em long enough though.

The deformity did not just show up overnight. Berry has had months to deal with it and hasn't. He is going to stretch it out and do it before camp. He wants another year of cheerleading and being the highest paid safety in the NFL. I don't want to have another year talking about Berry's ****ing foot. He is an expensive distraction that needs to be surgically removed from the team. Yes, the dead cap money sucks, but so does wasting that spot for a guy that never intends on playing again to a level he is being paid for.

what are you, like 12?

Dolly's brother. They have a snack cake business. :)

Must mean goodbye Al Harris

He's that guy....