*****The Leo Chenal Thread*****

[Dante84]

More to come!

Leo Chenal was drafted with pick 103 of round 3 in the 2022 draft class. He scored a 9.99 RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 3 out of 2419 LB from 1987 to 2022. https://t.co/unnXwkfpiT #RAS #Chiefs pic.twitter.com/YdwWEkOnmR

— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) April 30, 2022

The moment our newest LB got the call he was joining the Chiefs 📲 @chenal_leo pic.twitter.com/2q3fLOFoPA

— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) May 4, 2022

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I think my stance going into that draft was "There are like 47 freakish power/speed linebackers in this draft so we should probably grab one of them..."

I don't know that I had a preference.

But it's interesting - is some of this, or even most of this, coaching?

I say that because Brandon Smith came out in that draft class as well. Christian Harris, Darrian Bevers, Mark Robinson, Damone Clark, Channing Tindall - there were a TON of powerful fast 'backers in that draft.

And Brandon Smith is, as near as I can see, out of the league. On tape and on paper, there's just nothing that meaningfully separates Smith from Chenal. And yet Smith got cut after one season and Chenal is just continuing to grow.

It's not like Smith's a moron - he quarterbacked Penn State's defense. He did some impressive stuff. And he washed out almost immediately. Whereas we're seeing Chenal work himself into a real key contributor for a much better defense than Smith.

Situation matters, I suppose...

I've come to the conclusion that there are tiny differences between players that have big impacts, and they're not really measurable things (or currently measured things).

I just read an article about Hardy Brown the other day. He was some dude in the 1950s who had a reputation as the hardest hitter in the league. The players who were interviewed said that he wasn't the biggest or strongest guy out there, but he had some way of cocking his shoulder and then driving it through a guy that was devastating. (It sounds like it would be illegal today, but whatever.)

That's what I was reading about Chenal that I liked. The articles that I was reading about him said that he was able to bring an extra level of violence to his hits, without really explaining or understanding why. The other guys were big and strong, but there's just something different about Chenal's contacts.

I find this stuff interesting. You look at most players at a position who are about the same size with similar measurables, and they can have very different outcomes. It's something that we're not great at measuring, apparently, because the scouts get the rankings wrong a lot.

I do think some of it comes down to system and situation, but I think there's more to it than that. I always thought for running backs it's about peripheral vision. It seems like the top running backs always knew where everyone was on the field. It's some element of body control and the ability to quickly translate the need to move with the ability to move. For linebackers, I think there's probably some quickness in converting from running to planting and driving. Those are just my desktop theories, though.

[Warpaint69]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I've come to the conclusion that there are tiny differences between players that have big impacts, and they're not really measurable things (or currently measured things).

I just read an article about Hardy Brown the other day. He was some dude in the 1950s who had a reputation as the hardest hitter in the league. The players who were interviewed said that he wasn't the biggest or strongest guy out there, but he had some way of cocking his shoulder and then driving it through a guy that was devastating. (It sounds like it would be illegal today, but whatever.)

That's what I was reading about Chenal that I liked. The articles that I was reading about him said that he was able to bring an extra level of violence to his hits, without really explaining or understanding why. The other guys were big and strong, but there's just something different about Chenal's contacts.

I find this stuff interesting. You look at most players at a position who are about the same size with similar measurables, and they can have very different outcomes. It's something that we're not great at measuring, apparently, because the scouts get the rankings wrong a lot.

I do think some of it comes down to system and situation, but I think there's more to it than that. I always thought for running backs it's about peripheral vision. It seems like the top running backs always knew where everyone was on the field. It's some element of body control and the ability to quickly translate the need to move with the ability to move. For linebackers, I think there's probably some quickness in converting from running to planting and driving. Those are just my desktop theories, though.

I was very impressed with Chenal's quick play recognition on a couple plays. Can definitely see the jump he's made into his second year from last year.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Warpaint69

I was very impressed with Chenal's quick play recognition on a couple plays. Can definitely see the jump he's made into his second year from last year.

Picking up on that trick play really wowed me. He killed that play.

Granted, one of the defensive backs also picked up on it and would have stopped it, but Chenal got there first. Great work for a young player.

[Strongside]

Spags said in his presser today that Leo is the "strongest guy pound for pound on the team." and they were looking for more ways to get him on the field, and that includes in pass rush / edge situations.

He is built like Nick Bosa. I love the idea of using him that way.

[penchief]

Originally Posted by Wisconsin_Chief

It is indeed ChaNELL, which I agree very hard to deal with. I prefer ChenALL, but sadly Leo has never asked me for my opinion.

Thanks!

[ThyKingdomCome15]

Yes he does seem nice, strong too.

[Chris Meck]

Chenal was mlb and captain in college. He could be a mlb in the NFL, or SSLB. Probably not a cover backer, although when guys are smart as well as superior athletes, who knows. I'd like to keep Bolton and use Chenal at SSLB and some rushbacker stuff like they have started to do. That's a really useful wrinkle.

[RINGLEADER]

Originally Posted by Chris Meck

Chenal was mlb and captain in college. He could be a mlb in the NFL, or SSLB. Probably not a cover backer, although when guys are smart as well as superior athletes, who knows. I'd like to keep Bolton and use Chenal at SSLB and some rushbacker stuff like they have started to do. That's a really useful wrinkle.

He sniffed out that pass play last week exceptionally well.

[Couch-Potato]

He's been looking really good this year, we have top tier LBs in my opinion.

Secondary is very solid too!

D-line is playing really well, but if there's one group we could add to it be here.

[BossChief]

Originally Posted by Strongside

Spags said in his presser today that Leo is the "strongest guy pound for pound on the team." and they were looking for more ways to get him on the field, and that includes in pass rush / edge situations.

He is built like Nick Bosa. I love the idea of using him that way.

He definitely has a pass rushing skill set. In his last year at Wisconsin he was used a little differently and had 8 sacks and a couple forced fumbles. He wasn’t lined up as a rushbacker to get those numbers, either. He got them mostly by eyeing QBs while in short sone coverages and was shot out of a cannon the moment a qb tucked the ball.

In the times he was lined up tight to the line and blitzed, he was very productive, too. That lead to a few of us asking if he was possibly going to get sone snaps as a rushbacker at the next level.

Well, here we are. I’m pretty excited to see what Spags can do in terms of nascar packages against teams with lumbering OTs and guys like Thompson, Chenal, Uzi and Karl on the edges and Omenihu/Jones/Wharton on the inside.

Should be damn fun to watch towards the end of this year.

I really hope KC can ink CJ95 to a deal in the offseason that keeps him a Chief for life. We have something tremendously special happening on defense. Like, all time type special possibly.

[Pitt Gorilla]

#Chiefs second-year LB Leo Chenal is getting more opportunities to rush the passer in Year 2 and the results have been pretty good through two weeks. . .

🔗👇 pic.twitter.com/PLnTjlz1ma

— Charles Goldman (@goldmctNFL) September 22, 2023

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by BossChief

In the times he was lined up tight to the line and blitzed, he was very productive, too. That lead to a few of us asking if he was possibly going to get sone snaps as a rushbacker at the next level.

I went through all his sacks once and my memory is that better than half of them were really just lining him up on the interior and sending him on a middle blitz.

It didn't look like something that would really translate at the NFL level because those Gs are much bigger than the guys he was overwhelming in college.

But they're finding different ways to use the same skills so yeah, seems like there's something here...

[Pitt Gorilla]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I've come to the conclusion that there are tiny differences between players that have big impacts, and they're not really measurable things (or currently measured things).

I just read an article about Hardy Brown the other day. He was some dude in the 1950s who had a reputation as the hardest hitter in the league. The players who were interviewed said that he wasn't the biggest or strongest guy out there, but he had some way of cocking his shoulder and then driving it through a guy that was devastating. (It sounds like it would be illegal today, but whatever.)

That's what I was reading about Chenal that I liked. The articles that I was reading about him said that he was able to bring an extra level of violence to his hits, without really explaining or understanding why. The other guys were big and strong, but there's just something different about Chenal's contacts.

I find this stuff interesting. You look at most players at a position who are about the same size with similar measurables, and they can have very different outcomes. It's something that we're not great at measuring, apparently, because the scouts get the rankings wrong a lot.

I do think some of it comes down to system and situation, but I think there's more to it than that. I always thought for running backs it's about peripheral vision. It seems like the top running backs always knew where everyone was on the field. It's some element of body control and the ability to quickly translate the need to move with the ability to move. For linebackers, I think there's probably some quickness in converting from running to planting and driving. Those are just my desktop theories, though.

So much of it is between the ears. The Chiefs seem to do a good job of figuring that part out.

It reminds me of the people who didn't want Bolton due to his RAS score or some ****.

[jerryaldini]

Seemed like Chenal did a nice job spying Josh in the second half. I felt good having him in there. We have awesome LB depth. Thanks Veach,!

[NJChiefsFan]

Originally Posted by jerryaldini

Seemed like Chenal did a nice job spying Josh in the second half. I felt good having him in there. We have awesome LB depth. Thanks Veach,!

He did a great job on the 3rd down where they scored on the sick pass and catch. But Josh wanted to run and Leo forced him to pass it.