Now is the perfect time for Tanoh Kpassagnon to become who the Chiefs drafted him to be

Just about anybody who gets picked in the top two rounds of the NFL Draft has already shown themselves to be a pretty good football player. Of course, we all know that this doesn’t guarantee that they will play well in the NFL, but that is also why it is always important to keep that in mind. We should remember that all of these guys are good especially when it doesn’t work out, because the reason why it didn’t work is usually never as simple as “they just weren’t good enough.”

Maybe they were a bad fit for the scheme the team that drafted them ran. Maybe they had conflicts with the coaching staff. Maybe unavoidable injuries held them back. Maybe another guy on the team just so happened to be a little better. There are usually myriad factors that go into why a player ends up underperforming and earning the dreaded “bust” label.

Then there are some other times when, just when it looks like a player has met the criteria to be labeled a bust, a change in circumstance allows him to put a stop to that noise and turn everything around.

It doesn’t happen all that often because there usually isn’t much patience for a guy taken in the first two rounds. Teams generally want to “win now” and they want their drafts picks to produce right away to help them achieve that goal. I swear, it seems like more teams are giving up on their draft picks who get off to slow starts earlier and earlier. So many are cut now before they even make it to what used to be seen as the “make or break” season in their third year in the league.

Tanoh Kpassagnon can count himself as one of the fortunate high draft picks who has been able to stick around without having much production. So far, he only has two sacks in his first two seasons, and he has only started one game. But now, Kpassagnon finds himself in that rare subset of underachieving high draft picks who can benefit from a sudden change of circumstances.

After the Chiefs drafted the 6’7, 289-pound Kpassagnon with the 59th overall pick in 2017, they tried to turn him into a rush linebacker in their base 3-4 scheme. While the Chiefs played a lot of four-man fronts, their edge rushers were usually standup guys who had to drop into coverage on a fairly regular basis. On top of the fact that Kpassagnon was stuck behind two excellent starting rush linebackers in Justin Houston and Dee Ford, he also never looked very comfortable as a standup linebacker in his first two seasons.

Which is not to say he looked bad, because he didn’t. He actually flashed a little bit here and there, too, especially as a pass rusher. It’s just that there were quite a few times on film where he looked too hesitant to me. The truth is, he rarely looked like he was playing as fast as he could play because it was like he always was second-guessing or thinking too much, instead of just playing.

That’s just what it looked like to me on film, but only Kpassagnon knows what held him back in his first two seasons. Now, however, he finds himself in a much different, and in my opinion better, situation heading into the 2019 season.

For one thing both Houston and Ford are now on other teams. Yes, I know the Chiefs traded for Frank Clark and paid him a ton of money to start at defensive end for them, but as for the side opposite, I see that spot as being wide open. Alex Okafor, another offseason acquisition, will likely have the inside track to start, but I wouldn’t put it past Kpassagnon being able to leapfrog Okafor at some point this year.

The reason is the other part of his change in circumstances this season. The Chiefs parted ways with their longtime defensive coordinator Bob Sutton, and will be running more of a 4-3 defense under new defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo. That should translate to Kpassagnon spending most, if not all, of his time with his hand in the dirt instead of being in a standup position. And that in turn should lead to Kpassagnon smoking offensive tackles off the edge this year.

You can’t teach length and that guy looks like Plastic Man. Kpassagnon also has a very explosive get-off out of a three-point stance, which makes the move to a 4-3 almost perfect for him. Now that he can get down in a sprinter’s stance and haul ass on the snap damn near every play, Kpassagnon will be the kind of guy who forces offensive tackles to bail out of their stances for fear of him beating them around the edge.

And another thing: Kpassagnon is able to bend around the corner pretty well, too. Even if he doesn’t ultimately end up being a starter this season, I can see him being a guy who is part of the pass rush personnel on passing downs. In fact, he has rushed the passer from inside a few times for the Chiefs and he didn’t look half bad at it.

That kind of versatility means the Chiefs will be able to use him in a variety of ways to either try to free him up, or to help free up one of his teammates. It was certainly encouraging to see him get a sack working as an interior pass rusher in the first preseason game against the Bengals.

That may be what gives Kpassagnon the edge when it comes to playing time over Okafor. Regardless, I see Kpassagnon having the potential to be able to get 7+ sacks this season in the new scheme. His speed and ability to to turn the corner should be a good complement to Clark on the other side and to defensive tackle Chris Jones, who showed he is a monster in his own right pass rushing inside last season.

He did a lot of good things in that first preseason game, including showing the ability to completely dominate tight ends who try to block him one-on-one. I know Clark and Okafor weren’t playing that night, but the Chiefs still had to be encouraged by what Kpassagnon put on film.

With a new coaching staff, a new scheme, and an open starting defensive end spot just waiting to be claimed, Tanoh Kpassagnon couldn’t have hoped for a better chance to turn his career this season. With as much talent as he has flashed over the years, and with as many physical gifts as he has been blessed with, I do believe this is the perfect time for Kpassagnon to blossom into the player he was originally drafted to be.

He actually reminds me a bit of Danielle Hunter physically, and the truth is while I’m not predicting Kpassagnon will put up numbers similar to Hunter’s, I do believe that he can make a lot of the same kind of plays.

Kpassagnon has the potential to be beast off the edge, but now is the time for him to start turning potential into production. This may be the last chance he gets to show the Chiefs what he can really do, and I hope for his sake that he rises to the occasion.

Confidence level: High