KANSAS CITY, Mo. — During Leo Chenal’s rookie season, the linebacker developed a routine between the team’s morning walkthrough and his lunch before that afternoon’s practice.
At Wisconsin, he played almost exclusively as an off-the-ball linebacker, meaning he lined up off the line of scrimmage and patrolled the middle of the field as a run-stuffer and in pass coverage. But the Chiefs defensive coaches felt he had a talent for something different, so during the middle of the day he would work with defensive line coach Joe Cullen and his assistant Terry Bradden on rushing the passer.
“We sat and worked together after walkthroughs, for even if it’s 10 minutes, just walking through and going through the moves just trying to create muscle memory,” Chenal said.
The Chiefs selected the 6-foot-3, 250-pound Chenal in the third round of the NFL Draft because his speed and football intelligence made him an ideal candidate as backup middle linebacker Nick Bolton. Defensive coordinator Steve Spanguolo also liked his potential upside as a pass rusher — a ferocious downhill pursuit defender whose strength off the edge could terrorize opposing quarterbacks when needed.
“He’s always had a little bit of a pass rush instincts,” Spagnuolo said. “He did a little bit of it at Wisconsin, kind of from off the ball, not on the ball,” Spagnuolo said.
After more than a year in development, Chenal is now putting his newfound skills to the test.
As a rookie, Chenal played 60 of his 542 defensive snaps on the ball or just 11% of the time. So far through two games this season, he’s already played 26 of 95 snaps (27%) in an overhang position along the outside edge of the line of scrimmage.
Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo says Chenal’s strength is an asset in making the transition to an outside pass rusher. Chenal pounded out 34 reps on the bench press during his pro day in 2022, which was more than any other prospect — linebacker or otherwise — posted at the NFL Combine that year.
“I’ll tell you what, every guy on the team probably, not just the (defense), will tell you that Leo might be the strongest pound-for-pound guy we got on the team,” Spagnuolo said. “He’s strong. I mean, real strong. You can see what he does to tight ends and now he’s even kind of brought that to tackles.”
The overhang position is new for Chenal but one in which he’s quickly thriving. Against the Jaguars, Pro Football Focus credited Chenal with four quarterback pressures on eight pass-rushing snaps. He already has more pressures through two games than he did his entire rookie season.
“It’s kind of playing to my strong suit,” Chenal said. “I pride myself on kind of being strong. I love lifting weights so it’s being able to go up and set the edge and run and then the next step is developing as like a truly good pass rusher too.”
Chenal still meets with Cullen and Bradden in addition to meetings with linebackers coach Brendan Daly and his own position group. But he also learned to lean on teammates George Karlaftis and Chris Jones in honing his skills as a pass rusher off the edge, and he sees the hard work paying dividends.
“Anytime I can attack the passer that’s exciting for me,” Chenal said. “It’s honestly something I just kind of started out slow being on the line, wasn’t used to it, like I didn’t do in college. So just taking those reps, talking with coach Cullen, coach Terry and working with George and Chris on technique almost every day, it’s gonna be huge. If I can expand my game in that way it’ll be huge for me, and if I get better it’ll be huge for the team.”
Last season, Chenal never rushed the passer more than three times in any contest. And there’s no plan to turn the 22-year-old into a permanent edge rusher.
“But where there’s a lot of places that we feel like we can use Leo and we want to try to do that as much as we can,” Spagnuolo said. “A little bit of it’s dictated by what the offense is putting out there. But I’m really happy with what Leo’s done and we’ve got to keep trying to use him as much as we can.”
The overhang position requires a combination of instincts, speed and strength. The player must prepare to read whether it’s a run or pass quickly the pursue the play, which may require taking on an offensive tackle, against whom Chenal may be concerning several inches and more than 70 pounds. He also understands picking the right time and situation to unleash him on the quarterback is key to success.
“You don’t want to keep it like every time I’m on the line I’m going to go, and (Spagnuolo) does change it up where I’m going to be dropping,” Chenal said. “And that’s on me to start showing I’m dropping here when I’m not and changing it up like that. I kind of take that on as me to give the offensive tackle, the offense a look that they’re not used to.”
Chenal feels he’s still developing as a pass rusher, especially since has so few snaps under his belt playing from the outside. Blitzing the passer from the edge is much different from rushing from the inside, where Chenal did most of his blitzing prior to coming to Kansas City. But he’s confident he’ll become an old pro in no time.
“I think I just need to develop the technique and once I get that down it will be smooth,” Chenal said.
