It's been a relatively stress-free week for the Chiefs from a pure football perspective, though some off-field news does have fans slightly worried about the future. Both offensive and defensive coordinators Matt Nagy and Steve Spagnuolo are becoming hot candidates in the coaching cycle, with Spagnuolo, in particular, feeling like he could land another head coaching job.
Luckily for Kansas City, the organization already has the perfect potential Spagnuolo replacement in the building. Defensive backs coach Dave Merritt is in his sixth season with the franchise and has spent 28 years overall in the NFL, including four as a player.
He's become one of the league's best positional coaches on either side of the ball and could take the reins should Spagnuolo get another opportunity as a head coach.
Chiefs DB Coach Dave Merritt Would Be Perfect Steve Spagnuolo Replacement
Brett Veach and Spagnuolo receive most of the praise for the Chiefs' innate ability to turn mid-to-late-round picks into reliable starters in the secondary, though Merritt is just as responsible for Kansas City's success.
Trent McDuffie was a first-round pick but outside of him, Chamarri Conner and Jaden Hicks were fourth-rounders while Jaylen Watson, Joshua Williams, and Nazeeh Johnson were all seventh-rounders. Merritt helped L'Jarius Sneed and McDuffie rise to the top of the position and the other five, in addition to Bryan Cook (2nd Round), are all reliable contributors at worst.
Merritt was on Spagnuolo's staff with the Giants and has experience working with every part of the defense, having coached both the defensive line and linebackers on top of his current work with defensive backs. By all accounts, he's beloved by the players and his vast experience allows him to teach in a variety of ways.
Watson's injury caused him to miss a significant portion of the season and Kansas City struggled to replace both him and Sneed yet still ranked 13th in opponent yards per pass play (6.5). Last season, the healthy Chiefs were third (5.5).
Merritt's work speaks for itself and he's one of the organization's secret weapons. It's long been assumed that he'd eventually be hired by another team to be their defensive coordinator but should Spagnuolo leave, Merritt and defensive line coach Joe Cullen would be on the shortlist to take over.
No matter what happens in the offseason, this staff is in fantastic shape and Merritt will get his chance to shine sooner rather than later.
