Charles Omenihu and adding a DUDE to the Chiefs pass rush

The free agent acquisition wasted no time demonstrating the value he brings to Kansas City's defense.

You can never have too many guys in your pass rush. But you really can never have too many DUDES in your pass rush.

I’ve written for several years now about complementary pass rush and the importance of having multiple players who can get after the passer. The short story is that a single pass rusher can’t consistently generate pressure on his own, no matter how good he is, and having multiple defenders causing pressure alters the math for defenses in both frequency and intensity of pressure. Here’s how I’ve put it previously.

Even the very best pass rushers in the NFL only win about a 25-30% of the time, and when they do quarterbacks are hardly “still” targets. That means two things. First, you need other guys to help get home on those other 70% of the plays or you’re still going to have far to many “sit and survey” snaps for the quarterback. And second, having multiple guys threatening pressure on a given snap helps turn pressures into hits and hits into sacks.

I’ve also often talked about the difference between a decent “guy” vs a “DUDE” as a pass rusher. You want guys who can rush the passer. You need guys who can rush the passer. But you’re never going to have an elite pass rush without at least one dude, even if you’ve got multiple guys. What’s the difference? A guy is a decent pass rusher who helps the complementary rush but doesn’t win 1x1 enough to be a dude. If you have one elite dude and multiple guys, your pass rush can be quite good. But if you have multiple dudes AND multiple guys? Now you’re cooking with gas.

And the Chiefs just might have a dude in Charles Omenihu, who had himself a day in his first action at Arrowhead Stadium.

Omenihu made the most of his pass rushing snaps against the Chargers, collecting a sack, a few QB pressures/hits, and an incredibly timely pass defensed that led to a pick. But more than that, he demonstrated just how much more dangerous an already very good Chiefs defense can be with the addition of another dude as a pass rusher.

Let’s talk about how Omenihu helped the Chiefs defense pitch a shutout in the second half against the Chargers, how his skillset (on first glance) seems to fit in well with Steve Spagnuolo’s defense, and how having another dude along the line impacts the course of drives and games.