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Why Chiefs should target edge defender in 2017 NFL Draft

Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Tamba Hali (91) celebrates with teammates linebacker Justin Houston (50) and linebacker Derrick Johnson (56) after Hali sacked Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Landry Jones (3) for a turnover, during the second half of an NFL football game in Kansas City, Mo., Sunday, Oct. 25, 2015. The Kansas City Chiefs won 23-13. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)

When Kansas City Chiefs star edge player Justin Houston missed the first nine games of 2016, third-year pro Dee Ford emerged as a competent player for a defense that finished seventh in points allowed per game (19.4) and first in the percentage of defensive drives that ended in a turnover (16.5 percent). All that said, there are some reasons the Chiefs should look at picking up an edge player in next week’s draft.

  • While Ford finished the season with an impressive 54 total QB pressures (12 of which were sacks), he was half as efficient rushing from the right (5.2 pass-rushing productivity on 115 pass-rush snaps from the right side) as he was from the left (11.1 on 338 snaps).
  • 93.6 percent of Justin Houston’s pass-rushing snaps came from the left side in 2016, and 85.6 percent came from the left in 2015. He’s also the Chiefs’ highest-paid player, meaning that he probably isn’t switching positions anytime soon.
  • Possible Hall-of-Fame ROLB Tambi Hali’s snaps declined from 1,032 in 2013 to 599 in 2016. Given his age (34), and the fact that 20 of the first 98 players on our PFF Draft Board are edge players, the time may be now to use on Kansas City's four picks in the first 104 on a ROLB of the future.

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Pass-rushing productivity

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