{"id":286337,"date":"2025-08-14T02:36:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T02:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/286337\/"},"modified":"2025-08-14T02:36:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T02:36:11","slug":"a-pair-of-rookies-could-be-the-missing-ingredients-the-chiefs-defense-needs-in-area-where-it-lacked-the-most-in-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/286337\/","title":{"rendered":"A pair of rookies could be the missing ingredients the Chiefs’ defense needs in area where it lacked the most in 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"

A pair of rookies could be the missing ingredients the Chiefs’ defense needs in area where it lacked the most in 2024<\/a> originally appeared on A to Z Sports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Kansas City Chiefs have a nice blend of youth and experience on defense.<\/p>\n

They are returning 10 of 11 starters on the unit, with second year safety Jaden Hicks being the only new one. Even though they have a lot of veterans, most of them are still quite young. In fact, defensive tackle Chris Jones is the only starter who is in his 30’s<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Chiefs have had one of the best defenses in the NFL over the past few years. However, it took a step backwards in one major category last season \u2014 sacks. Rookie defensive linemen Omarr Norman-Lott and Ashton Gillotte could help change that in 2025. <\/p>\n

While speaking to the media following Monday’s training camp practice, defensive line coach Joe Cullen discussed Norman-Lott’s role specifically.<\/p>\n

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“We got Chris Jones, who’s as dominant of a 3-technique as there is in the NFL, so we’re trying to get everybody else ready,” Cullen said. “You got to [be able to] play two spots, and Omarr is going to play both. Omarr will play three, and shade (1-technique). We’re getting him ready for both. He was 295-300 [pounds] in college, and he’s 304-305 1755138971, but he’ll adjust to that. [He has a] great motor, really soaks everything in, and just tries to do everything detailed and right”<\/p>\n

1-technique is when a player is eating up space and taking on double teams, whereas 3-technique is a player that is trying to bust through the offensive line and get pressure on the quarterback. Some were surprised to see Norman-Lott playing 1-technique during the Chiefs’ preseason game against the Arizona Cardinals last week, since he didn’t do much of that during college. <\/p>\n

The Chiefs have always been big on making their defensive linemen versatile, so it makes sense that they’re cross-training Norman-Lott. As for Gillotte, he’ll likely stay primarily at defensive end, similar to George Karlaftis. Cullen went on to compare the two.<\/p>\n

“Very similar in terms of that they were coached by the same coach,” Cullen said of Gillotte and Karlaftis. “Coach Hagen did a great job at Georgia and Purdue, and now he’s at Louisville. Very similar.”<\/p>\n

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Hagen coached Karlaftis at Purdue, then Gillotte at Louisville. The two formed a bond before Gillotte was even drafted by Kansas City<\/a>, and now get to be teammates. The Chiefs finished 16th in the league in sacks last season with 39 after finishing second in 2023 (57) and 2022 (55). Hopefully Norman-Lott and Gillotte can boost the defense back up in that area, and eventually develop into starters.<\/p>\n

Related: Kansas City Chiefs 2025 Training Camp officially comes to a close, we name 6 winners and 4 losers<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally reported by A to Z Sports<\/a> on Aug 13, 2025, where it first appeared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A pair of rookies could be the missing ingredients the Chiefs’ defense needs in area where it lacked…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":286338,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2063],"tags":[390,2776,346,2025,7834,7,303,26378,26606,118,110,2438,2437,6,1866],"class_list":{"0":"post-286337","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-kansas-city-chiefs","8":"tag-arizona-cardinals","9":"tag-ashton-gillotte","10":"tag-chiefs","11":"tag-chris-jones","12":"tag-defensive-linemen","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-george-karlaftis","15":"tag-jaden-hicks","16":"tag-joe-cullen","17":"tag-kansas-city","18":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs","19":"tag-kansascity","20":"tag-kansascitychiefs","21":"tag-nfl","22":"tag-the-chiefs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115024795068237104","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/286338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}