There are cliches in football just like in life. When Kansas City Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo has a long-limbed, rock-solid defensive end in his lineup, that’s a “Spags defensive end” to many football fans.
At this point in Spags’ 17-year career as an NFL coordinator or head coach, that feels like an overblown narrative, and the defensive mastermind echoed that sentiment during his press conference after Wednesday’s minicamp practice.
“I like to think I just like good football players;
they don’t all come in one molded size,” Spagnuolo said after questioning the stereotype.
The reporter mentioned that “mold” for defensive ends in reference to this year’s second-round pick, edge rusher R Mason Thomas.
“We’ve had really tall… and we’ve had the other kind too,” Spagsnuolo acknowledged. “R Mason is not the tall, long guy.”
At 6 feet 2 inches tall and 241 pounds, Thomas doesn’t meet the cliche, but he isn’t dissimilar from former players coached by Spagnuolo or defensive line coach Joe Cullen. In his own press conference on Wednesday, Cullen made two historical comparisons to emphasize Thomas’s distinctive talent.
“He has a unique ability,” Cullen started. “Way back, when I first got in the league, we had Cliff Avril. We had Frank [Clark] my first year here… guys that can bend and get in Gumby-like positions and still be running full speed, he has that ability.”
With that rare flexibility for a Chiefs defensive end, it is not the skill that Spagnuolo highlighted when reflecting on the pre-draft evaluation of the organization and general manager Brett Veach.
“The thing that stuck out to Brett and myself, all the scouts, was his get-off,” Spagnuolo said. “He’s got a little bit of juice to him, which I think any defense wants and needs.”
The front office had a confident evaluation of the person and the player, thanks to the hiring of running backs coach DeMarco Murray, who coached at the University of Oklahoma for the entirety of Thomas’ four-year career in Norman.
“Anytime we’re grabbing these guys from college, you don’t have insight on what you can’t see on film; I always think it’s a little bit risky,” Spagnuolo admitted. “DeMarco was great with sharing what he thought of R Mason, and it all kind of became true.”
“Ultimately, he’s a team guy,” Murray shared during his press conference on Wednesday. “That’s the first and foremost thing that’s important now more than ever, when you’re dealing with college and NIL… having spent the last four years with R Mason, I had a really good understanding of who he was as a person, a player, and went up against him every single day, competed against him at a high level, team captain.… just a great character guy.”
“Understanding that, once I got here, character is everything from top to bottom,” Murray went on. “I knew he would fit right into the locker room. It wasn’t a lot of selling on my end… he’s a great kid, really, really good effort and a tremendous talent.”
The 40th pick in this year’s draft is a unique player in Kansas City, and that has clearly made him stand out to many members of the coaching staff and front office.
