Chiefs linebacker eased back after injury. Why his role will change moving forward

Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Drue Tranquill took a serious blow to the head in his team’s road loss to the Green Bay Packers two weeks ago.

That made his return to the lineup in Sunday’s win over New England more significant after he sat out just one week with a concussion.

“It was great to be back out there,” Tranquill said. “These last four games we knew would be really important in terms of building for the postseason, and obviously got off to a good start there versus the Patriots.”

Tranquill’s injury took place on an unsettling play.

In the first quarter against Green Bay on Dec. 3, Tranquill sprinted to make a tackle when 247-pound running back AJ Dillon ran into him, putting his knee into the side of Tranquill’s head.

Tranquill remained on the turf for a few minutes, with Chiefs linebacker Willie Gay saying he almost cried on the field while seeing Tranquill stay down.

“I just remember getting over the top, and AJ went to make a jump-cut and kind of hit me with a flying knee. A little UFC style,” Tranquill said. “It took my lights out there for a little bit.”

The good news for Tranquill is he cleared concussion protocol over the past two weeks. He shared his appreciation this week for the NFL process he had to go through before he was cleared to return, especially with medical experts still evolving in their understanding of the brain.

“There’s a lot of different phases you’ve got to go through, a lot of different people you’ve got to meet with: neurologists, doctors, athletic trainers,” Tranquill said. “They make sure you’re ready before they put you back out there, for sure.”

Tranquill was eased back this past week against New England, playing 20 defensive snaps. He contributed two tackles and a sack.

The 28-year-old, who has 4 1/2 sacks after signing with the Chiefs this offseason, said he emphasized pass-rushing while previously a member of the Los Angeles Chargers. During that time, he spent extra time after practice with pass-rush specialist Joey Bosa, working on the best ways to utilize his head, shoulders and hands while blitzing.

“So I’ve gotta give him a shout-out there. He gave me a few different drills to do,” Tranquill said. “But you’re constantly just evolving things in your toolbox. I feel like that’s something that is a strength of mine, and I certainly want to continue to hone in on.”

The duty will change for Tranquill moving forward. When Nick Bolton went out with a wrist injury in October, Tranquill stepped seamlessly into his starting middle-linebacker spot, with defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo saying the team “didn’t skip a beat” with Tranquill subbing in there.

Bolton is now in his third week back from injury, meaning KC has its full complement of linebackers available along with Gay and strongside linebacker Leo Chenal.

“We’re getting healthy at the right time: when you want to make a playoff push,” Tranquill said. “We’ve got a lot of good players in our room, a lot of guys that could do a lot of different things for us.”

Spagnuolo said Friday that Tranquill’s role would increase from earlier in the season when all the Chiefs’ linebackers were previously healthy. Specifically, like Sunday against the Patriots, the Chiefs still plan to use Tranquill at middle linebacker some to give Bolton a rest.

“He’s so flexible and versatile,” Spagnuolo said of Tranquill, “that we can use him in a number of different roles.”

Tranquill admits he’ll now “wear a couple hats” while preparing to play at both middle and weakside linebacker.

Tranquill is helping the team in other ways, too. For example, Spagnuolo said Tranquill went to his office Friday to ask a “What if” question about a specific Chiefs defensive look. It was a scenario, Spagnuolo said, that he hadn’t considered before.

“So there’s a lot of things going on behind the scenes,” Spagnuolo said, “that you probably don’t see that his value is tremendous to us.”

Chiefs linebacker coach Brendan Daly complimented Tranquill’s football IQ on Friday as well, saying it allowed the linebacker to be an adaptable piece defensively.

Defensive lineman Chris Jones, meanwhile, was happy to see Tranquill back on the field Sunday.

“He’s been wonderful for us throughout the whole year,” Jones said. “His speed, his wisdom on this defense — he’s come in and made plays for us.”