When a $24 million player underperforms, the blame game begins. For one former Chief, the fault lies not with the player, but squarely with Andy Reid’s coaching staff. When questions were raised about Mike Danna’s poor pressure-to-snap performance, ex-OT Mitchell Schwartz offered a sound explanation. His message revealed that the onus is on Andy Reid’s team’s inability to gauge where he fits on the field.

“The issue I have is that they signed Danna coming off a couple of years where his primary pass rush production came from inside, at 3t [3-technique],” former offensive tackle Mitchell Schwartz said on X. “In 22-23, he had 298 snaps inside. In 24-25, he had 99. I just don’t get why they determined that spot was no longer beneficial for him to rush from.”

Mitchell Schwartz didn’t hold back in criticizing the team’s decision to move Mike Danna away from the interior. His response came after a user on social media pointed out Danna’s lack of pass-rush impact despite heavy usage. Danna logged close to 390 defensive snaps in 2025 and produced nine total pressures, a rate of roughly one pressure every 40-plus snaps.

The low return led to frustrated reactions among fans and reinforced Schwartz’s argument that Danna was being deployed in a role that didn’t maximize his strengths.

“That’s unfathomably bad,” the user wrote on X. “You could throw one of us out there, and we’d trip and accidentally get a pressure if we had 50 freaking chances. I’m not even sure I’m joking.”

Interestingly, Danna’s talent and comfort in the position come from his days at Michigan when Jim Harbaugh was the head coach. He trained him to attack from interior alignments as a 4i pass rusher. 3-tech lines up on the outside shoulder of the guard and 4i on the inside shoulder of the offensive tackle.

Still, both are inside and used to rush against interior linemen. Those reps exposed him to the role and boosted his versatility, making him a valuable rotational piece. In the 2023 season, five of Danna’s 6.5 sacks came on key third downs when Kansas City positioned him between the tackles as a three-technique or 4i.

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Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo often used him as a defensive tackle, and Reid even praised his flexibility. He said Danna has a “knack” for interior pass rushing. Yet, it wasn’t easy for the defensive end.

“But it’s always a challenge, going from both outside and in, because it’s always different footwork, always different techniques,” Danna said in 2024. “But you just gotta be able to adjust, man. You know, if you’re able to adjust on the fly, you can really excel.”

On the same side of the ball, the Chiefs deal with confusing defensive stats.

This questionable deployment of a key player like Danna is a symptom of a larger defensive identity crisis that plagued the Chiefs all season, a problem that was only magnified by the offense’s historic struggles.

Defensive mismanagement extends beyond Mike Danna

Kansas City’s defense showed promise in the 2025 season, surrendering fewer yards than the previous one. The number fell from 320.6 to 301.5 while the team also improved its defensive EPA. Their rank climbed from 15th to 12th, along with noticeable progress in pass coverage. Historically, such performance had always been enough for them, with Patrick Mahomes and his group doing the heavy lifting.

However, this wasn’t the case in this campaign due to a battered offense. The Chiefs began the year without top wideout Rashee Rice and then lost another one in the group when Xavier Worthy dislocated his shoulder in the opener on September 5, 2025. By Week 13, the team faced more injuries as offensive linemen Jawaan Taylor and Josh Simmons went down, with the final blow coming two weeks later.

Mahomes sustained a season-ending torn ACL, and he never saw the field again. Ultimately, the Chiefs lost their offensive edge and couldn’t make the postseason. If the Chiefs want to avoid relying solely on offense again, the defense has clear issues to address. Turnovers were a significant problem, with only 14 takeaways and -1 differential. The pass rush also languished, ending the season with just 35 sacks.

Even more problematic was their inability to finish games. Kansas City often faltered in crucial moments, allowing late scoring drives that changed outcomes. In six early losses, they came up short by seven points or fewer. Also, mistakes in third-and-long situations added to the defensive woes. For Reid, fixing those late defensive breakdowns may matter just as much as getting the offense healthy again.