For Chiefs linebacker facing his old team, it’s a business trip with a little emotion

Kevin Pierre-Louis will stay with the Chiefs at the team hotel in Seattle for Friday’s preseason game. But with the home he’s rented for the last three years only a 10-minute drive away, the former Seahawks linebacker will check in on the familiar setting.

“About 90 percent of my stuff is still there,” Pierre-Louis said.

But his game is in Kansas City, and the Chiefs say they like it.

Pierre-Louis has been running with the second and third teams at inside linebacker and has a role on four special teams. He blocked a punt in the preseason opener against the 49ers.

Still, he’s playing catch-up learning the nuances of the Chiefs’ base defense.

“I’ve been spending a lot of time with coaches, and overtime studying the defense,” Pierre-Louis said. “It’s about getting the small details right.”

The trade was unusual on a few fronts. The Chiefs and Seahawks swapped straight up, player for player who man similar positions and have like skill sets, D.J. Alexander for Pierre-Louis. No other assets were involved. Also odd was the timing, and not just because it was the eve of training camp.

“I got the call at 7 a.m., I literally woke up to the call,” Pierre-Louis said. “The next day the Seahawks (veterans) were reporting. So that was the shocking part. I got the call at 7 and was on a flight at 12:40.”

Chiefs special-teams coach Dave Toub hated losing Alexander, who was selected to the Pro Bowl last season. But he’s stoked with what Pierre-Louis has delivered.

“He’s doing great,” Toub said. “We have him as a four-phase starter. He’s getting more and more defensive (snaps) every day, so we may have to reevaluate that going forward. But right now, I love having him on everything we do.”

Pierre-Louis brings speed to a position that’s become crowded with experienced candidates such as Ramik Wilson, Justin March-Lillard, Josh Mauga and Terrance Smith.

“He’s got really good quickness and he’s an attacking, physical type of player,” defensive coordinator Bob Sutton said. “He adds speed to our defense. He’s one of those guys who just kind of came in out of nowhere and has had to merge into this whole thing on the run.

“We’re using him a lot of different places, and so far have been happy with his performance.”

Pierre-Louis was the Seahawks’ fourth-round draft pick from Boston College in 2014. He didn’t spend much time seeking deep meaning in the trade, satisfied that he was going from one postseason contender to another.

“I went from one great organization to another one,” Pierre-Louis said. “It was a trade. I wasn’t cut or released. If that had happened this would this be a whole different conversation.”

On Friday, Pierre-Louis will greet old teammates, just as Alexander, listed as the Seahawks’ fourth outside linebacker, will. Soon after the trade, it hit him that he would be returning to CenturyLink Field soon.

“Will be there some emotion in it? Yes, a little,” Pierre-Louis said. “I get a chance to go up against guys I’ve been grinding with for the last three years. It’s like battling against your brothers. But in the end it’s a business trip.”

This story was originally published August 23, 2017 at 4:27 PM with the headline "For Chiefs linebacker facing his old team, it’s a business trip with a little emotion."