Why the Kansas City Chiefs coveted a rookie edge rusher who had zero sacks last year
In December 2016, with a couple of sentences published on his Twitter account, Joshua Kaindoh delighted one college football coach and disappointed a dozen others. He had received 20 offers from Division I programs who waited to see which one he would pick. (He settled on Florida State.)
Four-plus years later, a role reversal.
Kaindoh waited three days over the NFL Draft weekend to see which team would ultimately select him.
So what happened in those four years? How did he go from coveted college recruit — ranked second in the state of Florida and in the top-50 nationally — to a player passed over 143 times in the NFL Draft?
The production failed to match the talent during the stay at Florida State. Kaindoh had only eight sacks in his four-year college career, including zero in eight games last season.
But the Chiefs took a chance anyway, using their fifth-round pick on the edge rusher. There’s belief in the building that Kaindoh can put it all together at this level, even if he struggled to do so at the last one.
Here’s why:
1. The athleticism/measurables
He’s 6-7, 265 pounds. Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo has never been shy about his preference for longer defensive ends, and well, they don’t come much taller than this. His arms stretch 34 1/2 inches.
But it’s not just the length. It’s the athleticism, too. He ran the 40-yard dash in 4.68 seconds. His vertical is 36 1/2 inches. His broad jump is among the top of his class.
According to the Relative Athletic Score (RAS), a statistic compiled by Kent Lee Platte, Kaindoh’s combined metrics ranked 59th among all defensive ends (1,361 of them) in the last 35 drafts.
That will catch some attention, particularly when the fifth rolls around and the player is still on the board.
“He’s long. He’s a big human being, and he’s got long arms,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “He knows how to use them. He has heavy hands, as they’d say. It’s just a matter of him getting used to the scheme.”
2. Injuries hampered Kaindoh’s development, and he’s healthy now
The introduction to college football provided optimism that Kaindoh would develop into the four-star player he’d been rated. He had four sacks as a freshman and three more as a sophomore, even while battling hamstring strains.
It’s the final two years in which the output just wasn’t there, but there is a reason for that. Kaindoh suffered injuries in back-to-back seasons. He made only one start in 2019 because of ankle issue. It caused him problems again in 2020, as did a knee sprain.
“Going back to the medical staff and the work we’ve done, we like the way that’s healed up now,” Chiefs general manager Brett Veach said. “And again, he’s a guy who has a ton of potential.”
A healthy season could alter his course.
“I definitely feel like I still was doing some good things, but I definitely feel like the sky is the limit at the same time and I’m nowhere near where I could be,” Kaindoh said.
3. Coaching stability
When Kaindoh committed to Florida State, he signed on for a long-term relationship with head coach Jimbo Fisher.
Or so he thought.
Instead, he played just one year under Fisher. Then two seasons for Willie Taggart. Then another for Mike Norvell. Odell Haggins twice served as an interim coach during that time, as well. Kaindoh spent his college career learning new schemes rather than a more simple focus on becoming a better football player.
He arrives in a stable situation in Kansas City, with Andy Reid entering his ninth season as the Chiefs’ head coach and Brendan Daly his third in charge of the defensive line.
“With all the coaching changes, I tried to be optimistic. I just tried to see the positive in things,” Kaindoh said. “With that, I feel like I had to adapt to a bunch of different coaching staffs. I hope there’s stability, but that’s out of my control. I can control what I can control. I just feel like that situation at Florida State with all the coaches just prepared me for anything that’s to come.”