Chiefs’ Flajole brings veteran experience to new role – News-Press Now
In their hunt for another championship, the Chiefs welcomed a new face to guide their defense this season.
Hired in April, veteran assistant Ken Flajole replaced Britt Reid as Kansas City’s outside linebackers coach.
With 41 years of coaching experience, Flajole was the defensive coordinator for the St. Louis Rams from 2009 to 2011. In 2017, he won the Super Bowl with the Philadelphia Eagles as the linebackers coach.
Coming to Kansas City is familiar territory for the 66-year-old, who has old ties with both Andy Reid and Steve Spagnuolo.
“Andy (Reid) and I were together in college at two different spots at UTEP and Missouri and at the Green Bay Packers and then Spags (Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo) and I were together at the St. Louis Rams and the New Orleans Saints, so I’ve got a little history with them,” Flajole said.
Reid highlighted how the history involving the multiple coaches on the defense goes even deeper.
“One unique thing about that defensive staff is you throw Ken in the mix, (Matt) House has been with him, Brendan (Daly) has been with him and they all kind of know each other, and David (Merritt) and Sam (Madison)—Sam played for Spags and David worked with Spags in New York. So, there’s a tie-in there, there’s a connection, so they can get a lot of work done and give the players a lot of good information and they kind of know what each other is thinking,” Reid said.
Flajole also reuintes with Matt House, the Chiefs linebackers coach. Both coach a linebacker group this season that holds back-to-back second-round draft picks in Willie Gay Jr. and Nick Bolton.
In 2020, the Chiefs drafted Gay with the 63rd pick out of Mississippi State. With the 58th pick, Nick Bolton was selected from Missouri this year.
“It’s great to have those young (linebackers Willie Gay Jr. and Nick Bolton), get them indoctrinated in the scheme and try to bring them along,” Flajole said. “Matt does a great job with them. I’m just really impressed. I think he’s a quality football coach. I chime in and give me two cents when it’s appropriate, but I don’t want to discount what he’s done in the room, too.”
Even with the perks of coaching alongside familiar faces, Flajole wanted to join the Chiefs for a special reason.
“I think the big thing is obviously the quality of the organization. As a coach that’s a little bit longer in his career, the ability to win and win now, that’s always important,” Flajole said.
Spagnuolo said Flajole’s experience wisdom on the field is a welcome addition.
“I’ve just got a great deal of respect for him. He’s going to be a great sounding board for me, another set of eyes (from) somebody that’s had a lot of experience in this league,” Spagnuolo said. “On game day, I know Ken. we were together on the sideline. He’s really good on game day with sorting things out: run schemes and what the offense is trying to do to us. So I’m looking forward to that.”
Working alongside Spagnuolo to help the defense improve ahead of the upcoming season, Flajole stresses he’s willing to do whatever it takes to help the Chiefs get another Lombardi Trophy.
“I’m open to anything he wants me to do,” Flajole said. “I really feel like there’s a way for me to lighten their loads a little bit — so to speak — during the course of the season. I’ve been a coordinator. I’ve been a position coach. So I know the time constraints that go into those guys doing what they do and at the high level that they do it. So if that means that I’m drawing cards at night for the next day’s practice or if Steve needs me to research third down and maybe categorize protections — things like that, I’m really going to say that I’m going to try to be a jack-of-all-trades and somehow find time that I can help them.”