Joe Cullen: New Chiefs Defensive Line Coach.
24 repliesThe Kansas City Chiefs recently hired Joe Cullen as their new defensive line coach. Here’s a bit of info on the former Jacksonville Jaguars – DC – in this AG Spotlight . Join AG to discuss…
Hello Arrowhead Guys. If you head over to The Mothership to look at the Kansas City Chiefs coaching staff. You’ll notice a couple of changes on the defensive side of football. First, that Brendan Daly is now the Linebackers Coach. Secondly, that the Red and Gold brought in the Jacksonville Jaguars Defensive Coordinator from the 2021 season, Joe Cullen. Lastly, for the purposes of this AG Spotlight I will keep the content based solely on Joe Cullen, but I encourage our readership to discuss both moves and any other coaching moves for the Chiefs in the comment section. Let’s roll!
Welcome to the Chiefs, Joe Cullen!
New Chiefs’ Defensive Line Coach Joe Cullen, who was the Jaguars’ Defensive Coordinator last year, coached the Ravens’ defensive line from 2016-20. He’s been in the NFL (working primarily with the defensive line) for 15 years.
— Matt McMullen (@KCChiefs_Matt) February 4, 2022
Welcome to KC, Coach Cullen!
? Stephen Morton / AP pic.twitter.com/bdZM25FAel
Who is Joe Cullen?
Coach Cullen is from Quincy, Massachusetts and is 54 years old. To me, it’s a mistake to think only of Coach Cullen as a defensive coordinator because last season was the first time in his 30+ year career that he has held that title in the NFL. Now in college, Joe was a DC for Richmond (97-97 and the 2000 season) and Indiana (2004), but mostly over his lengthy career Coach Cullen has been a defensive line coach. Though interestingly enough, he started his career on the offensive side of the ball coaching RB’s for Massachusetts all the way back in 1990 for one season.
In the NFL, Joe Cullen is very well tenured, making coaching carousel stops along miscellaneous defensive lines for the Baltimore Ravens, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Cleveland Browns and the Detroit Lions dating all the way back to the 2006 NFL season (sir, this is a Wendy’s). This was only interrupted by a one-year stint back in the college ranks, coaching the DL for Idaho State in 2009. I’m not going to pretend that I know the type of impact that Coach Cullen made for each one of these teams along the way, because I don’t know at all, and I’m not privy to the stats. However, I do like that the Chiefs found a DL coach that has a ton of NFL experience and will bring something new to the table for a defensive line that struggled heavily at times last season.
We all know how vital it is for the Kansas City Chiefs to get some more pass rush next year, so I’m going to take a look at the Jaguars and Ravens NFL pass rush for the past five seasons. I’m picking those two teams because Cullen was a DC for the Jags last season, and he spent 2016-2020 coaching the Ravens DL under the tutelage of John Harbaugh. On paper, that part has me excited about Coach Cullen, but I wanted to see the reality of the stats. So I looked at these Pro Football Reference years:
2021 – Jags (32 Sacks)
2020 – Ravens (39 Sacks)
2019 – Ravens (37 Sacks)
2018 – Ravens (43 Sacks)
2017 – Ravens (41 Sacks)
In case you’re wondering, the Ravens had 31 sacks in 2016, but I said I was only going to go back 5 years, so I stuck to my guns. Now, obviously, I know that I’m cherry-picking the sack totals from the Ravens and Jaguars because absolutely Cullen didn’t have much to do with it–I totally get that. What’s disheartening to me about Cullen’s coaching experience is that his defensive lines with the Ravens never racked up, as individuals, more than 4 sacks apiece in the past five years. That happened once for Calais Campbell in 2020, and to be fair to Cullen’s first year with the Ravens; it also happened for Timmy Jernigan in 2016 when he got 5 sacks. Famously, though, the Ravens run a 3-4 defense, so it’s more designed for LB’s of all types to get big sacks. That said, the best totals even for those type of players were Terrell Suggs in 2017 (11 Sacks) and Matt Judon in 2019 (9.5 Sacks).
This isn’t the type of information that’s going to sell you on how this hire is great for the Kansas City Chiefs–I totally get that, too. But understand, I’m not attempting to sell you on what type of benefits having Cullen around is going to do for the Chiefs. I’m attempting to learn how a 3-4 minded defensive line coach is going to help Spags’ 4-3 line improve its’ pass rush. Because I’m confused, too. Now, before you jump to the Chiefs switching defenses this season or the idea that they’re firing Spags or something ridiculous like that…understand that this Coach has three decades of experience coaching defensive lines and I imagine that he understands every DL scheme that there is to know available in the NFL. My questions are: Is he a good coach for the Chiefs DL? What about the arrests, do we have a backstory?
If you’re wanting some back story on the Chiefs new DL Coach Joe Cullen, this is a great place to start.https://t.co/0GCOunrfNZ
— W.A. Watts (@ChiefBlindersOn) February 7, 2022
“When I first met him, he had already broken down all my college film,” says Bucs defensive tackle Gerald McCoy. “I had never even met him before and he had me completely broken down. And he did that for every D-lineman.”
Cullen has a raspy voice, which fades by the end of many practices, after hours of shouting.
“Joe Cullen is the only person who can have an individual drill and the whole field will stop working to watch it,” McCoy says. “I’ve never seen a coach that can demand attention from an entire football field because of his individual drill. You can hear him yelling from all the way on the other side. His intensity is nonstop.”
McCoy claims Bucs players never mentioned Cullen’s arrests. “A lot of them didn’t know about it.” The Ravens, who hired Cullen in 2016, echo the same thing.
“It was no concern because he’s proven himself many times over,” says head coach John Harbaugh. “We had to recruit Joe. It wasn’t like, ‘Oh I don’t know who to hire, Hmmm, Joe Cullen!’ It was like, ‘We gotta get this guy. I want him to be here.’”
Sports Illustrated
Is he a good coach for the Chiefs DL?
My first impression of Joe Cullen was that he is kind of Gunther Cunningham type of coach. The comments from Harbaugh kind of re-instill that theory. That said, I think that Gunther and Cullen types are so unique that even comparing the two is kind of a waste. The Chiefs need attitude and good coaching on the defense as a whole. It seems like Joe Cullen will be perfect for that. It seems like he’s put his troubled past behind him and that he’s a better man and coach for facing that kind of adversity.
Gerald McCoy agrees, saying back then, “If you ever need somebody that can change a team’s mentality, or have the killer dog mentality, you have to hire Joe Cullen!”
That’s exactly what the Chiefs did, they went out and hired Joe Cullen. Watching the Chiefs line play in 2021, that’s what was missing… a killer dog mentality where the pass rush was finishing hits on the QB instead of letting slippery QB’s get a way. That may be an effect of working against Mahomes in practice all the time and never taking him down, but tackling and finishing is something that can be worked on and from the looks of it… Joe Cullen will bring exactly that. From a sack production standpoint, this move still worries me. From a 3-4 to 4-3 defensive standpoint, this move still makes me nervous. However, from an is he a good coach for the Chiefs DL standpoint? … I believe the Chiefs hit a HOMERUN!
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Great article and back story too boot!
Great job!
The Wendy’s thing is odd, but since we are a Whataburger team, I don’t see any issues.
If we’re averaging 2 sacks a game, I don’t really care who gets them, but I do wonder about his 3-4 vs our 4-3.
Good read, worth the time. I’ll only DV it once.
The back story was a great read , naked at Wendy’s , dude likes to party.. glad he got his shit together. A lot easier said than done … welcome to the kingdom..
He didn’t have the best luck with restaurants and fast food chains:
But I agree that it seems like he has his shit together. After what happened with Britt Reid coaching the same DL unit, the Chiefs need him to be better in that regard.
I feel like it’s a good hire, that shit was over 15 years ago.
I also agree, welcome to the Chiefs!
I find I know very little about most of our coaches, so this type of article is amazing!
Thanks, CBO!
I don’t think I’d worry so much about the 3-4 4-3 stuff. I think I saw somewhere that most defensed are only in their base defense less than half of the time anyways.
NFL coaches should be well-versed in all types of defensive techniques for that reason, not just 3-4 or 4-3. They have to use many types of defenses during the course of a game.
So Cullen is replacing Daly’s spot with him moving to LB coach? Who were the previous coaches in these spots?
Matt house was the lb
Britt Reid was DL coach before Brendan Daly, Gary Gibbs was LB Coach before Matt House. Obviously Brendan Daly is replacing Matt House and was the DL coach last season (but is important to note because he hasn’t really coached LB’s before, I think they’re grooming him to be a DC some da(
-l)y…) Other names to remember Terry Braden Asst DL. Ken Flajole OLB’s coach. Defensive Asst… Donald D’Alesio and Defensive Quality Control Alex Whittingham. Dave Merritt and Sam Madison have been working with the DB’s for a few seasons with Spags (replacing Al Harris and Emmitt Thomas). Mark DeLeone was once a Asst LB coach. Tommy Brasher was once sort of a Line/Asst Head Coach…Most of the change that has happened was brought on was due to Bob Sutton kicking rocks and Spags being brought on. I’d like to see the Chiefs bring in someone to be the assistant head coach from the defensive side. But I don’t know if that will happen.
I hope this helps.
Here’s the Chiefs coaching roster as it stands: https://www.chiefs.com/team/coaches-roster/
I had to dig for some of that other info… but here you can read about the coaches we have now.
Good read. Thanks cbo
Awesome article, that’s why I come here.
That and to DV Ups …?
wreck’d for honesty
great write-uo, CBO, and thank ya … so the Chiefs once again have a D-Line Coach: now all they need to go with him is an actual D-Line
I’ll even go so far as to predict that Veach picks D-Line in 1st Round (most of the best likely gone by then, but anyone is better than noone (right? right??)
of course, y’all know how great I am at anything close to a “mock draft” (see: DeCastro, David) so there’s that
It appears there are a couple up votes there. Is something wrong with my monitor?
Didn’t you get your check? Mine even cleared. UV’s for UPS!
was it bit coin?
Ups uses wolfecoin.
is that anything like wolf bit?
I know, right?