Steve Spagnuolo has terrible news about the Chiefs defense

For the first time in the Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes era, the Kansas City Chiefs rode their defense to win a Super Bowl. Steve Spagnuolo was the unsung hero for this team.

Of course, keeping Chris Jones in town for the long run was their biggest priority, but that also meant they had to choose their battles and let another defensive star go.

So, now that L’Jarius Sneed has been traded to the Tennessee Titans, the Chiefs defensive coordinator knows they’re going to be in for a tough time trying to replace him.

There’s No Such Thing As Replacing L’Jarius Sneed

“We’ll see. I don’t think anybody is going to replace LJ Sneed,” Spagnuolo said in his press conference, via ProFootballTalk. “I thought LJ had a remarkable year in everything that he did. There are some shoes there to fill, whether we do it with one person or two people or shift guys around, we’ll see.”

L’Jarius Sneed

Spagnuolo Hopes The Young Players Will Step Up

Even so, it’s not like all hope is lost for the defending Super Bowl champions. Spagnuolo still has faith in the guys they have in the building, and they could also move Trent McDuffie or Justin Reid to the slot in case of an emergency:

“We have some young guys working in there,” Spagnuolo said. “Trent can always certainly slide back in. We haven’t put Justin Reid in there, but I’m not so sure if we got in a pinch in an emergency [that] we [couldn’t] do that, but it’s good to have versatile guys.”

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Super Bowl: Tom Brady addresses Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs" chances of three-peat

This team will strive to do something no one has ever done in the past, which is winning three Super Bowls in a row. Fortunately, the Chiefs got some interesting pieces on offense, so the defense might not have to do all of the heavy lifting like they did last season.