Most people won’t know anything about the name Mark DeLeone. That’s not surprising. He hasn’t been on the NFL radar in any significant capacity before last season. The Kansas City Chiefs promoted him to inside linebackers coach. Then after the year ended, they fired defensive coordinator Bob Sutton. Thus the Bears, who were looking for help at their own inside linebackers coaching position, decided to offer it to him.
The connection was obvious. DeLeone and Matt Nagy had worked together for five seasons from 2013 to 2017. They knew each other well and it seems the Bears head coach convinced new defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano it was a worthwhile addition. That could be just a friend vouching for a friend. Knowing Nagy though, it doesn’t sound like something he’d do.
He must genuinely believe DeLeone has something to offer. At first glance, people may think one year on the job doesn’t prove much. Yet upon closer inspection, there’s a reason to think the Bears may have gotten themselves a good one.
#Bears Coaching Update: We have hired Mark DeLeone as Inside Linebackers Coach. Welcome to Chicago, Mark! pic.twitter.com/Q2L2rsVwZ2
— Chicago Bears (@BearsPR) January 29, 2019
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Mark DeLeone did underrated work with Chiefs linebackers in 2018
Nobody can say that DeLeone was handed an easy task this past season. There were no established starters or Pro Bowlers. He literally had to start from scratch with players the Chiefs had recently acquired as castoffs from other teams. One was former Dallas Cowboys starter Anthony Hitchens, who was coming from a 4-3 defense. The other was failed Buffalo Bills 2nd round pick Reggie Ragland, who had a pedestrian year in 2017 for K.C.
Somehow DeLeone had to turn that pairing into an effective tandem for a team with Super Bowl aspirations. All things considered? He did a wale of a job. Hitchens collected 135 tackles in 15 games on the year. That’s impressive when one realizes his previous career high was 84 back in his rookie season.
As for Ragland, he showed significant improvement from the previous year. Not only did he post a career-high in tackles with 86 but he also delivered some big impact plays. That includes intercepting Tom Brady in the AFC championship. Not a lot of people can say that.
Considering it was DeLeone’s first year and the talent he had? That’s some pretty solid work. It should make one interested to see what he can do with an established pair of studs like Danny Trevathan and Roquan Smith.
