WATCH: Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo Before Monday’s Practice

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Kansas City Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo spoke from the podium at team headquarters before Monday’s practice.

To view his comments, watch below.

On Chargers WR Ladd McConkey:

“Yeah, he's dynamic. I mean, it's going to be hard to put one guy on him. I think the first slide I put up might have been last week, I just put up all 22 have to be aware of where No. 15 is. And I asked the guys if they knew what I meant by 22. I was talking about 22 eyeballs. Because, the 11 guys, everyone, the D-line included, need to know where he is. I mean, we feel that strongly about the way he can affect the game. So that's going to be a major, major focus.”

On former Chargers cornerback Kristian Fulton, now with the Chiefs:

“Yeah, we went right to Kristian as we got closer to the game, and asked him about all the little tips and things that he saw. When you practice against somebody every day -- it's like our offense knows us in and out, and hopefully we know our own offense. We don't have to play them on game day. But yeah, as a matter of fact, Kristian spoke briefly to the unit this morning about what to expect from certain guys. So, we use that intel all the time.”

On what he saw from Fulton during his preseason debut, against the Bears Aug. 22:

“Kristian, yeah. No, you know, I went to him, and I laughed, because I talked to him the next day. I said, ‘You gotta get your sea legs back.’ Using that term because he found out quick that when you don't go through training camp, and then he was out there for quite a few plays. I thought it was in the 40s or something (46), and you could tell toward the end there. So, I think he's kind of done this as he's come back healthy, and we're going to need him; he'll certainly play in the game. We'll see where we plug him in there, but I'm glad we got him.”

Sep 29, 2024; Inglewood, California, USA; Los Angeles Chargers cornerback Kristian Fulton (7) runs down field after he intercepted a pass intended for Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce (87) in the first half at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

On defensive end Ashton Gillotte and defensive tackle Omarr Norman-Lott, both rookies:

“I thought (Gillotte) played really good, too. He had some explosive plays, a tackle for a loss, he busted right through. It was slow-go at the beginning with both those guys, from the standpoint of learning the system. But Ashton just gets better and better, and he impresses guys in one-on-ones, and the things that he's doing, he's real strong from the waist down.

“Omarr has just kind of taken a little while to get going. He makes strides and then, he gets an injury here (ankle), and that's been a tough thing for him to get through. So, we'll see where we're at by time we get to game time. But as we get going here in the course of the season, we're going to rely on both those guys.”

On whether he has a sense of what he has on defense, entering Week 1:

“It's always a good question. Like right now, I was just doing something with Mitch (Holthus) in there. He asked the same question. I am a firm believer that you don't fully know what you have, what you're going to be, what you're going to be able to do, from a defensive-scheme standpoint, until a quarter; until you’re in the first quarter (four games) of the season. I think offenses feel the same way.

“I mean, a lot of times when we are doing an offseason study on a team, sometimes I throw the first four games out because everybody's doing that. They're trying to figure out what they have. And the pieces change every year. I mean, there are guys that we had last year that we don't have anymore. We've got some new pieces, so it's going to take a little bit.

“I do think in these early games, the in-game adjustments are really important, and I think the defensive staff we have does as good a job of that as anybody. And then we get in there at halftime and decide to maybe do something different that we hadn't planned on. I think all that's really important.”

Feb 9, 2025; New Orleans, LA, USA; Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Nick Bolton (32) against the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX at Ceasars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

On the long arc of a season, on how decisions now could affect what he’s able to do in December?

“Yeah, yeah. We're building every week. I mean, listen, these early games, especially a divisional game, we're probably not gonna hold anything back because we gotta win the division game. So there's not a portion of that, that we're trying to hide anything. We do a lot of self-scouting. We'll get six weeks into it and have six games of our defense on film, try to do things differently. There's a lot of that, but right now it's going in the game, kind of figuring out as quick as you can what they're trying to do to you, and trying to combat that.”

On his motto this season (Be Bold, Be Great), something Trent McDuffie mentioned Sunday:

“Yeah, I think I told you this before, Cale (Kirby) and I get together, our assistant equipment manager, and we usually try to come up with something. He does the shirts for me, so he gets the good stuff. There was just a part of me during the summer that felt like we needed to play bolder, not cautious, not worrying about making mistakes. And that kind of was the message.

“That doesn't mean bold is not taking chances and doing risky things. It's just having confidence. And the other thing I did say to them is, you can't go into a game and play bold unless you've prepared. And so that was kind of the backdrop of it. Let's make sure we prepare right, and when we go in the game, we can just let it fly.”

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