The AFC West has loaded up this offseason. The Denver Broncos, Los Angeles Chargers, and Las Vegas Raiders all seem to have closed the gap between them and the Kansas City Chiefs. The division might have the best set of quarterbacks the NFL has ever seen within a single division.

But a great quarterback is only as good as his defense, particularly run defense. On Tuesday, the Chiefs shored that up a bit after signing former Indianapolis Colts defensive tackle Taylor Stallworth to a one-year deal.

 

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Stallworth has been a solid rotational DT for the Colts for the last couple of seasons. He is coming off a career year, albeit on limited snaps, with three sacks and 12 quarterback hits. He earned a PFF Grade of 60.9 despite only starting in one game.

The Chiefs are in need of defensive line help, and Stallworth should be considered a piece of that equation. He is 6'2”, 305 pounds, so he takes up a bunch of space in the interior of the line.

Kansas City will have to face run games against Josh Jacobs, Austin Ekeler, and rising star Javonte Williams. It will be imperative that the Chiefs have a solid defensive front. With the loss of Tyreek Hill on offense, they are not going to be nearly as explosive. Therefore, they likely will not be as efficient in scoring points.

That makes the ability of the Chiefs defense to get off the field much more important. Kansas City is probably far from done either signing or drafting the defensive line, but this was a good start.