New Chiefs OLB coach Ken Flajole brings two decades of NFL coaching experience to Kansas City
The Kansas City Chiefs announced eight changes to their coaching staff last Friday, with the most significant addition coming on the defensive side of the ball.
In place of former Chiefs OLB coach Britt Reid, the team added veteran NFL assistant Ken Flajole, who most recently served as the linebackers coach with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Flajole has coached every position on the defensive side of the ball during his 40-plus-year coaching career. He’s spent the last 22 years coaching in the NFL, getting his start with the Green Bay Packers as a defensive quality control coach in 1998. That’s when Andy Reid was entering his final season as the QB coach and assistant head coach with the team.
Reid left the following year to become head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, while Flajole left to join the Seattle Seahawks as a defensive backs coach. From 2003-2008, Flajole would serve as the linebackers coach for the Carolina Panthers under head coach John Fox. He helped develop standout players such as Thomas Davis and Jon Beason. During Flajole’s final season with the Panthers, Beason led the NFL in tackles.
In 2009, he left to become the defensive coordinator for the St. Louis Rams. There he worked under current Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo and helped develop an all-time great linebacker in James Laurinaitis.
Flajole spent time with the New Orleans Saints and the Cleveland Browns before eventually joining the Eagles under Doug Pederson’s staff in 2016, also working as the linebackers coach. You can see the many threads that eventually landed Flajole a role in Kansas City on the defensive staff in 2021.
Flajole’s tenure in Philadelphia had mixed results, with several veteran players like Jordan Hicks and Nigel Bradham thriving. The problem seemed to be an inability to identify and develop young talent, something that Kansas City desperately needs at their linebacker position. Players like Nate Gerry and TJ Edwards are considered by many to be failures in terms of their impact and player development. Flajole also caught a ton of criticism in 2020 for how long it took for Alex Singleton, the eventual tackle-leader for Philly, to see the field. At the same time, Flajole was part of the Eagles’ staff that won Super Bowl LII and has a ring to show for it.
Flajole gets a new start in Kansas City with fewer responsibilities, working only with the outside linebackers. Meanwhile, Matt House will continue to manage the inside linebackers. Hopefully, this fresh start and a new role for Flajole will yield some better results as the Chiefs have a desperate need for improved play at the linebacker position moving forward.
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