Leo Chenal profile: Why the Kansas City Chiefs drafted the LB in the 2022 NFL Draft

The Kansas City Chiefs picked Leo Chenal with the 103rd pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.

Chenal stands at 6’3” and weighs in at 255 pounds. A top-1000 recruit in 2019, Chenal bulked up from 215 lbs to a massive 255-260 lbs throughout his career in Madison as one of the gym heroes.

He got more and more involved as a player throughout his three years there, culminating in a second-team All-American selection in 2021, putting up 115 total tackles, 18.5 for loss, eight sacks, and two more forced fumbles. He also was an honorable mention All-Big Ten as a true sophomore.

Leo Chenal's strengths

Chenal, a workout warrior at Wisconsin, stands out with a massive frame. He has the force to get into stalemates with guards and jolt their pads backward on contact around the line of scrimmage, but he also shows some suddenness to work around them.

On GT power, he can funnel the run back inside with the way he approaches the lead-blocker. When he sees a tight-end trying to insert or deliver wham blocks, he can shoot downhill and whack them behind the line. If you went back to the Michigan game early last season, you could see him flat-out toss those tight ends around.

When defenses are trying to cave the backside on duo schemes, Chenal is not waiting for a crease to open up for him to shoot through – he creates it for himself by crashing through the inside shoulder. It felt like he had a couple of tackles squeezing through the C-gap like that every game.

When you go through the tape, you see him entirely stone-wall big backs in the hole on several occasions. He is like a bear you're trying to get away from when he has you wrapped up.

He gets involved on many tackles late, helping pull the ball-carrier back and not allowing extra yardage. Last season, he recorded less than eight total tackles just twice all year and finished with the third-best run-stopping rate among draft-eligible linebackers at 16.1 percent, according to PFF.

Wisconsin didn’t put him in coverage a lot because they preferred what he could bring going forward, but you like the physicality to disrupt receivers in his area. He consistently goes up with that 40-inch vert and sticks a hand up from those shallow drops.

Chenal has the burst to drive forward and shut down shallow crossers and check-downs for minimal yardage. He can stop his momentum and twist down opponents who try to cross him up. When he triggers down on quarterbacks scrambling towards the sideline or throws into the flats, there’s some actual speed for a big man.

This past year, Chenal was heavily utilized as a blitzer by Wisconsin’s defensive coordinator Jim Leonard. Chenal displays incredible closing speed for such a big athlete, which has to be a scary sight for quarterbacks because he can deliver devastating shots.

Running backs trying to get in his way would agree with that, as you see them get discarded routinely. Chenal can get through with a pretty good club-rip move, but even when there’s a pile in the middle, he can help push opponents backward to take away space for the quarterback to step up into throws. His pass-rush win rate of 23.5 percent was top-ten among eligible linebackers.

Leo Chenal's weaknesses

PFF handed Chenal a coverage grade of only 56.7 – and that’s the story here. There’s undoubtedly a stiffness to Chenal’s game, and one wouldn’t ask him to do a ton in coverage other than simple spot drops.

He doesn’t have the loose hips to open one way initially and then flip as he transitions to another receiver. His blitzing game is very much about trying to go through people at this point, and he needs to learn to attack half the man more regularly, along with a secondary move or plan.

His testing numbers between the combine and pro day are off the charts (4.53 in the 40, 40.5-inch vert, 10’8” broad, and outstanding agility numbers), but you don’t see those on tape.

Conclusion on Leo Chenal

In the modern, pass-happy NFL, it’s interesting trying to slot a linebacker that looks more like Lance Briggs and some other fellows from the 2000s.

Chenal can instantly upgrade your run defense with the way he attacks downhill and can go through big people, which is rare to see these days. Nobody wants to get in front of him on passing downs because of the formula for “force equals mass times acceleration,” but he’s not somebody with a diverse rush plan, and he’s not loose enough to play much in space either.

However, for a team looking for big linebackers who can stop the run and then get involved on mush rushes, he makes a lot of sense. Moreover, he has tremendous speed for his size to chase things down.

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