Chiefs defense helped by return of Johnson

KANSAS CITY — The Kansas City Chiefs defense was the strength of the team in the 2014 season, and that happened without their most experienced and productive player – inside linebacker Derrick Johnson.

Lost in the regular-season opener to a ruptured Achilles, Johnson could only watch football in the fall for the first time since he was nine years old.

That’s made the preseason games this August an important time for Johnson. His rehab of the Achilles went well, and he’s dropped a few pounds and appears to be moving with the same explosion and speed that he displayed since he was the Chiefs’ first-round draft choice in 2005.

“Preseason is very important to me (this year),” Johnson said. “I’m very hard on myself, probably harder on myself than the coaches are. You have to be. You have to expect more of yourself.

“Every game in preseason I have to get better, just on the little things. It’s personal stuff that I have to do, I mean, for me, being out for a year. These games are not as beneficial for older guys – not as much – but for me, I need these preseason games before the first game of the season.”

All the way back to the team’s OTAs and minicamp, Johnson showed that physically he was recovered from the injury. That alone was no small feat given that he’s now 32 years old and in his 11th NFL season. Training camp practices and preseason games have given him an opportunity to sharpen his mentally faculties, especially his vision.

“In this league to make plays, you have to trust your eyes,” Johnson said. “You got to train your eyes back. I’m training my eyes to make plays out there as far as anticipating different things that I have to do. Football is a very hard sport. If you don’t train your eyes, be spot on with everything – you’re going to look slow out there.”

Johnson said adjusting again to the speed of the game and his vision has been harder than the physical work of rehabbing his Achilles.

“Probably training your eyes is the hardest thing you have to do,” he said. “We’re all blessed with the ability to run fast and jump high, but the great players and the good players that make plays and anticipate plays train their eyes to jump routes or know what’s coming before it hits you. If you don’t know and you just react, you’ll be a step slow.”

That was especially evident in the Chiefs’ defense last year without Johnson. Throughout his career, the University of Texas product has been a playmaker. He started his career at outside linebacker, but then was moved inside and he produced almost 1,000 tackles, 22.5 sacks, 11 interceptions with three touchdown returns, 19 forced fumbles and seven recovered fumbles.

Without Johnson last year, the Chiefs’ inside linebackers over 16 games produced a half-sack, one forced fumble and a recovered fumble. Ordinarily, that would have been a mediocre game for Johnson, not an entire season of production.

That’s why his return will be so important to the 2015 Chiefs defense and why coordinator Bob Sutton is smiling these days.

“I think he’s back to where he was,” Sutton said. “He came out on wide plays and chased Jamaal (Charles) down and it looked to me like D.J. looks. I think he looks fine.”

–Nose tackle Dontari Poe has moved into a second phase of his rehab from surgery six weeks ago for a herniated disc in his lower back. Poe has been with the team, receiving treatments in the training room but doing very little physically. That will change this week.

“He’s doing great,” said head coach Andy Reid. “He’s made great strides. He’s at least on schedule, if not a little bit ahead … he’s moving around and hasn’t had any setbacks. He’s had a great attitude with the whole thing.”

Reid did not reveal what the timetable was for Poe’s return to the field.

“He says he’s going to play in the first game, and I go ‘alright, OK, we’ll see,'” said Reid. “The doctors will have to evaluate that. It’s up to the docs.”

Would a return for the regular-season opener be a reasonable goal for Poe?

“It’s more we’ll see,” Reid answered. “Let’s see how he does in this phase with the exercise part of it. So far it’s gone well, but let’s see how that goes.”

Notes: Guard/tackle Jeff Allen looks like he’ll miss another week of practice and preseason game No. 3 due to the strained MCL in his right knee. Allen suffered the injury on Aug. 15 in a game against Arizona. Allen had opened training camp as the starter at right guard, but was then moved to the starting spot at right tackle. … Left tackle Eric Fisher continues to rehab the high left ankle sprain he suffered in practice last week and it’s unlikely he’ll return to appear in Friday’s preseason game against Tennessee. Fisher’s ankle was rolled on by DE Allen Bailey during a pass protection drill.