Chiefs sign defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo to extension

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — In Spags, the Kansas City Chiefs trust indeed.

The Chiefs showed their trust in Steve Spagnuolo, their defensive coordinator, by signing him to a contract extension, the team announced.

Spagnuolo guided the Chiefs to the second-best scoring defense in the regular season in 2023 as the Chiefs won their eighth straight AFC West championship. They allowed an average of 17.3 points per game.

The Chiefs were even better defensively in the postseason, holding four of the six highest-scoring teams in the league during the regular season to an average of less than 16 points per game, as the Chiefs became the first team to win back-to-back Super Bowls in 20 years.

The Chiefs had on average the youngest defensive team in the NFL at 25.4 years old. Chiefs players made T-shirts during the playoffs that read, “In Spags We Trust.”

“Very grateful for the job that Spags did with the defensive side,” coach Andy Reid said Tuesday. “I thought that they were a great example to everybody of taking young guys, teaching them and watching them grow.”

Spagnuolo, 64, was an assistant for Reid for eight seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles before heading out on his own coaching journey that included three years as the head coach of the Rams.

They reunited in 2019 when Spagnuolo joined the Chiefs. Spagnuolo was their coordinator for the Chiefs’ Super Bowl championships in 2019 and 2022 as well.