Steve Spagnuolo provided an open and honest assessment of the Chiefs’ defense.

The Kansas City Chiefs have undergone a lot of changes this summer. The defensive coordinator for the squad will also have his work cut out for him.

In 2021, the Kansas City Chiefs came back from a 3-4 start to win the AFC West for the sixth time in a row, finishing 12-5. Andy Reid’s team struggled to keep possession of the ball at times. The good news was that the Chiefs recovered their opportunistic touch after a lethargic seven weeks.

Reid’s team came up with 22 takeaways in their final 10 regular-season games after forcing seven turnovers in their first seven games. Kansas City went 11-2 in their final 13 games, including the playoffs, with two losses to the Super Bowl-bound Bengals.

There were a number of major defensive departures this summer. Tyrann Mathieu and Daniel Sorensen, both signed with the Saints, are on the list. The franchise released linebacker Anthony Hitchens. The 49ers signed cornerback Charvarius Ward, while the Packers signed defensive tackle Jarvarius Reed.

For Spagnuolo’s unit, that’s a lot of changes. When asked about the “growing pains” that come with a redesigned unit this week, the coordinator was forthright (via Ed Easton Jr. of ChiefsWire.com).

“There’s no doubt about that.” Yes, there will be a lot of fresh faces, there will be youth, and the system will be unfamiliar to many of the guys, even if they are not young. “What should we do? Shouldn’t we do it all the time?”

I’m going through an eyeball. Right now, I’m throwing a lot at them, and they’re probably responding in kind – the volume is high for a reason. Find out who can and who can’t handle it.

“With all of this, we’ll never go into a game.” As a result, there will be mistakes made that we would not typically make. There will need to be some development, so to speak, within the game. There will be — we’ll have to put up with some growing pains… “