The Kansas City Chiefs are revamping their pass rush, and Mike Danna visited the Buffalo Bills after being released.
The Kansas City Chiefs released defensive end Mike Danna earlier in the offseason, and now he’s doing visits in an effort to find a new home. His latest stop had him meeting with the Buffalo Bills, according to a report from Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk.
Danna was a cap cut in Kansas City, but overall he was something of a success story for the Chiefs, who selected him in the fifth round back in 2020. The defensive end developed into a useful rotational player, but Danna became expendable when the Chiefs made the decision to revamp their pass rush.
The result was an active offseason as the Chiefs drafted a pair of front-seven players. The plan is for defensive tackle Peter Woods to help plug the interior and free up Chris Jones from constant double teams, but the move that probably doomed Danna in Kansas City was the selection of edge rusher R Mason Thomas in the second round, with Thomas starting out as a spot player whose job will be to get to the quarterback.
Danna wasn’t awful at that, but sacks definitely aren’t his specialty. His overall numbers with the Chiefs include 194 tackles, 21.5 sacks, six forced fumbles and an interception in 87 regular season games, according to Alper.
The defensive end also got a pair of Super Bowl rings in Kansas City, and he ended up with an impressive array of postseason stats. Danna had 27 tackles, two sacks and a forced fumble to go with those rings, and at 28 he could be looking to play a more prominent role.
Danna could get that opportunity in Buffalo given that the Bills are very much a team in transition. The Bills have moved on from coach Sean McDermott, who was a defense-oriented coach, and new coach Joe Brady was promoted based on his offensive chops and his rapport with quarterback Josh Allen.
But the Bills have struggled with their pass rush at times, and their defense couldn’t hold up its in as Buffalo consistently relied on Allen to play superman. That hasn’t been a winning formula, and it will be interesting to see if Danna can contribute to their reconfigured defense.
The Chiefs simply decided that Danna wasn’t a good fit anymore given that their defense struggled to get off the field at key moments last season. The defensive end might have been a good fit if it wasn't for Kansas City's cap situation, but it was clear an overhaul of some sort was needed.