The Kansas City Chiefs have employed a very young defense across the board in their years of NFL supremacy, with younger cornerstones like cornerback Trent McDuffie and defensive end George Karlaftis installed in 2022—the year of their first championship in their present run of successive titles.

Of course, those two aforementioned players were only some of the youngsters on the field for the Chiefs over the last few seasons, so it’s not a surprise that others have become more important to Steve Spagnuolo’s unit—and the team’s success—as time has gone on.

During the 2024 campaign, both McDuffie and Karlaftis have made considerable leaps in their own productivity, but they’ve been joined by others who have exhibited tremendous growth in the last few months, which has helped K.C. weather the losses of important figures like cornerback L’Jarius Sneed in free agency as well as various other players to injury.

The Chiefs defense has gotten progressively better at some places in the second half.

Pro Football Focus recently released their list of “second half risers,” a list of players who showcased the greatest leaps in PFF metrics during the last 8-9 weeks of the NFL season. Two of the Chiefs’ current defenders were on that list, and one might be a big surprise.

Cornerback Joshua Williams was the most obvious of the two players mentioned, since most Chiefs fans noticed his progression already during the year. Jaylen Watson was lost to injury for the entire latter part of the schedule, which opened up playing time on the boundary for Williams and Nazeeh Johnson to compete for a starting role.

After some hiccups, Williams ended up looking better with more responsibility for the Chiefs. He made six starts for K.C. by season’s end with 33 tackles, 6 pass deflections, and 1 sack to show for his efforts. Per PFF, his score leaped from 50.7 in the first half to 70.3 in the second half.

Linebacker Drue Tranquill is the other Chiefs player mentioned and that might come as a bit of a shock to some. Tranquill was definitely under the radar for most of this year as others around him made splashier plays for such a suffocating defense. After a dynamic first season in K.C., Tranquill struggled in the early going but he’s made up for that with a stronger second half.

Part of Tranquill’s struggles might have come from losing Willie Gay Jr. to the New Orleans Saints in free agency and the subsequent adjustments there to learn how to reorient the second level of the defense next to Nick Bolton and Leo Chenal.

Tranquill finished the regular season with 16 starts for the Chiefs and 94 total tackles. He also had 2 sacks, 2 fumble recoveries, and 2 pass deflections. His PFF score rose from 54.8 to 75.5 and PFF notes that he “allowed just 6.1 yards per reception in coverage, fourth-lowest at the position.”