Chiefs Defense: Spags Zone and Man Spy Concepts vs an Athletic QB.

This article looks at 2 man spy, man free and cover 0 spy concepts the Chiefs used in 2023 & 2024. Most of the clips are against the Bills who they like to spy often. It covers Spags defense and how he uses this concept against mobile QB. It is a very effective scheme that can be utilized with both a 3 man and 4 man rush.

2 man Spy

The 1st concept is a 2 man spy with a 3 man rush. The RB is taken by one LB and the other QB is taken by the other. This allows for 2 man coverage on the back end.

Man Free Hole

A similar coverage concept is below. This time they are still bringing the 3 man pressure and spying but bringing still 3 rushers. The Safety comes down to play the hole and the Free safety away from trips plays the middle 1/3.

man free diagram pre snap

Here are some video clips of the defense outlined above.

Cover 2 man spy , cover 1 spy and cover 0 spy are all detailed in this short video presentation.

Combo

Here’s an interesting concept they played in the Super Bowl. They played #2 point man in bunch man to man while playing #1 and #3 in the bunch zone. They also played the backside WR man to man. This is an excellent combo coverage to use vs bunch.

You can see how it plays out below. 3 over 2 on the #1 and #3 WR.

Film clip below!

Zone 2 spy

Vs the Bills, they pay cover 2 spy. They play the LB as a hole player and the other as the spy.

They play 3 over 2 with the spy ready to add in when Allen scrambles.

As Allen starts to scramble, the LB adds in to the pressure. As you can see, there is no place to go with the football.

Three clips of zone spy coverage below:
2 spy, 4 spy and 6 spy

These are just some ways to spy an athletic QB. You can play zone and man and rush 3 or 4 defenders in the concept.