Drue Tranquill regained ‘childlike hunger’ for football in first season with Chiefs

The linebacker is ready for more February football games in Kansas City.

Fresh off of agreeing to a new three-year contract to remain with the Kansas City Chiefs last week, linebacker Drue Tranquill spoke with local media via Zoom on Wednesday as the team officially announced the move.

Tranquill signed a one-year pact with the Chiefs last offseason after spending his first four seasons with the Los Angeles Chargers. He was much more satisfied with his second entrance into free agency in as many years.

“We got into free agency,” the linebacker recalled of last offseason, “and some dominos fell not in our favor. Teams signed certain guys or got deals done where maybe they didn’t think they were going to get it done. I was forced into a situation where I had a ton of decisions between one-year deals.”

Tranquill was a surprise signing by the Chiefs at the time, given the presence of three recent high draft selections at the position. He explained his mindset when choosing a location where he would have to force his own case for a role.

“Obviously the Chiefs had a championship pedigree, but they had a great linebacker room when you looked across the board,” Tranquill stated. “I just knew from my experience playing this game that whenever I have made decisions — whether it was choosing to go to Notre Dame over Purdue [or] choosing to just be around the best — when I’m around really good players, I get better as a player, and I knew that I would come out of this as a better player. I’d have better tape to show for it.

“It is a bit of a gamble because going into it you’re not guaranteed any playing time. I knew I’d have to go in there and work hard, but it paid off in the end.”

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Tranquill only played one playoff game in Los Angeles, in which the Chargers squandered a 20-point halftime lead to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Playing in February was a totally new experience.

“I’m used to the season ending there in the middle of January,” he noted, “and to be able to play football into early February — I was telling my wife and teammates, ‘This is the first game in February I’ve ever played in my entire life.’ It was special. It’s been a special past month. It’s a quick turnaround with [organized team activities] around the corner. I want to do it again and again and again.

“I was telling [Chiefs linebackers coach Brendan Daly], ‘I feel more hungry to go win a Super Bowl now than I did six months ago.’ And he goes, ‘It’s the strangest feeling.’ He’s won six himself. The hunger to go win another one is crazy. I’m excited.”

While the Chiefs recently received less than flattering marks in the NFLPA “Team Report Cards,” Tranquill did not appear to share that assessment. He took the opportunity to praise seemingly every Kansas City decision-maker, particularly Daly and defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo. After a year with the Chiefs, the linebacker loves the sport as he did when he was a child.

“I think the organization has great leadership from the top all the way down to the bottom,” Tranquill observed. “I think it’s got extraordinary ownership, incredible coaches, and extraordinary player leadership. When I look at the coaching staff, in particular are the guys who are leading you on a day-to-day basis.

“When I look at Steve Spagnuolo and Brendan Daly — the two coach I’m responsible to — they just made me feel so valued as a player [and] so part of our plan on a week-to-week basis. We as human beings — we’re looking to feel valued. We’re looking to contribute to something bigger than ourselves. I think they do a tremendous job of leading men and putting us in a position to win football games.

“The energy in Kansas City — everybody likes football. There’s this childlike hunger that, as you go on in your career, can sometimes get lost. I feel like I re-found that in some ways last year with Kansas City and really fell in love with the practice routines we had and practice routines we had and preparing for opponents and going out on a week-to-week basis.”

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Earlier this week, the Chiefs kept the NFL’s best potential unrestricted free agent off the board when they re-signed defensive tackle Chris Jones to a monster five-year contract. Tranquill is confident the signing will lead to more success in the coming seasons.

“It’s huge securing Chris to a five-year deal,” he boasted. “I think three of them are fully guaranteed, so he’s going to be around here a while. He’s really a cornerstone of this defense.”