In every defensive line, there's the one player who glues it all together, and it's not always the superstar. The Kansas City Chiefs have Chris Jones as their alpha quarterback destroyer, but if you ask people in the building which guy does hold it together in an underrated fashion, many will point you to Mike Danna, the 2020 fifth-round pick out of Michigan.
Danna doesn't look like an edge-rusher per se -- he has a hybrid body type at 6-foot-2 and 257 pounds, but when he's on the edge, he's more than capable of working through blockers and getting to the quarterback. Last season, he totaled eight sacks, seven quarterback hits, 32 quarterback hurries, six tackles for loss, and 34 stops. Danna played 64% of his snaps outside and 34% inside, and he was more than capable of disrupting from any gap.
“I’ll tell you what, I give credit to the coaches Brendan [Daly] and Terry [Bradden] that work with him," defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo said in 2021 of Danna's improvement as a player. "I give credit to Mike [Danna]. When you say that I see it coming, it’s hard to tell, but always anticipated that it could. That’s probably a good way to say it. Mike’s one of my favorite guys because it’s chin to the hairline, really smart and everything inside his heart is really good.”
Spags has also compared Danna to Elvin Dumervil, who put up 120 sacks, 94 quarterback hits, and 353 quarterback hurries in his career with the Denver Broncos, Baltimore Ravens, and San Francisco 49ers from 2006 through 2007. Dumervil did all that despite a 5-foot-11, 250ppound frame that wasn't typical at all for the position.
“It goes back to the work he’s put in. The prototypical D-end is the 6’4”, 6’5”, long arms and that’s not Mike [Danna], but I worked with Elvis Dumervil when I was with the Baltimore Ravens and Elvis was built pretty much the same way.
“Sometimes [those] guys with the leverage underneath and the long arm rushers that Mike has,” He continued, “Elvis revolutionized [that] in my opinion, I think Mike’s been able to take things a step further in doing some of that stuff. We always say this about pass rush, 20 percent technique, 80 percent want. Mike always has the 80 percent want.”
The respect goes both ways. During the week preparing for Super Bowl LVIII, Danna outlined why and how Spagnuolo coaches it all up so well.
“That’s the preparation and the execution throughout the week. We’re really big on being on all cylinders and on the same page, So, when we get to Sunday, we can move fluidly, and it looks like we’re gelling together. You just know. You can trust the guys, like, ‘Oh, I know he’s going to be there; I don’t have to worry about that.’ It’s cool to have that, because just as much as the front end needs the back end, the back end needs the front end. The ‘backers need the D-line, and the DBs need the D-line. We all need each other. We’re all relentless. We all have a common goal, and that’s why we are where we are.”
That buy-in isn't just schematic; it's also personal.
“He’s a wizard," Danna said of Spagnuolo. "The way he makes his checks, his pressures, his coverages. But aside from all that football stuff, just as a person, he’s a great man. He’s a faith-driven person. A lot of the things he believes in, I believe in. I’ve got a lot of respect for Coach Spags, and I’m just grateful to be a part of something like this."
Danna has earned every right to be a part of it.
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