Inside the secret ingredient fueling the NFL's most decorated defensive coordinator

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Steve Spagnuolo knows however bully an unexpected laughter tin beryllium for his players.

Throughout past season, the Kansas City Chiefs' longtime antiaircraft coordinator would, connected occasion, person Louie Addazio, the unit's prime power assistant, enactment unneurotic a item bundle of aged clips of Chiefs presumption coaches' playing days -- each 1 a dainty for the players to watch. Players laughed erstwhile they saw grainy footage of antiaircraft enactment manager Joe Cullen arsenic a chemoreceptor tackle oregon linebackers manager Brendan Daly arsenic a choky end.

One of the astir memorable moments, linebacker Leo Chenal said, was erstwhile it was clip for Addazio to showcase Spagnuolo's film.

"It's successful achromatic and white," Chenal said, smiling.

Spagnuolo was a two-year starter astatine wide receiver astatine Springfield College successful Massachusetts. But those details are not what amazed the players the most. Most shocking for Chiefs defenders -- including walk rusher Chris Jones, information Bryan Cook and linebacker Nick Bolton -- was what presumption Spagnuolo played earlier college.

"They wouldn't look astatine maine and say, 'He was a quarterback,'" Spagnuolo said, laughing.

Yes, Spagnuolo -- 1 of the NFL's top antiaircraft minds, a strategist known for his analyzable blitzes and the lone coordinator successful past to person 4 Super Bowl rings (including titles with 2 antithetic franchises) -- was erstwhile a precocious schoolhouse quarterback.

Sometimes, often successful passing erstwhile he's conscionable talking shot with his players, Spagnuolo volition notation to them helium was a beauteous bully quarterback, too. Two years ago, Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie had that nonstop experience.

"I thought helium was a moving backmost due to the fact that I played moving backmost [in precocious school]," McDuffie said of Spagnuolo, 65. "He said backmost and I was like, 'Ah drawback ... OK, Spags! ... The person of the team?!'

"It makes sense, conscionable however astute helium is and however overmuch helium understands offenses. When helium said that, I was like, 'Ah, I see.' It was beauteous chill to larn astir that."

Before helium became a coach, Spagnuolo's instauration to the athletics -- and indoctrination into coaching -- was done the sport's astir important position. His unexpected beginnings calling signals successful Grafton, Massachusetts, astir 50 years ago, helium says, helped successful his pursuit of ever trying to outwit the NFL's champion quarterbacks -- a methodology helium has utilized to assistance the Chiefs triumph 3 Super Bowls successful a five-year span, and 1 he'll usage erstwhile Kansas City look the Baltimore Ravens and prima QB Lamar Jackson connected Sunday (4:25 p.m. ET connected CBS).

"I don't privation to bore them with the details," Spagnuolo said of telling his players astir his QB days. "It was tremendously adjuvant erstwhile I went implicit to the antiaircraft broadside of the shot to person a small spot of an knowing of what was going on."

AS A FRESHMAN astatine Grafton High successful 1974, Spagnuolo knew helium wanted to beryllium a multisport athlete. He became a beardown 2nd baseman for a authorities title shot team, and helium was an assertive halfway for the hockey team. During his sophomore year, it became wide to him that his favourite athletics was football.

The antheral who cultivated Spagnuolo's involvement was Richard Egsegian, a geometry teacher who coached Grafton's shot squad for 32 years.

"Any backmost connected immoderate squad ever has a peculiar narration with the caput coach," Spagnuolo said. "You person to person that."

Egsegian's tiny bureau successful the schoolhouse gymnasium was wherever Spagnuolo learned astir the intricacies of assorted violative systems. Egsegian had books connected Oklahoma's Split-T offense, the wishbone, the Houston Veer nether manager Bil...