Reggie Ragland Gears Up For 2019 NFL Season With Kansas City Chiefs
MADISON- Bob Jones alumnus Reggie Ragland feels he’s ready to take on the 2019 season in the National Football League. The All-American high school and collegiate player, who won two national championships while at Alabama, is entering his fourth year of a four year deal in the league with the Kansas City Chiefs and is looking forward to a new venture under the leadership of a new defensive coordinator.
“I’m excited about having a new coordinator as our defense could have played much better last year,” said Ragland, upon visiting his alma mater for his recent second annual Football Camp.
Steve Spagnuolo comes to the Chiefs to lead the defense and he arrives with 36 years of collegiate and professional coaching experience. He will have a group of players who have gone through lots of change over the last five years. Only one defensive player on the current roster was with the Chiefs in 2015.
Ragland is expected to help this squad as he started 15 of 16 games last season for the Chiefs, posted 86 tackles, including 46 solo, and one interception. In the 28 games Ragland has played as a pro, he has started 25. He will suit up with a $1.2-million salary and the fourth year of a four year deal that began with the Buffalo Bills before he was traded to the Chiefs on Aug. 28, 2017. He originally entered the NFL as a second-round draft pick in 2016.
Kansas City lost to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship game a season ago and most feel it was the defense that couldn’t handle the Patriots’ onslaught of offensive weapons, so the Chiefs made a change in coaches and look to the former SEC Defensive Player of the Year to assist in the changes on the field.
“I personally want to set up my game to be successful as there is always someone else there to replace you,” said Ragland. “I feel good, better than I have since I came into the league as I’ve had several injuries to contend with. I’ve been through lots of rehabilitation and I am injury free right now.”
The 6-foot-2, 252-pound linebacker said he told his mother when he seven years old he would make the NFL. Many times over the years he was told he couldn’t and wouldn’t make the professional ranks in his sport. But Ragland wouldn’t have any of that negativity around him. “I believe in myself and always have. I always felt I could be successful.”
In September, Ragland will be 26 years of age. He knows he can play another 10 years in the league, if he’s lucky and remains healthy. He has come to understand he needed a slight personality change to accommodate his venture into professional sports and all of the situations that come with being an adult and a professional athlete.
“I changed the way I think as I don’t react-I think more before I do,” said Ragland. “In football, I always try to be in the right position to make the right play. In life, I try and do the same thing. My parents and people around me helped me tremendously when I was growing up. Today, I’m living that dream.”
With the Chiefs having one of the top offenses in the NFL, Ragland will lead a group of linebackers to be the core of a defense that will need to improve to match the squad’s offensive firepower. Should Ragland and remainder of the Chiefs’ defense play to their potential, the sky is the limit for the team of red and white and No. 59 belonging to the pride of the Bob Jones football program.
