Player Profile: Wallace Gilberry

Tom Gannam- AP

Wallace Gilberry had the best game of his career on Sunday. He recorded 3.0 sacks on Rams quarterback Sam Bradford, one on  a crucial series to keep them out of scoring range after Matt Cassel's interception. That is why I chose Gilberry as the defensive player this week.

This choice might seem a little odd since Derrick Johnson was just chosen AFC defensive player of the week. But since Gilberry did have such a good outing on Sunday, and I'm sure Johnson will have plenty more opportunities to be chosen for my blog, I still think this is a good pick.

Gilberry was originally signed by the New York Giants as an undrafted free agent in 2008 but was released during training camp. He was then picked up by Kansas City on November 5th of the same year.

After only appearing in five games his rookie season, he played in all 16 games of 2009. Embracing any role he was given, as a situational player or not, he led all Chiefs defensive linemen in sacks that year with 4.5. That was second on the team to only Tamba Hali. The undrafted free agent had more sacks than Glenn Dorsey (1st round pick 2008, 1.0 sack), Tyson Jackson (1st round pick 2009, 0 sacks), and Alex Magee (3rd round pick, 2.0 sacks, traded in 2010) combined.

This year, Gilberry's doing it again. He has 7.0 sacks on the year, once again, second to only Hali. The rest of the defensive linemen have 4.5 sacks total.

Now, I'm not criticizing our defensive line. Gilberry is a situational player, usually on pass rushes; the rest are in there almost every play and all but Ron Edwards has more tackles than Gilberry. Dorsey has really come to life this season. Jackson, though hurt early, is showing significant progress. Shaun Smith has been solid for us all season.

However, we are just two years removed of an NFL worst 10 sack season (I still can't believe we chose the older LJ over the younger Jared Allen in the off-season before). It is good to see our defense have a pass rush this season (31 sacks), and Gilberry is a large part of its growing success.