Nebraska will replace Terrance Knighton with Kansas City Chiefs assistant defensive line coach

Nebraska will replace Terrance Knighton with Kansas City Chiefs assistant defensive line coach Terry Bradden per ESPN’s Pete Thamel.

The news follows the report Nebraska will promote John Butler to defensive coordinator and hire Phil Snow as associate head coach.

Bradden will arrive in Nebraska after eight seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs, four as assistant defensive line coach. He spent his first season as a defensive assistant before taking on the role of defensive quality control coach from 2018-2020.

In 2023, Bradden assisted the defensive line who helped the defense finish top two in the NFL in sacks for the second-straight year. The defense’s 57.0 sacks were the second-most in a single season in Chiefs history.

Bradden helped lead the defense to allow just 17.3 points per game which was second-fewest in the league, allowed the fewest second-half points in the league, just 126, and allowed no more than 27 points in a game during the season – including the playoffs. With Bradden’s assistance, the dominant defensive line helped the Chiefs secure back-to-back Super Bowl titles

Bradden is credited with overseeing the development of Chris Jones, Frank Clark, George Karlaftis and others on the Chiefs’ defense. IN 2023, Jones recorded his second-consecutive season with double-digit sacks and added 29 quarterback pressures, 13 tackles for loss and four passes defensed. He was voted by his teammates to be a playoff captain for the second-straight year, an AP All-Pro first-team selection and earned his fifth Pro Bowl. As a rookie, Karlaftis six sackswith seven passes defensed and 11 quarterback pressures. In 2023, he had 17 quarterback pressures, seven tackles for loss and one forced fumble. This season, Jones and Karlaftis have combined for 62 tackles and ten sacks thus far. As a team, the Chiefs are top-three in rushing defense, top ten in total defense and scoring defense.

Prior to joining the Chiefs, Bradden served as a quarterback graduate assistant at Bethune Cookman University for the 2016 season. Bradden spent the 2014 season at Florida Atlantic University as the quality control special teams coach before returning to his alma mater, Inlet Grove High School as the head football coach and athletic director for the 2015 season. During the 2015 season, he claimed the title of the youngest head football coach and athletic director in the state of Florida at the age of 24.

The Florida native played quarterback for three seasons at Howard University from 2009 to 2011, before transferring to Tuskegee University from 2011 to 2013, where he also played quarterback.