No matter how a practice or game goes for Chiefs defensive lineman Derrick Nnadi, he knows he’ll receive a warm welcome once he arrives home.
That’s because there are two dogs waiting for him: 3-year-old Rocky and 2-year-old Sam.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s morning, noon or night, the second I get home, they feel like I’ve been gone for 50 years,” Nnadi said at Thursday’s Super Bowl news conference. “They’re just immediately happy, jumping, like the second I get out of the car, the oldest one is just barking, looking out the window like, ‘Oh my gosh you’re home.’
“(I) come up, open the door, he’s jumping at me, happy to see me. He runs out, grabs a toy, shows me the toy like, ‘Oh let’s play.’ The younger one, he already has a toy in his mouth, happy, shaking, wagging, every single time.”
Dogs are an important part of Nnadi’s life, and not just the two with which he shares his home. Nnadi, who is in his third season with the Chiefs, has made a point of helping shelter animals.
After the Chiefs won Super Bowl LIV last year, Nnadi revealed he would pay the adoption fees of 108 dogs at KC Pet Project. His generosity became a national story.
That came after he paid adoption fees following every Chiefs win — 15 in the 2019 season. This season, he did the same, helping 16 dogs find a forever home.
Nnadi said he has a surprise planned for after the Super Bowl LV.
“I don’t want to put all the details out,” Nnadi said. “When the situation happens, it’ll be put out.”
He didn’t say if the surprise is dependent on the Chiefs winning Super Bowl LV ... but that, of course, is Nnadi’s goal.
To help his team win a second straight NFL title, Nnadi will focus on what he does best: stopping the run. But he noted the Buccaneers have a pair of tough backs in Ronald Jones II and Leonard Fournette.
“They’re both great backs,” Nnadi said. “Leonard Fournette is a phenomenal runner from when he was at Jacksonville and even LSU. ...
“The other one, he’s dynamite. I like how he plays. Fast guy, he fights for every inch he gets.”
While Nnadi doesn’t have statistics that the average fan might notice — he has one career sack and one career interception — he takes pride in stopping the run.
“I feel like every team, if they can’t stop the run, it takes a punch in the gut for the whole game plan,” he said. “And if I stop that, it’s just one more step toward victory.”
