From Chiefs Draft Pick to Defensive Coach: Breeland Speaks Joins Jackson State Staff

Jackson State just got a whole lot more defensive firepower on the sideline. Breeland Speaks, the former Kansas City Chiefs second-round pick and reigning UFL Defensive Player of the Year, is joining T.C. Taylor’s staff as a defensive analyst and outside linebackers coach. That’s a legit pro résumé walking into an HBCU program that’s already been stacking trophies.

Speaks is from Mississippi, so this is something like a homecoming. He starred at Ole Miss back in 2017, putting up 67 tackles, eight tackles for loss, and seven sacks as a junior. That season got him All-SEC Second Team honors from the AP. And it got the Chiefs’ attention. Kansas City took him 46th overall in the 2018 draft. He was part of that Super Bowl LIV squad that beat the 49ers, though his time in KC didn’t last long.

After the Chiefs, Speaks bounced around. A lot. We’re talking Las Vegas, Dallas, New York (Giants), Buffalo, San Francisco, Jacksonville. None of those stops turned into a permanent home. But he kept playing. And in the UFL, with the Michigan Panthers, he finally found a groove. In 2024, he led the league in sacks and was named Defensive Player of the Year. That’s the kind of production that makes a guy think about coaching when his playing days start winding down.

What Speaks brings to the Tigers

He’s got NFL tape and UFL hardware. But what matters more for Jackson State is the experience. Speaks has seen different systems, different coaches, different levels of pressure. He can tell a kid in the film room what it actually feels like to line up against an NFL tackle or chase a quarterback on a cold Saturday in the SWAC. That’s not nothing.

The Tigers have been rolling under Taylor. They won the SWAC championship and the Cricket Celebration Bowl in 2024. In 2025, they won the East Division again but lost the conference title game to Prairie View A&M. That loss probably stung. Adding a guy like Speaks suggests Taylor isn’t content to just show up. He wants to push further.

Small school. Big stakes.

Jackson State has already turned itself into one of the marquee names in HBCU football. Speaks is the latest example of a player with real pro credentials choosing to coach at that level instead of chasing a spot on some Power Five support staff. It’s a good sign for the program. And for a guy who spent years grinding through NFL practice squads and UFL seasons, maybe coaching is where he finally sticks.