February 13th, the day of the 2022 Super Bowl, was a day of celebration for many. How did it feel to be an NFL fan from Florida that day? Floridians look for reasons to cheer even when the home teams are eliminated. That sometimes means staying interested because a player that used to play in Florida is still competing.
On this season finale, Florida sports fans knew the day of the Dolphin had passed. When the Chiefs were knocked out of the playoffs in the AFC championship game, so was former Dolphins cornerback, number 29 Sam Madison – current Kansas City Chiefs defensive back coach.
You might remember Sam Madison
Madison played nine seasons for the Dolphins before making the move to New York, where he helped the Giants become 2008 NFL champions. But no matter the uniform he suited up in, every team he represented got his trademark, the physical intense run and hit defense. He also possesses a great football mind to read and decipher defenses and use what he learned to anticipate the next play. He was a heralded defensive presence that eventually became a key piece for the Super Bowl winning Giants both with his play and his skills as a team leader.
It was during his time with the Giants that Madison first demonstrated his special talent to mentor those learning the game. During their championship run, his defensive back squad had to anticipate the decisions of Tom Brady, needing to game plan for one of the most prolific passers in football. The nuggets he imparted to the younger players of the Giants’ secondary enabled them to contain one of the most accurate passers of all time and hold the Patriots to only 14 points in Super Bowl XLII.
Contributing to the football culture in Florida and beyond
As the defensive back coach for the Kansas City Chiefs, he helmed another secondary to a 2020 Super Bowl win. Georgia native Sam Madison wasn’t always the coach of a Super Bowl-winning secondary. After putting the finishing touches on his playing career, Madison moved back to South Florida, where he became the head coach of a pop warner team known as the Broncos. His passion for the game led him to immerse himself in other aspects too. Any Dolphins fan could see and hear him broadcast local Dolphins games as a television gameday analyst for WTVX.
To reach these milestones, he needed to tap into his extensive playing history, including four Pro Bowl appearances, and draw on his formative experiences throughout his 11 seasons as a cornerback in the NFL. He played high school football in the Tallahassee area and learned the game from the perspective of the offense, starring as a wide receiver in addition to cornerback.
The Georgia native tapped into all his seasons with the Dolphins in order to give his team a chance to lift the Lombardi trophy. He has a special gift he shares with his players: he knows how to separate himself, even by a seemingly small margin to win an indiscernible trace of leverage. In this year’s postseason, he’s been trying to give the Chiefs that edge he himself played with.
The Kansas City Chiefs count on Madison’s Super Bowl experience again this year
The Chiefs’ inability to overcome the Bengals was not a result of the team not performing to the standards of a Sam Madison squad. The secondary mainly played a penalty-free game. Pro Bowler Patrick Mahomes, quarterback and captain of the Chiefs, fell to multiple coverage sacks and threw the ball into tight spots leading to two interceptions. An anemic Mahomes-led offense put up 0 points in the second half. The Chiefs’ defense struggled with Burrow’s elusiveness as he extended plays and scrambled for first downs.
The Chiefs’s secondary, anchored by cornerback turned safety Tyrann Mathieu, did their jobs. It’s the uncanny ability of Burrow, very uncommon in a player so young, to read the defense and change the call at the line of scrimmage that made the difference. After signaling that the blitz is coming, he found open wide receiver Tee Higgins on a bevy of deciding plays late in the game.
Bengals’ receiver Tee Higgins has two of the assets Madison considers unteachable: height and speed. The Chiefs’ Sam Madison-led secondary was effective in bottling up Ja’Marr Chase, the first option in the Bengals’ passing game, since AJ Green left for the Arizona Cardinals. With a defense fully committed to the blitz, the corners don’t have as much help on the outside in the passing attack.
Madison garnered a wealth of experience in his playing days, when he would face Miami legend Dan Marino every day on the practice field. In a fascinating career that has come full circle, he leads the secondary of the Kansas City Chiefs, who go against the most prolific passer of this generation, superstar Pat Mahomes. Undoubtedly the wealth of knowledge Madison accumulated was a big factor in the 2020 championship season of the Kansas City Chiefs. With that unique experience in his back pocket, Sam Madison will come back strong, even after his Kansas City Chiefs fell short this season.