2021 Chiefs By Position: Same, Better, Worse

2021 Chiefs By Position: Same, Better, Worse – In less than two weeks the NFL Combine will be beginning and we’ll get a clearer picture of what the prospects and rankings will look like. Free Agency and the NFL Draft are still a long ways off, so we don’t really have much of an idea of what the team will look like yet. However, let’s take a look to see if the team has gotten Better, stayed the Same, or become Worse in 2021.

Since Patrick Mahomes basically ended this season the way he ended the 2020 season — which was with a loss — I’m giving him a “Same” designation. Also, Mahomes completion percentage was exactly what it was the previous year, which was 66.3% and although he had 4,740 yards passing in 2020 and 4,849 in 2021, he had an extra game to do that in.

In 2020, the Chiefs top four rusher were, Clyde Edwards Helaire, Patrick Mahomes, Le’Veon Bell, and Darrel Williams. They had 345 rushing attempts for 1,534 yards and a 4.44 yards per carry average. In 2021, the Chief top four rushers were Darrel Williams, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Patrick Mahomes and Derrick Gore. They had 380 rushing attempts for 1,712 yards and a 4.60 YPC average. Patrick Mahomes had more rushing yards this past season, going from 62 carries in 2020 for 308 yards in 2020, to 66 carries for 381 yards. I don’t see more rushing yards as a positive development for Mahomes. Plus, we found out that Jerick McKinnon is a real weapon in the playoffs.

It looks like the Chiefs rushing attack got slightly better in 2021.

In 2020, Anthony Sherman had 8 yards rushing and 5 yards receiving, while in 2021, Michael Burton had 26 yards rushing and 31 yards receiving. That’s better, no matter how slight the better may be.

In 2020 Travis Kelce had 1,416 yards receiving. In 2021, he had 1,125 receiving yards. So, why did I give the TE’s the “Same” rating? Mostly because of the upside that Blake Bell and Noah Gray have over Deon Yelder and Ricky Seals-Jones.

This “Worse” grade is not so much because Tyreek Hill went from 1,276 receiving yards in 2020, in 15 games played, to 1,239 receiving yards in 16 games played, but because the team knew they needed a WR#2 — and ended up doing nothing about it — they get a lower grade. Yes, Brett Veach tried to sign JuJu Smith-Schuster in the offseason, but failed in that attempt. That may also be the one big reason the Chiefs lost in the AFCCG. Also, Josh Gordon was a failed experiment, and this may end up being a reason Veach makes sure that they bolster the top end on their wideout core this offseason.

Eric Fisher played 100% of the regular season snaps in 2020, but then hurt his Achilles in the AFC Championship game on January 24, 2021. Orlando Brown Jr. played every snap this year and made the Pro Bowl, plus he was available for all the Chiefs playoff games. While I think Fisher may have been better during the regular season, Brown’s overall availability made this an even proposition. Result –> SAME.

Joe Thuney is one of the best Left Guard’s in the NFL and is clearly an upgrade. No need to dredge up the performance of past LGs.

Many believe Creed Humphrey is one of the best — if not the best — Centers in all of football. Austin Reiter… was not even close.

Trey Smith in 2021 was a godsend and was much better than whoever the Chiefs had playing the RG position in 2020. Trey Smith is thought to be the Steal of the Draft as the 226th overall pick in 2021, a 6th rounder who flourished for K.C..

In 2020, the Chiefs had one of the best right tackles in the NFL, in Mitchell Schwartz. Even though they only had him for 6 games, his level of play was far beyond anyone the Chiefs had playing that position in 2021, basically Lucas Niang and Andrew Wylie. My hope is that Lucas Niang will rehab quickly and return to the RT position, and then develop over the coming years to play at the level of Schwartz established. If he’s not ready to go by training camp… maybe, maybe, maybe… Schwartz could fill in for awhile, if his back is healed up and he’s ready to go.

In 2020 Tommy Townsend averaged 45.0 yards per punt. In 2021, he averaged 47.2 yards per punt. Another positive is that he punted 15 fewer times this year than last, 52/37, through no fault, nor credit, to him.

Harrison Butker went from 25 of 27 FGs made in 2020, to 25 of 28 in 2021. He also went 48 of 54 Extra Points Made (EPM) in 2020, to 47 of 49 EPM in 2021. His distance appears to be consistently long. I’m still waiting for him to break the longest FG ever made record: 64 yards by Matt Prater.

The Chiefs had the biggest one season jump from last season to this, going from 20th in 2020 to 4th in 2021. This is based upon Rich Gosselin’s Special Teams rankings. Otherwise, I have few stats to evaluate Special Teams.

The experiment that saw Chris Jones moving to DE at the beginning of 2021 was a failure. Frank Clark was also mostly a failure, and not until Melvin Ingram came to K.C. in early November, did the play of the Chiefs defensive ends improve. However, half the season was over by that time and the real damage was done in the first part of the 2021 season. Pro Football Focus ranked the top 25 edge defenders in 2021 and only one Chiefs defensive end made the list: Melvin Ingram. In 2020, Frank Clark made their list. The reason Clark made the Pro Bowl this year must have been based on last year’s play, but even then, his play had deteriorated: 6.0 sacks in 2020 and 4.5 sacks in 2021.

This grade mostly has to do with Chris Jones moving outside in the early season. We all should have listened to David Bell, as he knew somehow that Chris Jones was not meant for the DE end role. Early in the season was also when Jarran Reed played poorly. Reed was here on a one-year deal and with his old Seattle teammate, Frank Clark, likely getting axed this offseason, that may well be his fate too. Especially if Brett Veach can help locate a suitable replacement. Derrick Nnadi and Tershawn Wharton weren’t noticeably improved, so this group of IDL on the whole, comes out worse in 2021 than they played in 2020.

Anthony Hitchens was his normal miserable self… meaning, he was still just average, at best. However, the increased snaps for Willie Gay Jr. and the Rookie of the Year season for Nick Bolton, has this position looking up. Not only in 2021, but in 2022 and beyond.

Many will say Charvarius Ward was no match for Ja’Marr Chase and I would reply, who was? Even Jalen Ramsey — widely regarded as the best corner in the NFL — could not keep up with him.

I’m assuming Ward will want to get paid like a big league CB, so he’s not likely to return.

L’Jarius Sneed has become the Chiefs best CB. He also has Safety experience and top tier ability, plus he plays well in the slot.

Rashad Fenton was a refreshing surprise this year. PFF gave him a 82.0 score for the year, which places him as a top graded CBs in the NFL.

Mike Hughes is a curious case. You can understand why Veach went after him. You can also see why the Viking took him 30th overall in the 2018 draft. He had 11 pass breakups and 4 INTs in his Junior year — his last at University of Central Florida — and his team went 13-and-0, a perfect record, beating #7 Auburn in the Chik-Fil-A Peach Bowl. However, Auburn was the only team in the top 20 that UCF faced that year. I expect Hughes to be back, but basically because Ward probably won’t be.

Still, the Chiefs need to make a move for a good CB this offseason.

This essentially has to do with Juan Thornhill playing better this season, although Daniel Sorensen played worse. Thornhill had more snaps in 2021 than he did last year, and Sorensen played on fewer snaps this year than last, which is also indicative of the improvement.

I was tempted to say the Head Coaching was worse this season. If you make the Super Bowl one year, but you don’t the next, it’s hard not to think your coaching performance was worse. The reason I went with a “Same” grade was, just how badly I thought Reid was affected by his son’s tragic choice to drive drunk and nearly kill a young girl three (3) days before Super Bowl LV. While I still think Reid had trouble staying focused this year, he was better than he was in the 2020 Super Bowl.

Agree or disagree with some of my grades? Let me know what you think.

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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne

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