Laddie Morse
With the NFL Trade Deadline arriving this past Tuesday at 4:00 PM ET, to say that this week has been busy, would be an understatement. In fact, there were 10 trades on Tuesday alone, setting a record for trades on Trade Deadline day. However, the Chiefs didn’t make the trade they wanted to make for a DE, so let’s take a look at the Chiefs biggest new headlines this week.
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Once upon a time in America, when you said the words, “Burns and Allen” you were referring to George Burns and Gracie Allen, a comedic team I grew up watching and frankly, Gracie was one of the funniest comediennes I’ve ever heard. I may be aging myself here, but what the heck:
RIP: Gracie Allen died from a heart attack in 1964, at the age of 69. Burns lived to be 100 years old and passed in 1996 of cardiac arrest.
However, the Burns and Allen we Chiefs fans have been talking a lot about, for the last couple of weeks, are pass rushing specialists who still play for the Carolina Panthers and the Jacksonville Jaguars.
General Manager Brett Veach was followed online like kids chasing an ice cream truck and while we know he had made a call to the Jags concerning Josh Allen — who was a first round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, 7th pick overall — we don’t know how close the two teams came to making a deal. Although the Jags may have wanted at least one first round choice in exchange for this Josh Allen (who made the Pro Bowl in 2019), still the Chiefs were reluctant. SI.com said:
“The Chiefs have checked on the availability of Allen, and are similarly looking for another edge rusher, though they may be a little more reluctant to part with their 2023 first-rounder.”
So, K.C. will rely on the players they have on their roster to put more pressure on opposing QBs. I expect DC Steve Spagnuolo to continue dialing up more exotic blitzes to get that job done.
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The reason DC Steve Spagnuolo may be upping his use of unusual and colorful blitzes may have more to do with Kadarius Toney than it does with the lack of signing a new edge rusher. Why? Because, I think the Chiefs will have an even more effective offense now that Toney is around.
One of the skills Tyreek Hill brought to the table was his ability to use lateral quickness to get open right away off of the line of scrimmage giving QB Patrick Mahomes someone he could target underneath… without fail. Toney can do the same. It also means the Chiefs should be able to execute more successful drives and that means… scoring more. Am I equating higher point totals with the addition of Kadarius Toney? Yes.
It’s amusing to me that who ever puts together these RAS stats, has a 5-foot-11 and one/half inch, and 193 lbs. WR tallied in the POOR range.
One of the things I like about Toney that we found out about during his presser this week was, he already speaks, coaches speak: he doesn’t say anything out of turn. He brushed aside a question by a Chiefs beat reporter about the N.Y. Giants saying, “I’m a Chief now.” Smart. Very smart. In fact, his football smarts is so excellent that we can understand now why GM Brett Veach was targeting a trade for Toney as far back as the offseason.
Another aspect of Kadarius Toney’s background that may assist him in the transition of going from the N.Y. Giants offense to the Chiefs offense is that the Giants current Offensive Coordinator is Mike Kafka who served as the Chiefs QB Coach from 2020 to 2021. What that really means is, that some of the verbiage and terminology will be consistent from one scheme to the next. Throw in the idea that Toney is a smart man, and — voila — you have a much easier transition than many might think it was going to be previously. Travis Kelce said of Toney: “I think it’ll be a smoother transition than coming from a lot of other teams in the league but I’m extremely excited.” We’ve long heard that Reid has one of the most difficult offensive playbooks to digest, but even Reid has said that Toney is picking up his offense quickly.
Toney not only provides 4.38 speed, he offers terrific side-to-side agility and that makes him a wonderful candidate to return punts. Perhaps a way to get Toney onto the field more quickly is to just turn Punt returning duty over to him. Learning to be a Punt Returner is much easier than learning to become a wideout in Reid offense.
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Special Teams coordinator Dave Toub said Toney will be in the mix for Punt Returners. Adam Teicher stated:
“The Chiefs will move away from Skyy Moore as their exclusive punt returner. Dave Toub said he would be part of rotation…. Kadarius Toney could get some work there on Sunday night against Titans.”
Although Skyy Moore is still in the rotation for Punt Returners, Pete Sweeney says the competition is now open. Odd thing is, I never knew it was closed.
Travis Kelce says: “Kadarius Toney [is] an absolute beast with the ball in his hands.” OC Eric Bieniemy said of Toney: “Whatever was said in New York, that was said out there in New York. This kid is a part of our family now.”
Ah, family. Love it!
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Since we were just talking about Punt Returners, apparently Trent McDuffie, the cornerback we’ve all been waiting to see return to the field — as a DB — is also on Dave Toub’s list of possible guys who can perform that duty:
With the trade of Rashad Fenton to the Atlanta Falcons, the return of 1st round pick Trent McDuffie is all the more important.
The Chiefs moved up in the most recent NFL draft to select Trent McDuffie with the 21st pick, knowing that the Buffalo Bills would take him if he was still on the board. The Bills picked at #23. McDuffie played in the Chiefs opening game this year for most of the first half, but then injured his hamstring. HC Reid then had McDuffie sit out weeks longer than he might have under different circumstances just to make sure he was 101% healed and ready to go.
McDuffie has high value to the Chiefs. Here he is in training camp this past summer going up against veteran WR Mecole Hardman:
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While I don’t consider Mecole Hardman the toughest of the toughest WRs to cover at the LoS, McDuffie shuts him down cleanly.
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While my first response to the Chiefs trade of CB Rashad Fenton to the Atlanta Falcons was not positive, once I took a look at all the factors, I changed my mind. First of all, the time off the field of 1st round CB Trent McDuffie gave DB Coach Dave Merritt plenty of time to watch and evaluate his existing rookie corners: 7th rounder Jaylen Watson, 4th rounder Joshua Williams, and 7th rounder Nazeeh Johnson. Those three DBs have performed well, well enough for the Chiefs to move on from Rashad Fenton.
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However, the pluses of trading Fenton don’t stop there.
Fenton was on the 4th year of a 4 year deal. The Chiefs were faced with either resigning him at the end of this year, and if they did, it also meant moving on from one of the DBs they’d just drafted. What this trade between the Falcons and the Chiefs really means is, K.C. was not only able to get something (a conditional 7th round pick) for nothing. Why nothing? Because at year’s end, they were faced with releasing Fenton (because they evaluated the DBs they have in house and recognized their upside), in which case, they’d end up with nothing. DC Steve Spagnuolo said this about the Chiefs trading Rashad Fenton to the Falcons:
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“It’s hard to say goodbye to guys. I thought it was
a good opportunity for him, close to his home.”
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With the Chiefs facing what would end up being a bad trade for an over-valued edge rusher, they decided to not make that deal. David Bell has a terrific piece on this called. “Chiefs: Sometimes the Things You Don’t Do, Do!” so check it out if you want to understand more about why the Chiefs did not make a trade for an edge rusher at this time.
As I mentioned above, DC Steve Spagnuolo will continue to use some rarely seen blitzes to continue to get pressure on the opposing team’s QBs. While I expected more out of the Chiefs other first round pick, George Karlaftis, I don’t think there’s much more we can expect this year. So far, Karlaftis has been in on 72% of the Chiefs defensive snaps and has 0.5 sacks to show for it.
GK has had some other stats that have been helpful to the Chiefs defensive cause overall. He’s been in on 8 Blitzes (but not gotten home), forced 6 hurries (but not gotten home), he’s knocked the QB down twice (but not gotten home), are you beginning to sense a pattern here… he’s also had 9 pressures (hurries + knockdowns + sacks), had 14 tackles and only two missed tackles. Although he’s only had 0.5 sacks so far this season, the Chiefs have faced some of the best OLs in the league.
One thing we can be certain of is that Brett Veach will make acquiring an Edge Rusher this coming offseason a high preference. The last two drafts by the Chiefs have been some of the best draft hauls by any GM in the NFL. I not only expect that to continue, but believe Veach will make an edge rusher a top round(s) priority… in the first three rounds. DrafTek has five (5) edge rushers ranked in the top 32 picks, and that doesn’t include one of my faves, who used to be ranked in the first round, Zach Harrison — 6-foot-6, 272 lbs. — out of Ohio State. He’s had some recent success so I’m unsure why he’s been demoted to the 47th best prospect (that includes a 15 slot jump upwards since one week ago).
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What have we Chiefs fans of the Kingdom been most starved for? Any kind of information on RT Lucas Niang’s rehab.
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To say that Niang has been needed, is hyperbole at best. While I like Andrew Wylie as a backup interior lineman, his performance so far this year at RT has been below average, in my estimation. Prior to this season, I have had Niang slotted into the RT position and felt he was the future there. To see that he’s even been given the chance to practice with the team is a major step in the right direction. Here’s Chiefs Offensive Line Coach Andy Heck on Niang:
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“Lucas has been working really hard with our trainers. Yesterday was the first time we got to see him on the field [meaning: Wednesday]. It was a great start for him. Excited to see how he progresses. There will be a lot to evaluate in the coming weeks.”
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While listening to some Chiefs podcasts I was reminded that Niang is a huge man standing — 6-foot-6 and weighing in at 315 lbs. — so any kind of rehab from a ruptured (or torn) pateller tendon would be more serious to recover from than for a player half his size.
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It’s good to know that Niang is back and practicing with the team. The next step will be to see if he can unseat Andrew Wylie and take over as a permanent starter on the right side of the Chiefs OL.
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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne
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