Chiefs: The Reid For Speed – For the past few years, the Kansas City Chiefs, under Andy Reid, have developed a need for speed. It’s become so universally known across the league, you could call it: the Reid for speed.
Let’s take a look at the transformation:
In 2015, the Chiefs number one producing WR was Jeremy Maclin. Reid brought him aboard because he drafted Maclin in 2009 while Reid was HC in Philly. Maclin had 1,088 receiving yards for KC in 2015 and when he was drafted he ran a 4.45 40 yard dash. Mac had one more season in K.C. – 2016 — but he had just 536 receiving yards and was gone after that.
Tyreek Hill has basically replaced Maclin and become the Chiefs leading WR. Hill had 593 receiving yards in Mac’s last season but ever since Hill’s rookie campaign, he’s averaged 1,174 receiving yards per year, even though he’s only played in 41 of a possible 48 games. Hill ran a 4.29 40 at his pro day but many believe he’s faster. Here, Hill runs a 4.21 40:
Offensive Replacement Speed
So, Andy Reid has replaced a 4.45 WR with a sub-4.29 WR. Now let’s take a look at some of his other, speedy replacement parts:
The Cost of “Doing Speed” on Offense
Albert Wilson had 554 receiving yards in 2017 while Sammy Watkins only had 519 receiving yards in 2018 although Wilson’s catch rate was 67.7% while Watkins was 72.2%.. Although, Albert only cost the Chief $1.8M in 2017 whereas Sammy’s price tag in 2018 was $21.8M. A costly upgrade for speed.
Chris Conley gained 334 yards in 2018 and cost the Chiefs $1.9M that year. Conley was in the 4th year of his deal and was a bit of a disappointment. While he was a very good blocker, the lack of production for an athlete as good as he is was a let down. Mecole Hardman had 538 receiving yards last year and although it was originally thought he was drafted to possibly replace Tyreek Hill, Hill’s situation resolved and Hardman was essentially the replacement for Conley. Hardman’s rookie deal cost K.C. less than half a million in Base Salary.
Anthony Fasano was a, no so very good, tight end for the Chiefs in 2013 and 2014. However, it was a positive that he held down the fort while Travis Kelce was rehabbing his rookie year in 2013. Fasano cost K.C. $5.75M in 2013 and 3.15M in 2014. A king’s ransom for little production. Along comes Travis Kelce and he starts putting up Zeus-like numbers and his on field presence is nothing short of spectacular. In 2016, the Chiefs re-singed Kelce to an extension that was home town friendly but Kelce has proven to be worth a ton more. Here’s a list of the best paid tight ends in 2020 taken from a piece called, “Highest paid tight ends in NFL: Ranking TEs by salary for 2020 season:”
While I think Travis Kelce belongs at the top of that list, I’m glad he isn’t for the sake of the Chiefs current cap situation. Yes, he’s due $9.4M this year and he’s also due $8.75M in 2021, but GM Brett Veach needs to get a deal done with Kelce — after he takes care of Chris Jones and Patrick Mahomes — to lock him up for the rest of his career. Kelce is a big reason the Chiefs offense is one of the best ever and he needs to be taken care of.
RB Kareem Hunt was still on a rookie contract and has been replaced by two players who are faster: Damien Williams who cost K.C. $2.74M in 2019 and will only cost $1.2M in 2020. Clyde Edwards-Helaire will be on a rookie deal for the next four years and if he’s good the Chiefs will presumably pick up his 5th year option.
Defensive Replacement Speed
The Cost of “Doing Speed” on Defense
It looks like the defense lost speed by moving on from Justin Houston and Eric Berry, but that would be a surface evaluation. Sometimes the cost of improving team speed isn’t in salaries only. On defense, it was apparent that OLB Justin Houston had declined in effectiveness following his hyperextended knee in 2015. From 2016 through 2018, he played in 32 of 48 possible games and never was able to regain full power of his pass rush averaging just 7.5 sacks per season yet, he had recorded 12.1 sacks per year in his first four seasons (including a 22.0 sack season in 2014). Safety Eric Berry had been hurt for so long it apparently affected his desire to retake the field. What do they say… the best ability is availability… well Berry was no longer even available. Was he sideline coaching? Yes. On field impact? Zero. That’s a number anyone can understand when weighing the value of replacement parts… and speed.
The Chiefs have been looking for a speedy replacement for LB Derrick Johnson ever since he was released two years ago. It looks like K.C. finally has a good one in Willie Gay Jr. whose 4.46 40 should help heal a linebacking unit that has suffered for several years now. Gay will be on a rookie deal for the next 4 years but the weight of the Anthony Hitchens deal hangs over this group until 2023. Hitch was signed to the worst deal Brett Veach has made by offering him a 5-year, $45M deal two years ago. He still has $8.5M, $6.5M, and $8.5M left over the next three years. A steep price to pay for 4.74 speed (or should I say slowness).
At least DB Eric Murray gave the Chiefs defense a partial season of Emmanuel Ogbah in 2019, the player he was traded for a year ago.
CB Steven Nelson cost K.C. $1.9M in 2018 while Charvarius Ward made $570K last year. Ward will cost just over $1M in 2020 but a significant difference between the two is that, Nelson is 5-foot-10 and Ward is 6-foot-1. However, that physical characteristic does not address their agility. Nelson’s Agility Score (PlayerProfiler.com) was 80th among all participants and Charvarius Wards Agility Score was 1st among all participants (PlayerProfiler.com)… at their respective pre-draft evaluations.
Note: while I have a high opinion of Charvarius Ward and believe he can serve as a #1 CB, I doubt that Rashad Fenton can successfully handle the CB#2 position.
On the other hand, there has been no replacement for CB#1 Marcus Peters ever since he was dealt to the Rams although, his 40 time was not great, 4.53, showing that speed isn’t everything (Peters has been in the Pro Bowl 3 times and All Pro twice). Now, I’m not complaining (how can you complain when the Chiefs have just won the Super Bowl!), but the Chiefs are going to have to invest a high round draft pick on the CB position again soon. Presumably, he will be a speedy CB. I think 2021 is the year.
Andy Reid has been attempting to improve team speed for years. He drafted Dee Ford, who ran a 4.53 40, but Ford turned out to be, a less than always conscientious player. Reid also picked up Ron Parker who once ran a 4.35, and although he got several good years from Parker, he wasn’t consistently in the right spot at the right time.
While improving the speed of his units overall has been an obvious goal for Andy Reid, one he’s been more successful at achieving than any other team in the league, speed is not the be-all-end-all of goals. How do we know? Take this year’s first round draft pick: Clyde Edwards-Helaire. CEH runs a 4.47 40 yard dash according to ESPN (a documented 4.60 at the combine), which is not as fast as Damien Williams, the starting RB in the Chiefs 2019 Super Bowl season. However, CEH brings other skills to the table.
A few months ago, I penned a couple of pieces on the need for a bigger running back focusing on prospects like: Jonathan Taylor and A.J. Dillon. The premise was: the Chiefs had a hole they could fill and by drafting a larger RB who could pound the ball up the middle of a defense they could make the offense more versatile yet, especially in the red zone. What I failed to take into account was… the Chiefs are not built that way. They need their RBs to cut-and-go… pick-and-pop… or to follow the yellow brick road, meaning, the blocking design of a play. These Reid Chiefs haven’t been a smash-mouth, pound-it-out kind of unit since Martyball in the 90s. Consequently, a RB like Clyde Edwards-Helaire gives them exactly what they need to win in every situation: someone who can wriggle through the smallest of holes and win laterally with quickness.
Andy Reid hasn’t been afraid of adding other new concepts to his offense besides speed. Mike Tirico interviewed Reid to understand his personal progression with RPOs and some other college game concepts. Reid said:
“I thought when we got Alex Smith it was a fresh start for Alex, that maybe we could give him something that he’s ultra familiar with… and take him back to his heyday, which was his college time with Urban Meyer. So I said, well, let pull out a couple things of that, and he’s such a brilliant guy so maybe we can build off of that, and start something that, that puts his name on it and is special for him. And so, that’s what we did. We still kept some of the West Coast plays in there. We didn’t abandon that but we added to it with some of the RPO game and spreading people out and letting Alex use his mobility and talents to take care of business. Also, his ability at the line of scrimmage, where you can give him multiple plays to also use, that’s part of his game.”
Steve Mariucci interviewed Andy Reid recently too. It appears the Chief are miles ahead of other teams when it comes to the use of their Virtual Meetings this offseason. Here, Mooch asks Reid about that process:
“So we have the ability to have team meetings… and we’ve also had chances to break up and have offensive and defensive meetings, which we’ve done… and then we break up into individual meetings, and as the head coach you can kind of bop in on all the different groups and talk with the guys, and just so they know that you’re watching, like they’re doing… you’re a part of that.”
Good Morning Football’s equates the “speed of the offseason” with Andy Reid’s use of Virtual Meetings. Take a listen:
During my years in education, it was annually impressed upon teachers, in each school district I taught in, that continuing education was critical to teaching success in the classroom. Consequently, one workshop after another was thrown at us, but one concept I’ve always thought ideal was: “work smarter, not harder.” This is to say, students will benefit from improved instruction in the process. That appears to be what Andy Reid has learned here. It may look like speed to an outsider, but it is really just Reid working smarter.
Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne
If you are viewing this in Apple News and would like to join the Discussion, [GO HERE.](http://arrowheadone.com/chiefs-the-reid-for-speed/#disqus_thread)