Chiefs Headliners: 01·06·24

Laddie Morse

Wow, what an offseason the Chiefs have had so far. If they rock the boat any more, Im about to be sick so watch out. However, there are more than a wadding pool of current issues being dealt with at One Arrowhead Way so let’s jump in.

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Safety Justin Reid may be playing a bigger role this season. Yes, it’s the last season for him — contract wise — but Special Teams coach Dave Toub may be using Reid to perform Kickoffs — instead of Harrison Butker — this year. Here’s Dave Toub explaning the issue (2:17):

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The New Kickoff rules that the NFL Owners instituted this offseason will go into effect this year so Dave Toub and Andy Reid are planning ahead accordingly. Good thing they are because, as Toub has said, kickers were in on 25-40 percent of the tackles and Toub had watched every XFL kickoff. Why? Because the XFL kickoff rules are very similar to the new NFL Kickoff rules.

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Patrick Mahomes has been spending time with Hollywood Brown this offseason. Not only has Mahomes been throwing passes to Brown here in K.C. at the team’s OTAs, but Brown has been to Texas and caught passes from Mahomes there too. Here’s Brown — #5 — working out at the Chiefs OTAs this week (0:38):

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Patrick Mahomes explains how the Chiefs are adding the deep ball element back into their offense and how that has involved Hollywood Brown (0:48):

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WR Kadarius Toney is a conundrum. Here’s a player with so much talent and promise and yet he only had 27 catches for 169 yards in the 2023 season. He played in 13 games so he basically had just over 2 catches per game. That’s nowhere close to what he should be producing as the 20 pick over all, in the 2021 NFL Draft. Here’s the Chiefs OC Matt Nagy shring what Toney needs to do (0:44):

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“Keep it simple”… that’s good advice for anyone.

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The Kansas City Chiefs may have a greater OL problem than we think. With LG Joe Thuney still rehabbing from his pectoral injury — and not taking part in OTAs — he has been unable to participate, so far, in the Chiefs offseason program. While the battle rages on for who will be the starting Left Tackle, between rookie Kingsley Suamataia and second year man Wanya Morris, we may have a hole at LG that might not be covered by the time the Chiefs season begins. Even if Thuney does return in time for this season to begin, he will be 32 years old in November and that’s ancient for a Guard in the NFL. Hopefully he does make it back and returns to form.

The battle for the starting Left Tackle position rages on. However, it’s going to take more than Wanya Morris being a good guy (0:26):

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Matt Araiza and Ryan Rehkow are in a battle to become the permanent replacement for Punter Tommy Townsend and as I understand it, the competition is tight.

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Matt Araiza is 6-foot-1 while Ryan Rehkow is 6-foot-4 and if the fact that Rehkow is from BYU gives him a “leg up” (no pun intended) then, all is fair in love and institutional preferences.

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I maybe should have named this one “Chiefs Coaches” because if things go well for K.C. this year and next, there could be a mass exodus following the next two seasons. Dave Merritt has stated his intent to move up in the world and why not? He may be sticking around for the next two seasons because he has a daughter in high school as a Junior, but I can’t help but think he’s may be gone mentally, already. I know, that’s a cynical way of thinking but….

If the Chiefs make it to the Super Bowl this year, I can also see their Special Teams Coach — Dave Toub — going off to the hinterlands to become a head dude elsewhere. Same goes for DC Steve Spagnuolo, who has already been a Head Coach and says he’d do it again if asked, or maybe it’s DL Line coach Joe Cullen (who served as Jacksonville’s DC just 3 years ago). We know that the Chiefs current OC Matt Nagy has been a Head Coach for the Bears previously so it should be no surprise if he flew the coup in search of new digs.

This one is about DB Coach Dave Merritt and if he does goes, the chances of the Chiefs returning to yet another Super Bowl go down, way down. Yes, Merritt is that good.

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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne

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