Chiefs Myths in the Making

Laddie Morse

We all know that Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce are legends already; myths of sorts. Just like Lenny Dawson once was. Many think that if Mahomes retired today – God forbid – he’d already be in the Hall of Fame. What I’m most interested in, is who among all the other starting Chiefs players have the potential to become superb, and considered a #1 at their position, league-wide? To me, that list includes: OC Creed Humphrey, DT Chris Jones and LB Nick Bolton.

Some may be asking themselves: why is that important?

If you look back in the 1969 Kansas City Chiefs, you know that more than Len Dawson was a Hall of Fame player. That group was led by legendary Head Coach Hank Stram, but also includes: LB Bobby Bell, DL Buck Buchanan, LB Willie Lanier, CB Emmitt Thomas and K Jan Stenerud.

Note: I think that group should also include WR Otis Taylor: but that’s another storyline.

So, let’s take a look at the three players I have already named (Humphrey, CJ, and Bolton) and then we’ll consider others already on their way to an excellent, top notch, career in Chiefs colors.

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OC, Creed Humphrey

From ajc.com, Jason Butt, offered this insight in an article he wrote called: “Creed Humphrey’s pro day performance was ‘like watching Frankenstein’” when he said this about Creed Humphrey on his Pro Day:

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“Centers don’t get to show off their natural athleticism all too often. Therefore, when Oklahoma center Creed Humphrey went through each of his pro day drills last Friday, those watching him virtually were astonished at the numbers he put up. He hit a vertical jump of 33 inches. His broad jump totaled 112 inches. He repped 225 pounds 29 times on the bench press. His three-cone drill was timed at 7.54 seconds. He posted a time of 4.46 seconds in the 5-10-5 shuttle.”

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I was convinced that the Chiefs would not want to draft a “left-handed” Center because it would mean just that much more for Patrick Mahomes to deal with. Boy, was I wrong. Big time. However, with Humphrey not being drafted until the 63rd pick, the end of the second round of the 2021 NFL draft, it appears that league talent evaluators may have thought the same thing about him.

Then, Creed Humphrey was thought of as one of the best Centers in this rookie year — last year — and this past season he was considered the very best by many who observe those rankings.

It’s safe to say that Patrick Mahomes will be protected for many years to come with Humphrey in the middle. With zero (0) sacks allowed in the 2022-2023 season, Humphrey should be considered with the best OCs. Pro Football Focus (which I no longer depend upon for consistent evaluations) gave Creed Humphrey a 90.0 score this year, but you may also remember that the Relative Athletic Score (RAS) for Humphrey was a 10.0 (which is the highest score one can achieve in their system) when he came out of Oklahoma:

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The word “elite” is one I can connect to “mythical” or “legendary” quite easily. With Creed playing next to LG Joe Thuney and RG Trey Smith, the Chiefs form one of the best — if not THE best — interior offensive lines (IOL) in the league. The IOL of the Chiefs should be lauded as they only gave up three sacks in three playoff games (and all three came against the Bengals, which ranked as the second best DL behind the Eagles by lineups.com).

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DT, Chris Jones

DT, Chris Jones had two (2) sacks against the Bengals in the playoffs this year, and he also had two (2) against the 49ers during he regular season, while late in the season he had 2.5 sacks against the Raiders. It seems that Chris Jones puts up his best work against the best opponents (or the most dastardly). CJ was taken with the 37th pick in the 2016 NFL Draft. Although he was a five star recruit, he was not recruited heavily when he came out of high school and went on to play for Mississippi State. Following college, during the draft process, he was considered a lower prospect because some draft analyst said: “He takes plays off.” CJ is now considered the best Defensive Tackle in the NFL, yes, ahead of Aaron Donald.

Covers.com ranks the top three players who were up for Defensive Player of the Year Award and Chris Jones was one of those players. The list also includes Edge Rusher Nick Bosa from the 49ers and Linebackers Micah Parsons from the Cowboys. CJ is the only Defensive Interior Lineman in the group of players given consideration this year. Cover.com said this about Chris Jones:

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“Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones dominated the trenches for the Chiefs during the regular season, boasting the best interior defensive grade according to Pro Football Focus (92.1).”

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It’s nearly impossible to compare the Chris Jones situation to the Treek Hill situation this offseason. I’ve said previously that the Chiefs might need to trade CJ away because his trade value will never be higher than it is right now. However, while the Hill situation had a fix — Patrick Mahomes learning to spread the ball around and bringing in several other wideouts — I’m unsure of what Brett Veach could possibly do to offset the loss of CJ. As I’ve hear one national pundit say of CJ: “If you trade him away, you better have a plan in place.” Now, I’m unsure of a plan that could overcome the loss of an interior defensive lineman like Stone Cold.

Consequently, I’m now of the belief that the Chiefs will do all they can do to bring him back. Here’s a truncated version of Chris Jones current Salary Structure provided by Overthecap.com:

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The figure I want you to pay the most attention to is the one that says, Cap % (12.9) for 2023. That means the Chiefs cap for 2023 consists of 12.9% going to Chris Jones. Add that to Patrick Mahomes Cap 22.4% for this year and you come out with 35.3 % going to two players. That doesn’t leave a lot for others like Orlando Brown Jr…. who needs to get paid too. David Bell shared this cap monies breakdown recently in the comments:

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LB, Nick Bolton

Nick Bolton has burst onto the scene without flare. That may be why some of you are surprised to find him here. Bolton has taken a major jump from his first season in 2021, to his second season in tackles going from 112 to 180. The 180 tackles makes him the franchise record holder for Tackles in a Season. Anthony Hitchens had 78, then 88, then 80 tackles over his last three seasons for K.C.. That averages out to 82 tackles per year for three years running. If you doubled Hitchens three-year tackles average (164), Bolton would still have 16 more tackles in this one year than Hitchens three-year average. Here’s a breakdown of Nick Bolton in Super Bowl LVII by Jackson Krueger:

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Nick Bolton was also a Dick Butkus Award finalist this season. The Dick Butkus Award goes to three levels of Linebacker: the Best NFL LB, the best Collegiate LB and the best High School LB. To even be considered… is a privilege and although Roquan Smith won it this year, Nick Bolton should be recognized as having had a great, great season. Some even think he should have been given the MVP Award for Super Bowl 57, and if he’d been given the second scoop-and-score, he just might have won that award.

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Other Chiefs: Almost Legendary

Willie Gay – Nick Bolton may have had the most tackles in the Super Bowl, but his running mate, Willie Gay was right behind him with 8 total takles. If Willie remains a Chiefs at the end of his rookie deal, he could develop into an All-Pro for K.C. in Spags system. Let’s not sell Willie short, he had a very good year too:

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Trent McDuffie – McDuffie is a possible Legend in my book. Sure, he’s need to continue to grow and stick around past his rookie deal, but he’s on the right track. McDuffie not only plays the Pass well, but really helps when he focuses on the Running game. Note the first play in this vid:

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L’Jarius Sneed – Sneed has become a favorite defensive player. He not only rated a top ten ranking after his rookie year in a 202 Re-Draft but he has climbed the ranks of the best CBs in the league. Sneed is a good person off the field and he certainly is one of the most versatile on it:

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I in no way have left Travis Kelce or Patrick Mahomes off this list for any good reason. Those two will go down as all-time Chiefs players, but I wanted to focus on other Chiefs players here. So, who else would you like to include on this list of Myths in the Making?

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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne

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