Chiefs: Season of the Avengers
Laddie Morse
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The Kansas City Chiefs have something to prove. Apparently. You would think that by winning the previous 6 AFC West titles — in a row — that these Chiefs have nothing to prove right now, but if you were to ask almost any national pundit, that’s not the case. According to James Jones, who played for five different NFL teams (two of them in the AFC West), K.C. is going to finish in last place in their division. You would also think that the Chiefs would be ranked #1 in the AFC having hosted four consecutive AFC Championship games. However, Pete Prisco of CBS Sports says that both the Buffalo Bills and the Green Bay Packers are better.
Sure, the Chiefs traded away one of the best wide receivers in the game in Tyreek Hill (4.29 – 40). However, you could easily argue that with the additions of: JuJu Smith-Schuster (Indy Combine Drills), Marquez Valdes-Scantling (4.37 – 40), and Skyy Moore (4.41 – 40), that the WR position is better than it’s ever been. Even without Hill.
The same could be said for the Safety position with the addition of Justin Reid (4.4 – 40) and rookie Bryan Cook (4.34 – 40), while they let Safety Tyrann Mathieu (4.51 – 40) go, who signed a 3-year, $33 million deal by the New Orleans Saints. Although older players can provide efficiency and experience, reliability and mentorship skills, Mathieu had shown a slight downturn in his performance over the past three seasons: going from 12 Passes Defensed in 2019… to 9 PDs in 2020… to 6 PDs in 2021. Also, by the time Mathieu finishes his contract, he’ll be 33 years old. An article by SoCalledFantasyExperts.com has revealed that:
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“[Safeties] have a sustained period of peak performance until their age 30 season… Player grades seem to think that safeties peak at age 22, age nicely until their late twenties, and fall off a cliff at 29, while approximate value believes — > safeties peak at age 26.”
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An important consideration to take into account, during all the offseason moves Brett Veach has made, Justin Reid just turned 25 years old in February.
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While other teams in the AFC West are claiming they’re better, you could also argue that K.C. is better at every single position this year than they were last year.
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Offensive Pluses
Mahomes is better this year for two reasons. 1) He has that last game in the playoffs to learn from, and 2) He has Matt Nagy returning to the Chiefs to be his QB coach.
The RB position should be better this year because CEH “should” finish the year without an injury and the addition of Isiah Pacheco. Having FB Michael Burton in the offense for a second time around, should be a help and not a hindrance.
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Even though Blake Bell is going to the IR, the TE position is better because of the return of Jody Fortson.
WR position is better because the Chiefs still have speed at the position in MVS and Mecole Hardman (4.33 – 40), but with rookie Skyy Moore growing into the #2 WR role and eventually taking over the #1 WR role, he makes the loss of Hill much more bearable. Mahomes spreading the ball around more now will make a better WR unit as well.
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The Offensive Line is better because they have been together for a year now and the ongoing benefit of having Andrew Wylie maintain the same spot once again — from the beginning of the year — should be a plus.
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Defensive Pluses
Leaving Jarran Reed behind and adding Danny Shelton makes the position much superior. The Reed experiment never did work out, so we should see improved QB pressures and sacks and… run stuffs… this year.
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With Melvin Ingram coming in at mid-season, he had a positive impact on the front four’s performance in 2021. Carlos Dunlap should have a similar effect this year, only it will be for the whole season. DraftShark has projected that Dunlap will miss 1.2 games this year. If that’s the case he should easily surpass 100 sacks this season, a mark he is only 4 shy of. More importantly, the interior of the Chiefs D-line will be much better against the pass (and the run) in 2022. From earlier on Monday:
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The Linebacking position should be tremendously improved this season. While I could go on about Anthony Hitchens on-field deficiencies, it’s Nick Bolton’s efficiencies that make up the difference here. With Willie Gay going into his third year in Steve Spagnuolo’s defense plus the addition of Elijah Lee and rookie Leo Chenal, the LB position is primed for their best year since… Bobby Bell and Willie Lanier were roaming the mid-section of the D.
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While the Cornerback position saw perhaps the most turnover — they are also primed to have their best year in the Reid era. With Rashad Fenton back in his slot corner role, the Chiefs primary CBs — Sneed and McDuffie — can excel and do what they do best.
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The Safety position may be the position that fans question most, since the Chiefs decoded to cut bait with Mathieu. However, Sam Monson of PFF ranked Safeties in several categories and Justin Reid came in 7th best in the All-Round Safety category:
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All-Around Tier
- Adrian Amos, Green Bay Packers
- Harrison Smith, Minnesota Vikings
- Micah Hyde, Buffalo Bills
- Jordan Poyer, Buffalo Bills
- John Johnson III, Cleveland Brown
- Amani Hooker, Tennessee Titans
- Justin Reid, Kansas City Chiefs
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It hardly needs mentioning, but the Chiefs Special Teams triad of Tommy Townsend, Harrison Butker, and James Winchester are not only solid, but way above average. Rich Gosselin of SI.com has ranked the Chiefs Special Teams as the 4th best in the NFL in 2021. Harrison Butker has talked this year about adjusting and improving his leg swing, consequently, his distance in Kicking Field Goals. Butker has predicted he’ll soon hit a 70 yarder, which would be a NFL record (Justin Tucker once hit a 66-yarder for the current NFL record).
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If you’ve listened to Patrick Mahomes or Travis Kelce talk about last season, they’ll tell you it left, a bad taste in their mouth. If that sounds like a couple of guys who are ready to avenge last year’s loss, an early exit from the playoffs, you’re right where I am at. This season it looks like the Chiefs are the Avengers!
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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne
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