Top Ten Reasons the Chiefs Will be Great, or Not, in 2018

The Top Ten Reasons the Chiefs

Will Be Great, or Not, in 2018

by Laddie Morse

The Kansas City Chiefs will have a great season in 2018… if… Patrick Mahomes suddenly becomes Brett Favre. The Kansas City Chiefs will not have a great season… if… their defense shows no improvement. The question is… which if is which… and which one actually happens.

From what I can tell, the Special Teams unit that Dave Toub usually has playing at a high level, has been re-tooled and should be better than ever. So, I doubt the outcome of this season is dependent upon Special Teams. Although, big things are predicted for STs and I would go along with that hypothesis.

Here then are the Top Ten Reasons the Kansas City Chiefs will have a… great/not great… season in 2018. Five of these reasons are offensive and five are defensive.

10. Either Spencer Ware makes a run at Comeback Player of the Year, or one of the other RBs that Brett Veach has signed named Williams, makes a splash.

The Chiefs are as loaded as they’ve ever been at the running back position and yet, someone will need to grab the back-up position and run (and catch) with it, for the Chiefs to succeed beyond our wildest dreams in 2018.

9. Eric Berry comes all the way back from his Achilles injury and shows no signs of wear-n-tear.

If Eric Berry is Comeback Player of the Year again, the Chiefs can go a long way. He not only is an inspiration off the field, but his impact on the field is worth gold. He’s the very definition of someone who makes everyone around them better.

8. The Left Offensive Guard position is filled by someone who makes their mark.

If Parker Ehinger can re-gain his starting position and then improves dramatically on his play from his rookie year two years ago, the Chiefs offensive line can be a top ten line (assuming that injuries don’t ravage the masses).

7. Anthony Hitchens and Reggie Ragland become stellar run stoppers.

To me, the move to sign ILB Anthony Hitchens was the biggest risk of the offseason for Brett Veach and the Chiefs. If Hitchens turns out to be better than advertised, the Chiefs will excel this year. The odds of that happening are good as I believe that Hitchens is a glove-fit for Bob Sutton’s defense and should help dramatically in log-jamming the middle of the field so that other teams won’t be able to run up the gut on the Chiefs as they have been able to do for the past few years. I have fewer questions about Reggie Ragland and think he has Pro Bowl destiny written all over his future resume. If Ragland can develop his coverage skills, the Chiefs may have the perfect 3-down linebacker they need.

6. The Offensive Center position is solidified by Mitch Morse and goes the whole season without injury.

The Chiefs will miss Zach Fulton considerably if Mitch Morse is unable to start at Center and remain healthy this year. Cam Erving has had his moments and while he might turn out to be a solid lineman, we really haven’t seen that yet.

5. The cornerbacks that Brett Veach has decided upon produce enough INT’s and turnovers to quell the loss of Marcus Peters.

Kendall Fuller – check

Steven Nelson – check

David Amerson and the rest of the Chiefs corners are in competition for becoming a starter and/or making the roster. Perhaps CB should be higher on my list of “what will make the Chiefs great or not in 2018” but I think there’s enough here to work with that… overall… the Chiefs will have a better defensive backfield this year than last.

There will be lots of talk about the INTs that “could have been” if this group doesn’t produce their fair share… and early in the season.

4. Newcomer, WR Sammy Watkins, is every bit as wonderful as advertised and wows the league.

I think there’s a good possibility that we could see the best season by a Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver ever in 2018… because of Sammy Watkins. Then again, he’ll have to stay healthy and stay on the field. If he and Patrick Mahomes can develop a kindred spirit/kismet connection… whoa, watch out!

3. At OLB, someone like Dee Ford has a breakout year while Justin Houston returns to Pro Bowl form.

I confess, I have a love-hate relationship with OLB Dee Ford. When he came to the Chiefs I thought his speed and quick-twitch ways were a perfect match for Justin Houston. Turns out that aging Tamba Hali has been a better match for Houston. So, that’s exactly what Veach & Reid did in the draft this year, is, go out and draft a player who is much more the spitting image of Hali than Ford.

This year, the heat is on the pressure-team of the Chiefs: Justin Houston and Dee Ford and Breeland Speaks and Tanoh Kpassagnon, who must come up with more “squeeze” on the QB… or next offseason we’ll see a big squeeze at this position.

2. Patrick Mahomes becomes a top 8 QB in the league in his rookie season.

Patrick Mahomes may be getting the most attention this offseason at the QB position for the Chiefs, but it is not the number one reason the Chiefs will or won’t have a great year. Yes, we do need Mahomes to be very “Mahomesy” but, it is my belief that the #1 reason has to do with… the nose tackles.

1. The number one reason the Chiefs will have a great year is… nose tackles Xavier Williams and rookie Derrick Nnadi have a big year, stopping the run.

Xavier Williams is 6-foot-2 and weighs 310 lbs. He’s smallish for a nose tackle. That’s not to say that smallish nose tackles can’t be very, very good, they can. However, a large percentage of those NTs are selected in the first round. X-man was an undrafted free agent for the Arizona Cardinals in 2015. Here are his stats for the past three seasons:

We have to believe that Brett Veach and his staff have been scouting Williams since his college days and there must be some aspects of his game that he likes, or else he would not be asked to be the primary starting nose for the Chiefs in 2018. While he’s spent so very little time in active duty, on he field of play, on the bright side, he should be fresh.

Staying fresh is a tactic I believe that the Chiefs are going to employ with respect to the nose tackle position in 2018, as they should. During the days of Dontari Poe, Poe was asked to play such a high percentage of snaps, they essentially wore him out. In 2014, the Chiefs had Poe playing over 1000 snaps (even including a few Special teams snaps). Now, they likely will platoon Williams with rookie Derrick Nnadi and 7th year man Jarvis Jenkins (unless some young upstart unseats Jenkins).

There’s not a position that allows for more concern. It’s been a concern for the past two years and remains a concern now. If the Chiefs made the right moves and these players step up big time, it will go a long ways towards the Chiefs having a great season. If not… well, you know.

Bonus Reason- the Chiefs will Be Great, or Not, in 2018

Andy Reid will learn a lesson or two from Doug Pederson in last year’s Super Bowl and keep his foot on the gas peddle in all situations… no matter how far ahead he thinks his team is. Or… we’ll get the same ole, same ole, Andy.

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