Who These CHIEFS Are

Laddie Morse

It was a year ago when we were all wondering if the Kansas City Chiefs offense could survive without the long ball threat of Tyreek Hill, right after he’d been traded away to the Miami Dolphins. Now, we’re doing something similar again as JuJu Smith-Schuster has fled to the New England Patriots and Mecole Hardman has walked away to join the New York Jets. It’s kind of silly when you consider who these Chiefs are. The core of these Kansas City Chiefs includes the best Head Coach, the best quarterback, and the best tight end, so is it any wonder that this team is continuing to thrive? Patrick Mahomes said at the Super Bowl parade rally in February:

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“Before we started this season, the AFC West said we were rebuilding. I’m going to be honest with you, I don’t know what rebuilding means. In our rebuilding year, we’re world champs… we’re world champs.”

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While I’m sure for most teams it all begins with the owner. For these Chiefs, it appears to begin with the Head Coach. What I mean by this is… most teams are set up so that the General Manager is responsible for hiring (and firing) their head coach. Not in the Chiefs franchise. Consequently, that hiring/firing responsibility doesn’t land on the General Manager’s shoulders, and for this team, that’s a plus. So, while the feature image above has pictured Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes, and Travis Kelce, we have to consider just how good General Manager Brett Veach is… or has been.

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Brett Veach, General Manager

Brett Veach in entering his seventh (7th) season as General Manager. It’s had to believe he’s been at it this long, but it’s clear that he’s getting better and better at his job. While the 2017 draft belonged to previous GM John Dorsey, it was Veach who famously brought Patrick Mahomes to the attention of Dorsey and Reid and pounded the table for him. If we’re going to give Brett Veach some of the credit for 2017, we need to make sure we give him credit for 2018 and 2019, a couple of drafts that didn’t work out so well for him. Here’s the last seven drafts adapted from pro-football-reference.com:

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Both Mahomes and Kareem Hunt were winners, but the rest of that draft after Mahomes should be considered a Dorsey draft. Breeland Speaks (2018), Mecole Hardman (2019), and Clyde Edwards-Helaire (2020) have all been less than hoped for. However, the 2021 and 2022 drafts were both excellent drafts top to bottom and these choices land on Veach’s shoulders.

The point is, even if you don’t count this current draft, Veach — and his crew — appear to have turned a corner and it’s hard to argue anything else when his choices led to winning two of the last four Super Bowls.

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Head Coach, Andy Reid

Andy Reid has now entered the realm of one of the greatest NFL Head Coaches of all time. Here’s Patrick Mahomes describing Reid and his impact:

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“He’s one of the greatest coaches of all time. I think people knew that, but these two Super Bowl [wins] cemented that. To have someone that is such a great person and gets the best out of the players, to become men and players, you want to win those Super Bowls for him. It’s great that we did that.”

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I said earlier that it all starts with the head coach and that’s because he brought so many of his protege’s with him when he came over from Philadelphia. One of those was Brett Veach, who eventually became the Chiefs GM.

This past Super Bowl (LVII) showed that Reid is a great play caller and schemer. I became more aware of Reid’s super power to call the right play at the right time when — during Super Bowl LVII — down the left sideline, MVS runs a deep pattern and Kadarius Toney runs a route into the flat then JuJu runs a wheel route up the same (left) sidelines where Toney had been on a previous play. Consequently, the Eagles DBs break on the Toney route in the flat and MVS drives the Safeties deep and JuJu is wide open on his wheel route. Here’s a video analysis of that play and if you go to the 4:10 mark you can hear his breakdown of that moment.

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Many will point to the “Corndog” play which was used twice to score on the Eagles in the second half. Of course, we know now that the second “Corndog” play was a mistake (with K.C. lined up in the wrong positions), but the Eagles still fell for it, to the opposite side of the field. Andy Reid is a Master Manipulator — Schemer Supreme if you will — when it comes to play calling.

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Ben Solak wrote a piece for the Ringer called: “Andy Reid’s Master Game Plan Won the Chiefs the Super Bowl—and Secured His Legacy” in which he says:

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“Andy Reid joined a select group on Sunday night when his Chiefs beat his former team, the Philadelphia Eagles, 38-35, to secure Kansas City’s second championship in four seasons—and the second championship of Reid’s 24-year career as a head coach. Reid is now the 14th head coach in NFL history to win multiple Super Bowls. Two are active: Reid and Bill Belichick. Of the 12 that aren’t, nine are already in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Reid is also one of only nine coaches to make it to four or more Super Bowls—again, of the seven that are retired, six are Hall of Famers.”

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Quarterback, Patrick Mahomes

Kevin Clark wrote a piece called: “We Have Never Seen a Football Player Like Patrick Mahomes,” in which he said:

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“Mahomes won his second Super Bowl on Sunday night, a 38-35, last-second, come-from-behind win over the Philadelphia Eagles. He is the first player in NFL history to win two Super Bowls and two MVPs in his first six seasons.”

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Clark then goes on to say:

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“Mahomes, after this game, diagnosing what was wrong in the first half, said his team was not playing with its usual joy. This cuts to the heart of the matter: The Chiefs’ best football is joyful because Mahomes’s best football is joyful, same as it was when the backyard was too small for him. There is an innocence to his game that almost no one else possesses.”

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Interesting take: an innocence to his game that almost no one else possesses….” Here’s Mahomes top ten plays from the 2022 season (4:08):

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Tight End, Travis Kelce

Mike Gavin of NBC Sports published this article just days before Super Bowl LVII called: “Travis Kelce ranks among the greatest tight ends in NFL history” and said this (please remember this was BEFORE the latest Super Bowl):

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“The 33-year-old Kelce is coming off what was arguably the best season of his career, leading all NFL tight ends in each major category with 1,338 yards and 12 receiving touchdowns on 110 receptions, which was just six away from Zach Ertz’s single-season record at the position. Kelce’s production carried over into the playoffs, as he set an NFL postseason single-game record for tight ends with 14 catches in the Chiefs’ divisional round win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. He’s now one victory away from winning a second Super Bowl, which could solidify his position as the greatest tight end of all time.”

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“… one victory away from winning a second Super Bowl, which could solidify his position as the greatest tight end of all time.” Hmm…. I think Kelce has met that criteria. Here’s Kelce taking a direct snap in 2021 (0:37):

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The Point

Try to think of a player on this team who is not tremendously effected by one of these important members of the Chiefs. If you are Chris Jones… you are not only effected by Joe Cullen and your teammates along the line of scrimmage, but you are effected by DC Steve Spagnuolo and Andy Reid directly and indirectly. CJ is also effected by Mahomes and Kelce when they score so many TDs and keep the other teams from getting too far ahead. Or, they keep their opponents behind in the score and make CJ and his DL teammates all pass rushers.

The point is, these individual all make the job of everyone else in the organization easier. Who are these Chiefs? It all begins with these three… or four… depending on how you look at it.

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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne

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