They were the talk of the off-season, trading away Patrick Mahomes’ most explosive offensive weapon, but after dominating the draft will the Chiefs get better?
Strength
Now I know this might surprise you, but the Chiefs’ offence was one of the best in the NFL once again! They ranked first in the league for first downs, percentage of drives ending in a score, plays per drive, yards per drive and points per drive. It was nearly impossible to get their offence off the field, which has been a theme since Patrick Mahomes has been there.
Weakness
While their offence was powerful, teams were able to expose the Chiefs’ defence, specifically against the pass. It always looked to be their weakness heading into the season and statistically it worked out to be true. They were 27th for passing yards conceded and 26th for net yards conceded per attempt. I am expecting things to improve this season despite losing Tyrann Mathieu.
Player to watch
If you have only just started following the NFL or aren’t across other teams, the player I was referring to at the top of the piece is Tyreek Hill. He was traded to the Dolphins and considering his success as a speed-based receiver, I am watching Marquez Valdes-Scantling. He had problems with drops in Green Bay and was sometimes shunned by Aaron Rodgers, but I want to see if he can help pick up the slack left in the absence of Tyreek Hill.
Who’s under pressure?
History shows that picking running backs in the first round doesn’t end well and at this stage Clyde Edwards-Helaire is proving that. The Chiefs offence doesn’t utilise the run as much, but Edwards-Helaire has been ineffective in the receiving game. Without Tyreek Hill, the Chiefs may want to utilise the run more and if Edwards-Helaire wants to justify the first-round pick, he needs to lift.
Projection
Everyone thinks the Chiefs are going to drop off due to the Tyreek Hill trade, but with Mahomes, their offence will be okay. I look at their defence and first-round picks Trent McDuffie and George Karlaftis are both massive upgrades at positions of need. They have dominated the AFC West for years on end and even though all of their inner division competition got significantly better, I can’t see them giving up the title.
Win-loss: 13-4
Sheikh
Roar Rookie
Big call considering the first 5 players taken in the draft were all defensive players, but he might have been a bit of a steal at the 21st pick, some analysts were predicting him as top-10 or top-15.
Jake Smith
Roar Rookie
McDuffie is going to be in the conversation for DROY, watch this space!
Sheikh
Roar Rookie
KC signed both Marquez Valdes-Scantling and JuJu Smith-Schuster to try and replace Tyreek Hill. Both are on about $10 million (MVS for 3 years, JJSS for 1) but neither are really top class receivers. I'd say Mahomes is going to have to take the Chiefs offense even more on his shoulders this year. The Chiefs did draft heavily for the defence, which needed it, as they 'only' outscored their rivals by a touchdown a game and if the offence does slow down a bit without Hill they'll need to avoid opponents running up scores. Their first five opponents last year all put at least 29 points on the Chiefs and they were playing catch-up for the #1 seed. But I can't see them not fighting for #1 in the AFC again this year.