Kansas City Chiefs: Who’s Making The Grade?

Aug 17, 2014; Charlotte, NC, USA; Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Aaron Murray (7) drops back to pass during the third quarter against the Carolina Panthers at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports

Quarterbacks

Making the Grade

Aaron Murray: +0.1 overall grade

Murray hasn’t received a lot of playing time in the preseason thus far, but when he did play he did a solid job for a rookie seeing his first NFL action. For comparison, in a similar number of snaps Chase Daniel has an overall grade of -2.6. That doesn’t mean that Murray is a better QB since Daniel likely faced better opponents since he was the 2nd QB in when he has played and Murray likely had a more limited amount of plays at his disposal. However, it does show that Murray did a nice job of executing what Reid asked him to do.

Missing the Mark

Alex Smith: -5.7 overall grade

In a perfect world a team’s starting QB would be their highest rated player at the position. Unfortunately for the Chiefs, that’s not the case with Smith. His -5.7 overall grade ranks him 105th out of 114 QBs that have played this preseason. -3.5 of that grade came Saturday night against the Vikings when he had an uncharacteristically sloppy night that included two interceptions. If the Chiefs are going to have any kind of success in 2014, they’ll need Smith to improve on his preseason performance.

Next up, the running backs……