A trio of Kansas City Chiefs underrated by the national media

Whenever an NFL analyst at any of the giant sports media companies decides to rank their top five players at a position, what they are actually doing is ranking their top five players from big-ticket teams only.  Well that’s what they should just call their rankings from now on, in order to save us fan bases outside the likes of Denver and New England from getting our hopes up at the prospect of hearing about our team’s stud . . . only to be devastated 20 seconds later.

After an analyst reveals his top five consisting only of players from the glamour teams, the rest of us are left mumbling to ourselves, “How is Von Miller on the list and Justin Houston not even mentioned?!”

As a fan of the Kansas City Chiefs, this is a feeling I’m all too familiar with. It is a good thing we have places like Arrowhead Addict, where we can vent our frustrations with the national media and let them know which of our players they need to start paying more respect to. So let’s take a look at some of the most underrated Chiefs according to the national media.

Sean Smith, Cornerback

When the NFL announced it was going to increases its emphasis on pass interference, illegal contact, and defensive holding in the 2014 season, I cringed at how disastrous this was for our pass defense.  For a team that plays press-man and is full of big, physical cornerbacks, this latest development in the NFL’s rebellion against all-things defense just seemed like a recipe for disaster.

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Then, you know, they actually played the games. And all the Chiefs did was allow the second-fewest passing yards per game and prevent any passer from throwing for more than 300 yards! Sean Smith was a major reason why with great coverage and zero penalties in 621 snaps. That’s right, zero penalties in a year where just talking to a receiver – after five yards of course – was a flag. Throw in yards per catch allowed (11.7) that was lower than both Richard Sherman’s (13.9) and Darrelle Revis’ (13.1), and you have the makings of a cornerback who deserves to be mentioned in any top five cornerback debate.

Dontari Poe, Nose Tackle

Confession time: During the first round of the 2012 NFL draft, with the Chiefs a few picks away from being on the clock, I was vehemently praying we take anybody but Poe. Man do those words look incredibly foolish three years later. To be fair, I’m 100 percent certain that my statement was in the majority amongst Chiefs fans that day.

So how can a man that opposing players refer to as a monster be underrated? Because he plays a position where traditional stats don’t truly convey value and he also plays said position for the glamour-less Chiefs. If there were a job description for nose tackles, the first line under Responsibilities would be, “Constantly getting double-teamed so the rest of your teammates can rack up the stats.”

But with Poe being the freak-of-nature that he is, he still managed to get 6.5 sacks! A solid number, especially when compared to both Ndamukong Suh and Gerald McCoy, who each posted 8.5 sacks as 4-3 defensive tackles. To top it off, the dude is a thoroughbred, playing the most snaps out of any NT or DT the last two seasons. How his name is not brought up when talking about the most dominant defensive linemen is mind-boggling.

Phillip Gaines, Cornerback

What a difference a year can make. To say Gaines was struggling during that Green Bay Packers preseason game last year would be an understatement. He played so poorly that it caused me to actually reference what happened in a preseason game! But after just 13 games, the man has made me a believer.

Pro Football Focus measures a stat called yards per cover snap (YPCS), which looks at the average yards a corner gave up when they were in primary coverage (i.e. responsible for a specific man). Had Gaines met PFF’s requirement of logging at least 300 coverage snaps (he recorded 211), his 0.96 YPCS would have been tops amongst all rookie corners last season. The guy has legit cover skills when healthy (here’s hoping to a concussion free 2015), so when I go through “Sophomores Ready To Breakout in 2015” articles on NFL.com, SB Nation, and Bleacher Report, is it too much to ask to see Gaines getting some props? Even just once? Please?

Honorable Mention: Jamaal Charles, Running Back

Because anything less than being talked about in the same sentence as Adrian Peterson and Marshawn Lynch is just unacceptable.