Chiefs should go for ring in 2016
Every year, the team of your choice is going to tell you that they are doing all they can to win the Super Bowl. Most of the time, they are lying to your face.
It’s not that they don’t care, but there are different circumstances. Some teams are building for the future while others are on the way down after being ultra-competitive for the last five years. However, the Kansas City Chiefs find themselves in a position where going for a Super Bowl in 2016 is not only realistic, but what they need to be doing.
While some folks will bristle when you bring up schedule, that would be a dismissive mistake going into next season. Kansas City’s schedule is laughably easy, playing both the AFC and NFC South divisions. Meanwhile, the New England Patriots and the rest of the AFC East has to play the AFC North and NFC West.
The Chiefs also benefit in an odd way from the Denver Broncos winning the Super Bowl. Denver will be moving on to quarterback Brock Osweiler, an era that does not scare anybody except those who support the Broncos. There will be a bevy of free agents leaving Denver as well, looking for huge money.
Kansas City should win the West in 2016. Hell, the Chiefs should have won it this year despite a crushing injury to Jamaal Charles and Justin Houston missing the last six games. Provided general manager John Dorsey signs most of his own free agents, the Chiefs are a very strong team with some cap space to burn and three draft picks in the top 100 come April.
Next year is the perfect marriage for Kansas City between talent and time. Derrick Johnson is still a great player. Tamba Hali still makes a huge difference off the edge. Eric Berry, Justin Houston, Dontari Poe, Jeremy Maclin, Travis Kelce and Marcus Peters are in the prime of their respective careers.
Dorsey should be very aggressive in this offseason. Sign your own guys, then go for broke. Maybe that means a dip four or five years from now, but that is the price of glory. Kansas City should go hard after some of the better players hitting the market, such as Jeremy Lane. Take a chance or two now, because it could make all the difference between a playoff berth and a Super Bowl champion.