Who is Chiefs most important player?

Who is the most important player for the Kansas City Chiefs?

For this argument, we need to get a few qualifiers out there. One, Alex Smith is put to the side. Without Smith on this team, the Chiefs are going 6-10. The same can be said for almost any good NFL team if their quarterback hits the skids. Two, this is about the most important, maybe not the best.

Looking at the entire puzzle, it’s hard to argue for Jamaal Charles. Charles is a great player, but the Chiefs were about to go 11-2 without him in 2015 because of Spencer Ware and Charcandrick West. Another guy in the same boat is Justin Houston. Houston is great, but Kansas City didn’t lose any of the five games he missed last season.

For my money, the most indispensable player on the Chiefs is Marcus Peters. Should Peters miss any time this season, Kansas City is in a brutal bind. Phillip Gaines is injury prone and not a top corner, and the rest of the depth chart is littered with rookies. Peters is a lockdown, superstar corner who gives defensive coordinator Bob Sutton all kinds of leverage to utilize other schemes.

Offensively speaking, Jeremy Maclin and Travis Kelce are neck-and-neck. I would pick Maclin only because without him, you can’t stretch the field and take that safety out of the box. When Maclin was compromised against the New England Patriots in January, the offense completely shut down even with Kelce in the lineup.

What say you, Addicts? Who is the most important player (outside Smith) on the Chiefs?