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NFL Power Rankings: Where do the Kansas City Chiefs belong?

By Lyle Graversen

May 23, 2017; Kansas City, MO, USA; A general view of the team huddling on one of the practice fields after the organized team activities at the University of Kansas Hospital Training Complex. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
May 23, 2017; Kansas City, MO, USA; A general view of the team huddling on one of the practice fields after the organized team activities at the University of Kansas Hospital Training Complex. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports /
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May 23, 2017; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Chiefs center Mitch Morse (61), tight end Demetrius Harris (84), offensive tackle Mitchell Schwartz (71) and guard Damien Mama (64) run drills during the organized team activities at the University of Kansas Hospital Training Complex. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
May 23, 2017; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Chiefs center Mitch Morse (61), tight end Demetrius Harris (84), offensive tackle Mitchell Schwartz (71) and guard Damien Mama (64) run drills during the organized team activities at the University of Kansas Hospital Training Complex. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports /

When I averaged the Chiefs’ rankings in all 10 of these power rankings together, I got an average ranking of 10.4. The vast majority (eight of the ten) had the Chiefs ranked in the 8-11 range. Here are the ten specific rankings (form highest to lowest):

NFL.com: KC #8
MMQB: KC #8
SI.com: KC #8
ESPN: KC #8
USA Today: KC #9
Walter Football: KC #9
CBS Sports: KC #11
NFL Spin Zone: KC #11
Fox Sports: KC #13
Bleacher Report: KC #19

First off, let’s address the ridiculously low ranking from Bleacher Report’s Brad Gagnon. Barring major injuries, there is no way the Chiefs are the 19th best team in the NFL this season. Gagnon basically admits as much, but here is his justification for such a low rating:

"The Chiefs might win more games than several teams listed ahead of them here, but this is about Super Bowl potential as well. They’ve won at least 11 games in three of head coach Andy Reid’s four seasons, but they lost immediately in the postseason in two of those years. They made it to the divisional round in 2015, but that’s largely because they were in the right place at the right time against a broken Texans team in that year’s AFC Wild Card Round. This team can’t win in January. Has anything changed to indicate this year will be any different?"

While it may hurt to hear, there is some truth in what Gagnon is saying. However, it still doesn’t justify such a low ranking. Just because other teams don’t have recent early playoff losses on their resume doesn’t mean that the more glaring roster holes they have don’t count. K.C. may not have recent playoff success, but it doesn’t change the fact that they are one of the more complete teams in the AFC. I would also argue that Fox Sports ranking of 13th best in the NFL is also too low. The rest of the rankings all seem pretty reasonable to me.

The Chiefs were a top ten team in the NFL last season. Any rational person would have to agree with that. Their disappointing performance in the playoffs kept them from being a top five team. While they didn’t make any big splash additions to bolster their ranking they didn’t really lose anything either. Their biggest subtraction (Dontari Poe) was negated by their biggest free agent signing (Bennie Logan). So having the Chiefs in the same general range where they finished last season seems reasonable.

With six of the ten rankings having KC in the 8-9 spots, that is probably about as fair as can be. I’d argue the 11-13 range that three others did is a few spots too low, but it’s nothing to get angry over. Then there is the Bleacher Report ranking that we just discussed.

So KC’s ranking is pretty fair nationwide (for the most part) but what teams in the AFC are ranked ahead of them?

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