The Kansas City Chiefs have a offensive powerhouse in the works, but not nearly enough people are paying close attention.
There are exceptions to be sure.
From time to time it is possible to find an analyst who will give the Kansas City Chiefs proper credit for building such a behemoth of an offense. Peter Schrager recently sang the team’s praises on the NFL Network. When Patrick Mahomes unfurls a 70-ish yard pass in a game that’s not only caught but good for a touchdown—preseason or not—the Twittersphere can and will blow up. The larger picture, however, is not as positive.
It’s a bit harder than it should be to find a believer. Why is this the case?
The Chiefs as constructed have potentially the single most exciting offense in the entire NFL. If offense sells, everyone should be buying. Instead they’re paying attention to larger markets, rookie products or the aging-yet-entrenched powers-that-be.
The Chance for Greatness
For the sake of review of what we already know as Chiefs Kingdom:
1. The man handed the keys to the offense is an offensive dynamo, an athletic wunderkind who very well could have turned pro in multiple sports. A flick of Patrick Mahomes’s wrist and the ball finds its intended home halfway downfield. He’s very intelligent and surprisingly strong. He’s deceptively quick with a veteran’s vision.
Not only is Mahomes a superior specimen but he’s also seasoned in front of the press, a young man already ready for the moment he’s been given. The spotlight was already a part of his formative years, so handling the press through a would-be dramatic quarterback change is par for the course. He’s handled the entire torch-passing process by the book, rewarding the Chiefs belief in him in every single way so far.
2. Tyreek Hill is the best deep threat in the NFL, a man who will not only put up the fastest recorded times in the NFL with pads and all but a man who shed the “speedster” label as fast as he can get downfield with his ability to track the ball and pass catching efficiency. He’s not a burner who occasionally comes down with it. He’s a burgeoning elite receiver with metrics that show he’s well on his way to being mentioned alongside Julio Jones and Antonio Brown.
3. Travis Kelce is arguably the best tight end in the business, a perfect combination of size, strength and quickness who is absolute nightmare in coverage. He’s unstoppable on the seam route, is confident over the middle and is a very willing and capable blocker. He’s been the primary focus for opposing coordinators on multiple occasions and still came up strong on the stat sheet. Given his ability to stay healthy, his charisma, his trajectory and growth as a pass catcher, the Chiefs might just have another Hall of Fame tight end on their hands.
4. The running game is in good hands when you return the league’s leading rusher, especially one of only six rookies to do so in NFL history. What makes Kareem Hunt that much more difficult for opposing defenses is that it’s impossible to bring him down—the man averaged 3.0 yards after contact. He also led the NFL in broken tackles in 2017 with 72—an incredible 10 more than the next best player. This offseason, he’s focused his efforts on being a better pass catcher out of the backfield, which will only make him that much more valuable to the offense.
5. Sammy Watkins is the shiny new import, a player whose first round billing has hung over his head like a expectant cloud, casting a shadow with each new stop. What the Chiefs see, however, is a hungry 24-year-old who is a match-up nightmare whether outside or in, a competent route runner who can be employed in a number of ways. He’s also a beast in the end zone, an immediate target that must be accounted for by capable pass defenders or else Mahomes will undoubtedly find him.
All together, there’s not another team in the NFL who can boast such a group of skill position players. A 1,300 yard rusher, an All-Pro at tight end, the NFL’s fastest man and a new wideout who should take a defense’s attention away from every other skill position. Last year they were electric. This year they could be elite.
The Lack of Belief
All of this is easy to see for anyone willing to look. The Chiefs on paper are incredible and the hype should surround us all. Instead Las Vegas oddsmakers put the Chiefs on the outside looking in when it comes to the postseason, and NFL analysts are singing the praises of the rest of the AFC West. Forget two division titles in a row. Cast aside over 50 wins in 5 years. Never mind the potential holes in other teams in the AFC West.
It’s hard to find someone who actually believes in the Chiefs this year. Somehow Alex Smith is earning a lion’s share of the credit for the team’s winning ways over the last five years, as if the Chiefs didn’t actively choose to upgrade this offseason with a year-long plan to implement.
Even if you think the Chiefs might have a harder time winning games in the end, at least we should be hearing about the team’s offensive ceiling or ability to stay in games.
The Master at Work
Not nearly enough has been made of this side of things: the fact that Andy Reid is the man in charge of all of this.
Consider the leap of Alex Smith for just a moment. Smith’s completion percentage grew from 60.6% in his first year in K.C. to 67.5% in his final year. He also dropped his INT percentage from 1.4 to 1.0 percent (and led the league in 2017), moving him from an already cautious and reliable quarterback to the league’s best at avoiding the turnover. Even then, Reid was continuing to build Smith into a more well-rounded quarterback who trusts his targets deeper and deeper on the field. His final year he finally broke the 4,000 yard mark along with a career high in touchdown passes.
From the moment the Chiefs announced their plan, they stuck firmly to the script—players included. Reid has been preparing Patrick Mahomes for his very moment knowing he would be leaning so heavily on him at this point. He gave him Week 17 of last year to evaluate him and plenty of preseason snaps in both offseasons. The playbook has been slowly given, memorized and employed. There is literally nothing else that Andy Reid or his entire staff could do to prepare Mahomes for this moment—it’s been over a year with everyone saying and doing exactly the right thing.
At this point, the Chiefs will have to let their performance on the field do the talking. Andy Reid or any of his players would be quick to say that the hype doesn’t matter now, that it’s all talk and doesn’t concern them in the slightest. But for a league that’s all about hype and excited about offense, these Chiefs aren’t getting nearly the respect or attention they deserve—whether it matters or not.