Pro Football Focus loved the Kansas City Chiefs performance in Week 1

Pro Football Focus is known for their grades for NFL players. After a 38-28 win, Pro Football Focus rated several Chiefs players high in their rankings.

Over the past few years, many NFL fans and the media have paid close attention to Pro Football Focus due to their premium statistics and positional grades. Pro Football Focus will use statistics to grade players, but their grading also goes beyond statistics as its analysts break down how a player and team does in different categories.

If you value Pro Football Focus’ ratings, then you will love their grades for some of the Kansas City Chiefs players to start off the NFL season. Pro Football Focus rated nine different Chiefs players in the top 20 at their respective positions, five in the top 10 and two of them even rated first.

FB Anthony Sherman: 1st among fullbacks
WR Tyreek Hill: 1st among wide receivers
C Mitch Morse: 3rd among centers
QB Patrick Mahomes: 4th among quarterbacks
OLB Dee Ford: 6th among edge defenders
G Laurent Duvernay-Tardif: 12th among offensive guards
T Eric Fisher: 13th among offensive tackles
DE Chris Jones: 15th among defensive interiors
S Ron Parker: 20th among safeties

Mahomes completed 15 passes for 256 yards and four touchdowns. He averaged 9.5 yards per pass and had a passer rating of 127.5, both besting the league leaders from 2017: Drew Brees with 8.1 yards per pass and Alex Smith with a 104.7 passer rating last year. Although Mahomes completed just 56 percent of his passes, he played well under pressure as Kansas City’s passing game was too much for the Chargers.

More from Arrowhead Addict

Part of the reason was due to Sherman, who has been known to be a good blocker. But we saw a different side of Sherman as he and Mahomes connected on a 36-yard catch-and-run touchdown play, allowing him to be the top rated fullback to start the season.

Hill’s rating should come as no surprise. After scoring a touchdown on special teams, Hill wasted no time putting the Chiefs on the scoreboard on offense, and doing so again late in the game. He’s tied third in receiving yards with 169 yards to start the year and had five receptions of 20 or more yards, more than any pass-catcher in Week 1.

Offensive linemen Eric Fisher, Laurent Duvernay-Tardif and Mitch Morse all had great games against Los Angeles’ defensive front. Fisher and Duvernay-Tardif respectively rank 13th and 12th in their positional rankings while Morse finished in the top five. Mahomes was sacked just once against the Chargers.

Despite a lot of Chiefs fans not feeling good about the defense to start the year, there are some positives from Bob Sutton’s defense that Pro Football Focus picked up on. Outside linebacker Dee Ford applied a lot of pressure on Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers, more so in the first half. Defensive end Chris Jones also got the best of Los Angeles’ offensive line at times. The most notable defensive player might be Ron Parker, who returned to Kansas City right after the preseason. Parker came up with a key interception as the Chargers were getting close to the red zone and appeared to be on their way to a touchdown drive. Parker ended that drive, in which the Chiefs took advantage of and got to the end zone on a six-play drive, capping it with Sherman’s touchdown catch.

According to NFL Pick Watch, 77 percent of national pundits picked the Chiefs to fall to the Chargers in Week 1. But the Chiefs pulled off the win and Pro Football Focus has at least nine reasons for why it happened.

Home/Kansas City Chiefs News