Three keys to success for Kansas City Chiefs against Jacksonville Jaguars

Who will cover tight end Travis Kelce?

There are only so many elite corners in the NFL, let alone on a single team, and while the Jaguars have one of the best pair of cornerbacks, they won’t be covering Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce most likely. Their hands will be plenty full trying to keep up with the likes of Tyreek Hill, Sammy Watkins, Macole Hardman, and Demarcus Robinson. Last season when these two teams matched up, Kelce ended up with 5 receptions for 100 yards.

While Ramsey and cornerback A.J. Bouye took snaps covering the star tight end in 2018 given the Jaguars heavy Zone coverage scheme, they will not be there to shadow him. Given that the Jaguars are going to be without Telvin Smith in the middle of the defense and both of their starting safeties from 2018, it will be interesting to see who will attempt to cover the biggest threat in the middle of the field. Linebacker Miles Jack just got a hefty contract extension to be a coverage linebacker but even he will need additional help.

There are some major question marks in the middle of the Jaguars defense heading into Week 1. An area that used to be one of the strengths of the team and allowed the defense to play aggressively and versatility that allowed for the team to keep the base defense on the field much more often than most NFL teams in the modern NFL. The young players that will be stepping in for these three losses are rookie linebacker Quincy Williams who missed all of preseason and young safeties Jarrod Wilson and Ronnie Harrison who have very little experience.

We will likely see a mixture of Harrison and Williams for the most part attempting to contain arguably the best tight end in the NFL. That’s a lot to task two young players who have seen very little to no starting time in a Week 1 game. I expect Kelce to have a big day over the middle. Given that Jacksonville will likely bracket Hill and possibly Kelce, that will open things up for the rest of the receivers