We all know the K.C. Chiefs love to throw the ball.
Ever since Andy Reid has taken over as head coach of the Chiefs, he has ran a primarily passing offense and the additions of prolific players such as Patrick Mahomes, Tyreek Hill, and Travis Kelce over the years have only made the Chiefs lean on the passing game even more—and rightfully so. If you were a coach and had all those players, it would be a crime to not use them a majority of the time. In fact, the Chiefs offense ran 1,033 offensive snaps in 2020 and only 403 of those snaps were rushing attempts. Heck, Andy Reid even seems to use his running backs more in the passing game than running the football sometimes.
However, when you look at all the moves Kansas City has made this offseason, you could come to the conclusion that the Chiefs are prepared to run the ball more in 2021 in search of a more balanced offense.
Now, why might Andy Reid and the Chiefs finally be coming around to running the ball more? All you have to do is look back to the Super Bowl when Mahomes was getting nailed play after play by the Tampa Bay defense. He was being harassed to the point that the Tampa Bay base defense was begging for the Chiefs to run the ball. When they did, it worked. Running the ball also took the it out of Mahomes’ hands, thus, out of harm’s way. Sometimes you have to run the ball to take the load off the quarterback, and I believe the Super Bowl was a wake-up call for Andy Reid and staff in the Super Bowl.
The KC Chiefs offseason moves might signal a greater emphasis on the rushing attack.
Obviously, the big objective in rebuilding the offensive line this season was to make sure Mahomes remains untouched, but let’s take a closer look at the additions on the offensive line that the Chiefs have made and why they’re significant.
First, the Chiefs made a splash on the opening day of free agency when they signed former New England Patriots guard Joe Thuney. A major step in fixing the interior which ranked last in run-block win rate in 2020, Thuney helped lead the third best rushing offense in the league in New England last year at 146.6 rush yards per game.
How about Austin Blythe? Maybe one of the best value free agent pickups this offseason, Blythe signed for a base salary of just $900k and was seen as a decent upgrade over former Chiefs center Austin Reiter. While Blythe isn’t seen as a huge pass-blocking upgrade from Reiter, he appears to have more range and power as he earned a 70.3 run-blocking grade from PFF last season.
Most recently, the Chiefs traded for Baltimore Ravens offensive tackle Orlando Brown. Brown comes from a primarily rushing offense in Baltimore and has shown the ability to get to the second level very easily. Brown is an all-around great left tackle and should do well for the Chiefs in both run and pass blocking.
The Chiefs also made other key additions such as bringing back swingman Mike Remmers, signing former Pro-Bowl guard/tackle Kyle Long, and welcoming back 2020 opt-outs Laurent Duvernay-Tardif and Lucas Niang. That’s a heck of a unit on paper but the left side of the line that features Brown and Thuney will be killer. Oh yeah, the Chiefs also signed former Saints fullback Michael Burton to a one-year deal, who will be doing a lot of lead blocking.
Couple all of that with the fact the Chiefs just recently invested a first round pick in 2020 in Clyde Edwards-Helaire and we should expect the Chiefs to run the ball a lot more in 2021—not just because they can, but because they should. You don’t make that big of an investment in running back and in your offensive line to not run the ball. Of course, the passing game will still be this offense’s bread and butter, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be taking advantage of lighter boxes and an improved offensive line. It also is a way to protect Mahomes and keep him fresh to avoid situations like we saw last season.
Lastly, the Chiefs should be more successful on those short-yardage runs and 2nd-and-long runs which should ease frustration from fans and encourage more rushing attempts from the offense.