Irritated. Confused. Angry. Befuddled. I know a lot of folks, myself included, have been through these emotions at some point this offseason. With major pieces like Tyrann Mathieu and Charvarius Ward not being brought back while Tyreek Hill gets traded and all these teams in the AFC West are clearly getting better, we are left wondering, what is the Kansas City Chiefs gameplan?
Now, while I am not privy to Brett Veach’s thoughts, his actions have led me to a fairly clear ending point. They want to get younger. They want to get cheaper. They want to get more athletic.
The signing of Justin Reid kicked this off for me. He is younger, more athletic, and I am assuming cheaper. While Tyrann remains unsigned, I wonder if the Chiefs would take Reid even if the contracts end up being similar.
The Chiefs gave up tons of big plays last season and while Tyrann Mathieu wasn’t always the culprit, having someone who can make up ground quicker isn’t a bad thing. While Reid might not have the intangibles that made Tyrann such a valuable asset, he does have more athleticism and age on his side.
Just looking up the middle of the Chiefs defense, Justin Reid and Juan Thornhill at safety, Willie Gay Jr. and Nick Bolton at linebacker, and Chris Jones, Khalen Saunders, Derrick Nnadi, and Tershawn Wharton at DT, the athleticism is incredible. Having these guys take over for the less athletic Anthony Hitchens, Daniel Sorenson, and Mathieu to me is a trend that shows they are valuing speed this season.
Speaking of speed, the Chiefs traded away Tyreek Hill which seems to go against the thought process of keeping top-end athleticism. While I agree, Hill isn’t getting any younger and having him as the highest-paid non QB in the NFL just wasn’t feasible.
While I will obviously miss Cheetah throwing up the deuces as he blazes by dudes, I understand why the Chiefs went this route. There are so many holes on this Chiefs team, especially defense, and they need cheap, controllable talent to fill those spots.
I do agree the return was a little on the light side, they were stuck between a rock and a hard place after Christian Kirk and Davante Adams signed their contract. One superstar wide receiver can’t fill the holes at edge and corner. Multiple draft picks and lots of cap space potentially can.
While the Chiefs might not be as good in 2022, WynnBET still has the Chiefs as a top three Super Bowl favorite, this sets them up much better for the future. The Chiefs look like they might take a page from the Patriots and have 3-4 year windows where the QB stays the same but rotate guys around him — The whole ‘better to get out a year early than a year late’ method.
If you want some hope for 2022, the best team doesn’t always win the Super Bowl or even make it there. No one outside of Cincinnati thinks the Bengals were the best team in the AFC last year or the Giants were better than the 18-0 Patriots. It is all about giving yourself a good chance over an extended period of time and as long as the Chiefs have Mahomes and protect him while not having major holes, they’ll be fine.