Power ranking the Kansas City Chiefs’ position groups
With the start of the KC Chiefs regular season just around the corner, which position groups are the strongest and which ones are the weakest?
The Kansas City Chiefs have wrapped up their 2022 preseason and have cut the roster down to 53 players. With their active roster pretty much set in stone to begin the regular season in Glendale, Arizona, which position groups should Kansas City have the most confidence in, and what groups are lacking? The Chiefs are one of the best teams in the NFL and they do not have a lot of true weaknesses on the roster. With that being said, just because a position is low on this ranking, it doesn’t mean that the group is poor overall, just underwhelming when compared to other units on this list.
Let’s rank every single position group on offense and defense for the Kansas City Chiefs for the 2022-23 NFL season.
Note: Only the 2022 season will be considered when determining the ranking. The list was not influenced by “future potential” and only this season was considered. I also favored positions that have reliable starter(s).
11. Running Backs
Out of every position group on Kansas City’s roster, I do feel that the running back group is the most underwhelming position. One of the primary reasons for the last-place ranking is that it’s the only positional group on the team (possibly including the next group in this ranking) that I believe lacks a true established starting caliber player on the entire depth chart. The depth chart is filled with several decent options, yet is short on established talent compared to the other positions on the roster.
That previous statement may not be fair to Clyde Edwards-Helaire, because he does have the tools to be an excellent back for this team, but I haven’t seen enough from him in the NFL to prove that he’s absolutely the starting running back for this franchise.
Isiah Pacheco has seen his stock skyrocket over the past month but he’s still a rookie, who was a seventh-round pick, and it’s still unknown if he’s ready to be a day one contributor for the Chiefs if he even is one at all. Jerick McKinnon is an excellent depth running back, but he’s not a starting caliber back either, although he had flashes late last regular season and in the playoffs. Ronald Jones is the best power back on the roster, however, he doesn’t contribute much outside of that area. If the Chiefs had an established #1 running back, this group would be ranked a lot higher.
10. Defensive Ends
Similar to the running back group, the primary problem with the defensive end’s on the roster is the lack of an established, yet above average, starter.
Frank Clark has had his moments in Kansas City, but if he didn’t sign a $20 million+ a year contract in 2019, he likely would have benched several times last season. I also am not ready to buy into his hype from this year’s training camp. I loved the George Karlaftis selection more than any other pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, and have little doubt that he’ll be a great starter for this team in the future, but I’m not sure what level he’ll play at this season or at least to begin the year.
If I had to pick which player in this unit would be the most productive this season, I would go with Karlaftis. Even though Carlos Dunlap is a very good player, he likely won’t be more than a rotational player this season, barring an injury. The emergence of Karlaftis and the signing of Dunlap saved this group from last place. Mike Danna is a solid depth piece and hasn’t proven to be anything more than that to this point and Joshua Kaindoh has not shown much since being selected in the fourth round of the 2021 NFL Draft. Malik Herring also has a chance to be a contributor but he has yet to appear in a regular season game.