Power ranking the Kansas City Chiefs’ position groups
6. Wide Receivers
The Chiefs have seen a lot of change at the wide receiver position this offseason. They saw the departure of superstar Tyreek Hill as well as depth players Demarcus Robinson and Byron Pringle. Kansas City then proceeded to bring in the likes of JuJu Smith-Schuster, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, and Justin Watson through free agency and Skyy Moore through the draft.
Mecole Hardman is expected to play a bigger offensive role, especially in a contract year for him. One concern is that Hardman is the most senior member of the group (with the Chiefs) and we don’t know for certain if anyone will have game chemistry with Mahomes. Rostering only five receivers is an interesting decision but maybe it’s a signal that they’re more open to running the ball but it could also mean a number of things.
Kansas City can always pull another player from the practice squad, when necessary, but I can’t say that I’m 100% bought into the idea yet. Sixth on this list may be a little low for them but the lack of an established and reliable receiving weapon for Mahomes scares me just a little bit.
Overall, this unit may have lost the top-end talent it had for the past several years, but it gained the depth that it hadn’t had in a while and it has a realistic chance to be the deepest receiving core that Patrick Mahomes has perhaps ever thrown to, despite seemingly carrying one fewer player than normal.
5. Linebackers
Perhaps no Chiefs position group will see the biggest leap this season the linebackers. Nick Bolton is expected to take a huge leap in year two, Willie Gay could be the NFL’s breakout linebacker this year, and Leo Chenal could end up being one of the best blitzing off-ball linebackers in the NFL as a rookie in addition to being a hyper-aggressive run defender. In addition, Darius Harris and Elijah Lee are expected to play key-depth roles and each has a chance to see more playing time than rookie Leo Chenal on defense this season. Lee is also expected to be one of the leaders on Dave Toub’s special teams unit this season.
4. Defensive Tackles
Defensive tackles and linebackers were very close for me, but I ranked the former higher because of the superstar factor of Chris Jones. The Chiefs’ depth at the position is good but not great as the team lacks a truly established pass-rushing veteran to go along with Jones. Derrick Nnadi is a decent run-stuffer and brings almost nothing on pass-rushing downs. Tershawn Wharton feels like the inverse of Nnadi in that he’s solid at rushing the passer and underwhelming against the run. Khalen Saunders like saved his roster spot after turning some heads in the preseason.
Overall, the Chiefs have a solid unit on the interior of the defensive line, but it is heavily reliant on Chris Jones and the unit would be a lot lower in this ranking if he were to miss time.