The 3 positions that will define the Kansas City Chiefs offseason

There is no real offseason for Kansas City Chiefs general manager Brett Veach and his staff. It was just a couple of weeks ago that the Chiefs won their second consecutive Super Bowl championship, but unfortunately for the Chiefs front office, there isn't much time to enjoy it.

The NFL Combine is this week, the window for placing the franchise tag on a player has already opened, and free agency begins in just two weeks. If Veach and his crew want to give the Chiefs a real shot to secure the NFL's first-ever three-peat, they've got some very important decisions to make.

The good news for KC fans is that Veach and his team have proven themselves excellent at finding guys to fill out the roster on a limited budget. This past year it was guys like Drue Tranquill, Mike Edwards, and Donovan Smith who came in and were important pieces of a Super Bowl-winning team on very reasonable deals. I trust that they will be able to find similar bargains again this year.

What the Chiefs decide to do at these spots will define this offseason for Kansas City.

The bigger concern is actually what K.C. does in terms of major moves because while their "under the radar" signings have been excellent, sometimes their bigger decisions have been a little less successful. I say this understanding that I'm writing about a team that is coming off of back-to-back Super Bowl wins and six consecutive AFC Championship Game appearances. However, they won last year despite giving Jawaan Taylor a massive deal, not because of it. They also won despite their plan of having Kadarius Toney and Skyy Moore as their top two wideouts, not because of it.

The Chiefs will likely be Super Bowl contenders next year even if they just roll out the team they already have under contract with a few solid veteran free agents and their draft picks because they have Patrick Mahomes at quarterback and Andy Reid and Steve Spagnuolo to coach them up. Whether they win that third straight Super Bowl, however, will probably come down to how the Chiefs approach three key positions this offseason.

I almost went with four positions and included cornerback on this list, but I'm so convinced that the Chiefs are going to franchise tag L'Jarius Sneed that I believe that position is pretty much set for next year. If they don't tag him, then I believe it means that they have enough faith in the collective group of Trent McDuffie, Joshua Williams, Jaylen Watson, Nazeeh Johnson, Nic Jones, Ekow Boye-Doe, and Kelvin Joseph that they may not make any significant additions to the group even if they do let him walk.

The same thing cannot be said for these next three positions. What the Chiefs decide to do at these spots (re-sign players, bring in pricey free agents, try and get by with an in-house solution or cheap free agent, or use an early draft pick) will define this offseason for Kansas City and will have major ramifications when it comes to their ability to three-peat.

So let's kick things off with the position that people talked about all season long for the Chiefs, the wide receivers.