Chiefs Season Recap/Offseason Needs

Posted byMichael RifkinPosted inNFL, Rifkin’s Rift TideTags:

By: Mike Rifkin

The Kansas City Chiefs won the AFC West for a sixth consecutive season with a record of 12-5. They became the first team in history to host three consecutive AFC Championship games. The Chiefs lost to the Bengals in the Championship Game. The Chiefs were 3-4 to open the season before winning nine of their last ten games. After giving up 3 sacks and seeing franchise Quarterback Patrick Mahomes run for his life in the Super Bowl the Chiefs made their biggest priority last offseason to upgrade the offensive line. That is exactly what General Manager Brett Veach did. Veach signed veteran Guard Joe Thuney to a massive contract, traded for Orlando Brown Jr. from the Ravens, drafted Creed Humphrey and Trey Smith. Rookie Lucas Niang who opted out of 2020 came back to play right tackle. This offensive line helped the Chiefs average 4.5 yards per carry and 115.0 yards rushing per game. 

There were times in the 2021 season that Patrick Mahomes didn’t look like the guy we had witnessed the past couple seasons. Mahomes had a 66.3 completion percentage (same as 2020) 4,839 yards 37 touchdowns and a career high 13 interceptions. Second year Running Back Clyde Edwards-Helaire averaged 4.3 yards per carry and had four touchdowns, but was limited to 10 games due to injury. Darrel Williams had 558 yards and six touchdowns. Williams added 452 yards and two touchdowns receiving. Receiver Tyreek Hill and Tight End Travis Kelce both had over 1,000 yards and nine touchdowns. Hill had 111 catches and Kelce had 92 catches. The Chiefs third leading receiver Mecole Hardman had 59 catches for 693 yards and two touchdowns, that is a big drop off. 

Early in the season the Chiefs defense couldn’t stop anyone. One of the big reasons for the defensive turnaround was the acquisition of Melvin Ingram from the Steelers. In nine games as a Chief Ingram had 15 tackles, one sack and a forced fumble but he was able to open things up for Frank Clark who had three and a half sacks after Ingrams’s arrival. Defensive Tackle Chris Jones led the team with nine sacks. Rookie linebacker Nick Bolton led the team with 112 tackles and veteran safety Tyrann Mathieu led the defense with three interceptions to go with 76 tackles and a sack. 

The Chiefs are projected to have around 14 million dollars in cap space this offseason but they can change that. If the Chiefs convert Patrick Mahomes roster bonus into a signing bonus they can create 22 million dollars in cap space and instead of Mahomes having a 35 million dollar cap hit he would have a 14 million dollar cap hit. They can also restructure contracts of Travis Kelce and Chris Jones and sign an extension with Tyreek Hill who is a free agent after next season. The Chiefs can save 8.4 million dollars by cutting linebacker Anthony Hitchens at any point and it would be 4.2 million in dead cap money. They can also cut linebacker Frank Clark after June 1st that would save them 19.5 million dollars and 6.8 million in dead cap. If they do it prior to June 1st they would save 12.7 million dollars but incur 13.6 million in dead cap. You add this all up and that is about 60 million in cap space created. 

Offseason to do list

  1. Re-sign Tyrann Mathieu.- Mathieu is a leader on and off the field and KC would be wise to bring him back.
  2. Re-sign Orlando Brown – Gave up a first round pick for him and good Left Tackles are hard to come by.  If no long term deal is reached franchise tag him
  3. Sign Juju Smith Schuster- YES the Chiefs NEED another receiver. Juju can open up the middle of the field to allow Tyreek Hill to do his thing. Just hope he doesn’t do TikTok videos. 
  4. Sign Jadeveon Clowney.-  Chiefs were 29th in the league in sacks last season. If they cut Clark and let Ingram walk they need to add a pass rusher and signing Clowney to a one year incentive laden deal could motivate the former number one pick.

Draft

RD 1 (30)- Kaiir Elam- Cornerback Florida. Both Charvarious Ward and Mike Hughes are free agents. Elam also gives them size and has played good competition in the SEC.

RD 2 (60) Cameron Thomas – Edge San Diego State. Frank Clark could be cut and Melvin Ingram is a free agent but either way the Chiefs were 29th in the NFL in sacks. Thomas had 10.5 sacks this season.

RD 3 (94) Cobe Bryant –  Cornerback Cincinnati. Bryant had 10 interceptions over his five years as a Bearcat. Gives the Chiefs a ton of upside on their backend.

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