2019 NFL Power Rankings: Who heads into summer at No. 1?
By Ian Cummings
No. 5 – Kansas City Chiefs
The Chiefs were an overtime period away from being the AFC’s representative in the NFL Super Bowl last year, and while a regression toward the mean can be expected from Patrick Mahomes, the third-year signal caller is still an elite passer who should have Andy Reid’s offense playing deep in the NFL postseason yet again.
There has been some controversy as to the status of Tyreek Hill, but regardless of whether or not he plays, the Chiefs drafted Mecole Hardman to provide speed and dynamic acceleration in the case of his absence, and they have enough weapons outside of Hardman and Hill to sustain an impressive offensive unit.
Of course, the offense was never the question for the Chiefs. For the entire offseason, it’s been the defense. The unit that let Tom Brady march down the field in overtime. And the unit that allowed the second-most total yards in the NFL last season. Did the Chiefs do enough on defense to close the gap?
In a sense, that question will remain unanswered for now. Steve Spagnuolo is the team’s new defensive coordinator, and he’ll bring with him a scheme change, which could cause some confusion early on. The team added talent to potentially compensate for that, however, in the form of players like Tyrann Mathieu, Darron Lee, Juan Thornhill, and Emmanuel Ogbah. Losing Dee Ford on the edge hurts, but the Chiefs traded for polarizing edge rusher Frank Clark to sully the blow.
The Chiefs’ defense, on paper, appears to be better now than it was one year ago. But with so many pieces moving and so many changes on the horizon, onlookers will have to wait and see if all of the changes pay off in earnest. Either way, the Chiefs will be contenders in the postseason, and they’re the favorites to take home the AFC West crown, so they’ll have plenty of opportunities to prove their fans right, and their detractors wrong.