Originally Posted by kccrow
(Post 16444296)
I don't listen to any podcasts, so I'll take your word for it on the positivity as I'm sure it mimics this board.
I'm going to say it does look like this Chiefs team could be fighting for a playoff spot simply because of the strength of the schedule, including a strong division, coupled with a young secondary and weak defensive line.
The other contenders for spots, in my opinion, are:
Buffalo Bills
Cincinnati Bengals
Tennessee Titans
Los Angeles Chargers
Baltimore Ravens
Indianapolis Colts
New England Patriots
Miami Dolphins
Denver Broncos
Las Vegas Raiders
The saving grace here is that the Colts and Titans, despite an otherwise weak division, play the AFC West and the Patriots and Dolphins play the AFC North and NFC North where they'll hit the Bills, Bengals, Packers, and Vikings.
We all know that the Chiefs' offense is talented, and it will be so long as there is a passable offensive line and Patrick Mahomes under center. This offense though has a chance to be special in my opinion. The depth of talent at WR is far superior to anything Pat has had to date. It may not have the ultimate cheat code in Tyreek anymore, but I'm not going to pretend that JuJu isn't capable of a 1300-yard season and every other spot is better. The Chiefs also have more speed at RB than they've ever had with Pacheco and McKinnon, which could lead to some big plays out of the backfield.
But it's not the offense to worry about. Most specifically, it's the defense and that secondary.
Rashad Fenton has never been a full-time starter and in his season with his most action (2021), he gave up a relatively atrocious 68.5% completions. His saving grace was it wasn't for a great many yards. He was actually far worse in yards given up in 2020 on a still less than stellar 62.1%. So, we'll have to hope Fenton takes the next step because more snaps mean even more yards.
With Sneed in the slot, the next 3 CBs after Fenton are all rookies and a Chris Lammons, who hasn't taken meaningful snaps since his first year which was in Miami (not to mention his looming case with Alvin Kamara in LV). Sure, McDuffie is a first-round pick but he's going to have his struggles and the rest of the rookies even more so. You hope McDuffie is as good as Paulson Adebo was in NO as a rookie, which was pretty good for a rookie. So far, Fenton has been a bit knicked up during the pre-season.
If Fenton and Sneed don't stay healthy for the full tilt, this secondary is in trouble no matter how good the safety group is which, by the way, looks to be rock solid. Veach would have been smart, in my opinion, to stock a couple of vet CBs on the PS. He doesn't even have one.
This isn't even talking about the defensive line, which has obvious concerns. The first issue lies with the vets. Dunlap was signed to take pressure off of Karlaftis as a rookie and help hedge some of the problems with performance with Frank Clark, but he already has a tweaked Achilles which usually leads to a tear at some point during the season. I'm worried there. Frank Clark dropped weight but now he looks too light. We'll see, but I'll never attach much hope to Frank Clark.
Then, you have the youth. Karlaftis is a rookie and, like McDuffie and the secondary, is going to learn on the fly how long and difficult an NFL season is and especially if/when they get to the playoff stretch. I like the strides Mike Danna has taken but he just doesn't look yet like a guy that will be an impact player. He looks like a solid 1st and 2nd down end but he doesn't look like he's going to get you a ton of pressure on the QB. He may have reached the point of at least Alex Okafor if that's saying much. We don't know what Mike Herring is, but he didn't look like much of a pass rusher either. I thought Josh Kaindoh should have been cut, so I guess we'll see where that ends up.
Overall, we're dealing with a lack of pass rushers. The Chiefs don't really have a rotational pinch hitter to get after the QB. My opinion is that Veach would be smart to swing a late rounder for a flash-in-the-pan that can at least get some pressure situationally. Maybe that guy isn't out there for the taking though.
We really could be looking at the 2018 Chiefs but the schedule is tougher. The Chiefs have to take some out-of-division games against good opponents and they can't give up the gimmes because they will, undoubtedly, lose a couple of division tilts.
Overall, I don't think playoffs are out of the realm of possibility or even likelihood, but I don't expect 13-14 wins and I don't expect this team to go far. I'm leaning towards 10-7 with 11-6 as a maybe. Anything more than that might be a bit overzealous. As for advancing through the gauntlet in the playoffs, that may be too tall a task for the defense.
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We haven't argued in a while: nearly every Chiefs podcast is wrong, I think.
(https://chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?t=345052)