SI Article: Chiefs need to change from efficient to explosive on offense

[FloridaMan88]

Can’t they be both… efficiently explosive?

Link: https://www.si.com/nfl/chiefs-facing...e-travis-kelce

Whether Travis Kelce decides to play in 2025, the Kansas City Chiefs must come to the same conclusion: They have to move onto their next phase.

No, they don’t have to release Kelce, although doing so would save $17.2 million in cap space. Kelce, 35, is too valuable and too important in the locker room to make such a choice, even with those savings.

However, the Chiefs must understand that to move forward, to attempt to reach a fourth consecutive Super Bowl (and sixth in seven years), the offense has to change. It has to go through receivers Xavier Worthy and Rashee Rice, with Kelce being nothing more than a component.

Over the past two seasons, Kansas City has enjoyed immense success. The Chiefs have reached both Super Bowls and won one, to say nothing about winning it all in 2022 as well. All of this came after the team traded All-Pro receiver Tyreek Hill to the Miami Dolphins, but the metamorphosis from explosive to egregiously slow didn’t happen right away.

In fact, the slowdown began in 2021. After ranking sixth, 10th and 13th, respectively, from ’18 to ’20 in average depth of target (ADOT), Patrick Mahomes checked in at 24th in Hill’s last campaign with the club as opponents began to play more shell coverages.

In 2022, the first year without Hill, Mahomes threw for 5,250 yards and earned MVP honors. However, his ADOT was still 23rd in the league. The following year, it took a nosedive to 30th as Kansas City relied heavily on poor wideouts, including Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Justin Watson, Skyy Moore and Kadarius Toney.

This past season? Mahomes failed to throw for 4,000 yards for the first time in his career while ranking 41st in ADOT, only ahead of Gardner Minshew II and Tua Tagovailoa. Part of the reason was losing Rice and Marquise “Hollywood” Brown early on to injuries, but another problem was the overreliance on Kelce.

Over the past two years, Kelce has been targeted 254 times. Rice is second on the team over that span with 131 targets despite playing just four games this season. Nobody else cracked 100. Despite that, Kelce hasn’t made either All-Pro team or gained 1,000 receiving yards after seven straight seasons of doing both before 2023.

Of course, the dependence on Kelce is also due to a factor that should keep general manager Brett Veach awake at night … the issues at left and right tackle.

And for Veach, that’s where the offseason focus must be.

For Mahomes to get back to his fire-breathing ways, the Chiefs have to fix their issues at left tackle. While Jawaan Taylor is financially locked in for one more year (before Kansas City almost certainly releases him to save $20 million prior to 2026), the other side has options.

The Chiefs, who have approximately $11.5 million in cap space, can open up another $50 million to $60 million with an extension for All-Pro guard Joe Thuney, a restructure of Mahomes’s mega-deal and adding a void year to Kelce’s pact. With that money, Veach could re-sign Pro Bowl right guard Trey Smith and then shop for a left tackle in free agency as Alaric Jackson, Ronnie Stanley and Cam Robinson are all available.

Veach could also go another direction. He could use the third-round pick acquired from the Tennessee Titans in the L’Jarius Sneed trade last offseason (No. 66) to move up in the first round for an answer on the blindside. By saving tens of millions by drafting a left tackle instead of signing one, perhaps Veach could get in the receiver business.

With Worthy and Rice on cheaper rookie deals for a few more years, would Veach entertain trying to add another big name on the outside? There are a host of free-agent receivers worth discussing at One Arrowhead Drive, ranging from Tee Higgins and Chris Godwin to Stefon Diggs.

For Kansas City, the offensive ethos must change. For years, the Chiefs struck fear into defenses. Mahomes could go over the top at any moment. Most importantly, every throw was on the board. Now, the Chiefs are throwing shorter than any team in football, and the result was the 17th-ranked scoring offense and a unit that led the league in plays per drive.

Efficiency is good. Explosiveness is better.

And that doesn’t only go for the receivers. If the line is improved, the running backs should also be overhauled. While Isiah Pacheco is a quality player, he’s also missed 13 games over the past two years and is hitting free agency in 2026. Kareem Hunt and Samaje Perine are both free agents now.

For Veach, the draft class presents a cornucopia of options in the backfield, with running back being one of the strongest positions of this rookie crop. Kansas City would be wise to take someone on Day 2, giving the Chiefs speed in a way they haven’t enjoyed at tailback since the days of Jamaal Charles.

Ultimately, Kansas City needs to get faster across the board, and it needs to rediscover the ability to play aggressively. For years, the Chiefs and Mahomes have eschewed the intermediate and deep routes for smaller, surer gains. It’s hard to argue with most of the results, but Super Bowl LIX also showed that without a better line and some weapons to back defenses off, disaster is always looming against a quality opponent.

Kelce might play in 2025. His decision hasn’t been made. Fair enough.

But if the Chiefs want to taste glory once more and keep their dynasty rolling, Kelce’s choice pales in comparison to the other tasks at hand.

[Mecca]

Originally Posted by Easy 6

Yep, Silverdick played himself

I think some of you guys overrate how much rings matter to some of these guys.

Williams used the Chiefs to get a ridiculous contract when he was past 30, he may like living on the west coast with the giant contract over a ring.

[Easy 6]

Originally Posted by Mecca

I think some of you guys overrate how much rings matter to some of these guys.

Williams used the Chiefs to get a ridiculous contract when he was past 30, he may like living on the west coast with the giant contract over a ring.

I'm sure thats true for many of them

[seamonster]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

Bit being committed to Brown is not the same thing as being cheap. If you offered $10 and they wanted $12, being cheap would be letting them walk and buying someone for $8.

The had a premium they didn't want to pay and they didn't. Then they turned around and gave Taylor a wad of cash. That's not the same thing as "cheap".

So what you're saying is they thought they could let their left tackle walk (6'8, 345 lbs, 35 in arms) sign a 2nd day career right tackle, and then ease him into the left tackle position while drafting second day projects and singing rentals. That's the definition of cheap...The left tackle isn't a running back or a receiver. If you signed a free agent and they're about to head into free agency you don't have a choice but to over pay. Can't get outbid by the bengals. Veach has been around football long enough to know what's at stake now though. I'm confidant they'll do what they've got to do to sign Jackson or move up in the draft.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Mecca

I think some of you guys overrate how much rings matter to some of these guys.

Williams used the Chiefs to get a ridiculous contract when he was past 30, he may like living on the west coast with the giant contract over a ring.

It's not the dollars, it's the dollar amounts. Being the highest paid player at a position is a big deal to a lot of these guys. It's the sole reason why Tyreek is gone.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by seamonster

So what you're saying is they thought they could let their left tackle walk (6'8, 345 lbs, 35 in arms) sign a 2nd day career right tackle, and then ease him into the left tackle position while drafting second day projects and singing rentals. That's the definition of cheap...The left tackle isn't a running back or a receiver. If you signed a free agent and they're about to head into free agency you don't have a choice but to over pay. Can't get outbid by the bengals. Veach has been around football long enough to know what's at stake now though. I'm confidant they'll do what they've got to do to sign Jackson or move up in the draft.

Said left tackle was ****ing awful and has gotten worse since. The Chiefs did the right thing, no revisionist history necessary.

[YontsRBake]

The interesting thing about all of this is what we’re doing is good enough to beat 30 teams in the league and id say there’s a pretty good chance the Rams or Bucs can knock that one team it doesn’t match up with well out next year.

We don’t need major change. We need a reliable #2 CB and we need just an average LT. There are no other major issues.

[FloridaMan88]

Originally Posted by YontsRBake

The interesting thing about all of this is what we’re doing is good enough to beat 30 teams in the league and id say there’s a pretty good chance the Rams or Bucs can knock that one team it doesn’t match up with well out next year.

We don’t need major change. Our depth at DB needs to get better and we need just an average LT. There are no other major issues.

RB.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by seamonster

They went cheap. The Bengals are the definition of a discount best-price team... They had to sell their stadium rights to afford Burrows contract. So for them to out bid the Chiefs is a sign that the front office wasn't committed to Brown. Could have been his attitude or talent, but the results speak for themselves. With the amount of liquidity floating around the KC Chiefs organization if they really wanted too they could have come up with an agreement.

All water under the bridge now. If they're lucky they might snag Alaric Jackson. And if they do it's probably going to break LT contract records.

They didn't 'go cheap'.

What they did was kinda hem Brown in.

And to an extent, I understand Brown's reluctance. The Chiefs apparently offered him a deal with too much term for the amount of guarantees they were offering. The Bengals offered him ballpark money (some say a little more, some say a little less) but didn't have him sign a 5 year deal to get it.

Brown simply wanted to be able to get back onto the FA market if he'd outplayed his deal. I get that.

That said, you're ignoring the fact that MOST of this headache came from Brown ****ing around and not hiring a goddamn agent until JUNE. And then because of the tag deadline, the Chiefs couldn't negotiate a long term deal with him for more than a week or two. And after he played out that tag season without meaningful progress (he didn't want to negotiate in-season) they were unwilling to be put through that bullshit he pulled the previous off-season again.

Some of it was money. Some of it was risk.

A LOT of it was Orlando Brown Jr being a weird ****ing guy. And in the end, he hasn't even played to the level of the deal he rejected so...what are we even yapping about at this point?

[staylor26]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

They didn't 'go cheap'.

What they did was kinda hem Brown in.

And to an extent, I understand Brown's reluctance. The Chiefs apparently offered him a deal with too much term for the amount of guarantees they were offering. The Bengals offered him ballpark money (some say a little more, some say a little less) but didn't have him sign a 5 year deal to get it.

Brown simply wanted to be able to get back onto the FA market if he'd outplayed his deal. I get that.

That said, you're ignoring the fact that MOST of this headache came from Brown ****ing around and not hiring a goddamn agent until JUNE. And then because of the tag deadline, the Chiefs couldn't negotiate a long term deal with him for more than a week or two. And after he played out that tag season without meaningful progress (he didn't want to negotiate in-season) they were unwilling to be put through that bullshit he pulled the previous off-season again.

Some of it was money. Some of it was risk.

A LOT of it was Orlando Brown Jr being a weird ****ing guy. And in the end, he hasn't even played to the level of the deal he rejected so...what are we even yapping about at this point?

Thank you. Either people pay zero attention to this shit or they have memories like goldfish.

[MahomesMagic]

If you're going to play hardball with the Left Tackle that you traded all those assets for, you need to have a plan.


I have no issue with playing hardball if they were sure that $$$ number was more than fair. But it's what came after that didn't match up.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by MahomesMagic

If you're going to play hardball with the Left Tackle that you traded all those assets for, you need to have a plan.


I have no issue with playing hardball if they were sure that $$$ number was more than fair. But it's what came after that didn't match up.

"All those assets"

Sum total of a mid-2nd round pick.

That's it. That's what we gave up for 2 years of solid LT play. We gave up the picks for the surplus value in his deal in 2021 because he was on a 3rd rounders money but played at/near a Pro Bowl level that year.

We paid pretty much what 2 years of solid LT play at below market would be worth.

If we gave up a 2nd rounder for Armstead this off-season and got 2 quality years out of him before he fell off, would that really be some sort of catastrophe?

Again, there's just so many odd re-tellings of this story at this point.

[htismaqe]

If hindsight is 20/20 the the Chiefs dodged a ****ing bullet with Orlando Brown Jr.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

If hindsight is 20/20 the the Chiefs dodged a ****ing bullet with Orlando Brown Jr.

I mean it looks like they absolutely nailed it. They did more than dodge a bullet -- they made a great trade to get him, got the best use out of him they could have then moved on from him at the right time.

If they stay put, lets say they make a really good pick there and take Landon Dickerson. They probably don't take Trey Smith later on and they DEFINITELY don't take Nick Bolton because they don't have 58. Or if Bolton slides to 63, they take Bolton but they don't get Creed.

Or lets say they go OT and take Walker Little -- okay, they still may take Trey Smith but they still don't get Nick Bolton and Creed Humphrey.

And when they let him walk, the appear to have made the right choice to not guarantee him additional money as he's simply been some combination of unavailable or ineffective for most of his Bengals career.

I cannot believe we're relitigating the Orlando Brown Jr. saga at this point.

The Chiefs handled it EXACTLY as they should have. He's completely immaterial to this conversation.

Wanna argue that we should've taken Raimann or Lucas or Tom or Walker or a number of other OTs who came later in subsequent drafts and have outplayed the guys we took instead -- sure, do that. Great argument and one I will largely agree with you on.

But OBJr? Get the **** right outta here with this nonsense. This is just completely made up tripe.

[YontsRBake]

Originally Posted by FloridaMan88

RB.

Not going to write off our 25 year old RB who was averaging a career 4.7 YPC going into the season over 1 injury filled season

[TheGreatCassholio]

Mostert just got released. He washed yet or not?