The Kansas City Chiefs are the team to beat, but this team is looking to close the gap

Coming off a Super Bowl LIV title, the Chiefs are many analysts’ team to beat in the AFC. But the Baltimore Ravens, the No. 1 in the AFC last season, have made moves designed to catch them.

While reigning MVP Lamar Jackson has led the Ravens to a 19-3 record in the regular season as a starting quarterback, two of those losses have come at the hands of his MVP predecessor, Patrick Mahomes. The Chiefs and Ravens will have another showdown this season in Week 3 and, with the potential for another, higher-profile matchup in the postseason, the Ravens this offseason upgraded their roster in hopes of competing.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Ravens put an emphasis on revamping their front seven to stop the run. Last season, the AFC’s best regular-season team ranked fourth in the league in total defense but gave up 4.4 yards per carry, which placed them in the bottom half of the league statistically.

In the Ravens’ three losses last season, they gave up 550 rushing yards, with 140 of those coming against the Chiefs. The Chiefs bolstered their running game this offseason with their first-round pick Clyde Edwards-Helaire ... just a few picks after the Ravens used their first-round pick to draft one of Edwards-Helaire’s LSU teammates, linebacker Patrick Queen.

Queen was a one-year starter at LSU but finished the season strong and was a vital part of the team’s championship run, totaling 85 tackles and 12 tackles for loss. His ability to stuff plays in the backfield, particularly against top opponents, was part of why he shot up NFL draft boards.

The Ravens also used two third-round picks on Texas A&M defensive tackle Justin Madubuike and Ohio State inside linebacker Malik Harrison. In free agency, the Ravens added veteran defensive end Derek Wolfe and traded for five-time Pro Bowl defensive end Calais Campbell.

These additional pieces will certainly improve the Ravens’ run defense, but they’ll also help Baltimore’s ability to rush the passer. The Ravens blitzed on 54.9% of opposing quarterbacks’ dropbacks last season, which ranked first in the NFL, but they didn’t bring quarterbacks down at a high rate.

They only hurried the quarterback 7.3% of the time, third to last in the NFL, and picked up just 37 sacks, 21st among all NFL teams. In last year’s 33-28 win, the Chiefs and their offensive line gave up just one sack while the defensive line took Jackson down three times.

In addition to the Ravens’ issues on their front line during that game, there was another statistical trend that followed them the rest of the season — their inability to pass to wide receivers. As a run-first offense, the Ravens ranked dead last in the league in receptions with 289.

But factoring out the completions to running backs and tight ends, Jackson only completed 115 passes to wide receivers. Led by safety Tyrann Mathieu, the Chiefs’ secondary was one of the best in the league last season and finished fourth in completion percentage, tied for fifth in interceptions and ranked eighth in total pass defense.

In a search of more playmakers, the Ravens looked to the draft by taking Texas wide receiver Devin Duvernay in the fourth round and James Proche in the sixth. The Ravens have now selected five wide receivers in the last three drafts to give Jackson more options, but it remains to be seen how they will perform against the Chiefs’ secondary.

The Ravens’ run game will be vital again next season, as the Chiefs’ run defense was more of a weakness than it was for the Ravens. Coordinator Steve Spagnoulo’s Chiefs unit gave up 4.9 yards per game and the Ravens took advantage in Week 3, running for 203 yards. The Ravens’ record-setting rushing attack last season, paired with the addition of former Ohio State running back J.K. Dobbins, could cause the Chiefs some trouble in 2020.

It’s clear that teams across the AFC — not just the Ravens — have been making offseason acquisitions in an attempt to keep up with the talented Chiefs roster. But with Mahomes and the Chiefs returning 84.7% of their snaps from last season, the team has all the right pieces in place to make a run at back-to-back Super Bowls.