Five moves the Kansas City Chiefs should make this offseason
A parade of NFL prospects passed through the Indianapolis Convention Center this week for the NFL Scouting Combine, a chance for college players to meet with team personnel, market themselves through the media and take part in workouts broadcast on national TV.
The NFL Scouting Combine has long entailed more than, well, the scouting.
For teams, too. This is a week for the Chiefs to set the framework of their offseason. They are well-positioned to make another Super Bowl run, but they have some work to do first.
Here are five moves they should make before their season opener.
1. Fix the pass rush
The offense’s second-half collapse will always shoulder the blame for the Chiefs’ exit in the AFC Championship Game, but the pass rush escaped the scrutiny it deserved.
The defensive line disappeared in a game it was positioned to dominate. The Titans and Rams sacked Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow 16 times in the games sandwiched around the AFC Championship Game, yet the Chiefs got to him just once.
It’s an ongoing issue. The Chiefs finished 29th in the NFL with 31 sacks. Melvin Ingram provided a Band-Aid to a season-long scar but cost the Chiefs a sixth-round draft choice in the process. And Ingram is a free agent who isn’t guaranteed to extend his career another year in Kansas City.
Besides, it’s not a one-addition fix. The defensive line needs an offseason makeover similar to the one the offensive line saw one year ago, even if the Chiefs have Chris Jones returning as their anchor.
Jones is one of the league’s best pass rushers from the defensive tackle position — a trial at defensive end proved he should remain on the inside — but the Chiefs need impact players on the edge to see his full value. Plural. Or Jones will continue to see double teams.
There is some good news. This year’s draft is light on big-name quarterbacks, but it’s flush with good edge rushers. The draft can to be part of the Chiefs’ solution, though not the entire remedy.
2. Wait and see on Tyrann Mathieu
Tyrann Mathieu is an all-pro safety whose contributions repaid the three-year, $42 million contract he received from the Chiefs. His locker room presence only bolsters his value, should he return.
At the right price.
Mathieu turns 30 in May, and more importantly, the Chiefs have salary-cap constraints that amplify as quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ contract extension kicks in this offseason.
They can’t afford to enter a bidding war for Mathieu, nor should they. The Chiefs don’t know yet what other teams are willing to pay him. If someone wants to make him the league’s highest-paid safety, the Chiefs should thank Mathieu for the past three seasons and begin the search for his replacement. (Seattle gave Jamal Adams a four-year, $70 million contract last summer that includes $38 million in total guarantees.)
Mathieu is almost certainly headed to free agency, which opens March 16, but my hunch is he doesn’t find an offer that eclipses Adams’ contract. He will have to settle for less. If he’s willing to to give the Chiefs a discount — all indications are he wants to stay in Kansas City — that’s something they will consider.
It’s easy to look at Mathieu and compare his statistics to others at his position. But the Chiefs have opted to surround him with younger players in their secondary, a strategy that works with a veteran leader like Mathieu. He’s worth a bit more than the statistics suggest, in other words, but there’s a line.
3. Figure out how to consistently play against the deep shell
Ah, the talk of the 2021 season.
You didn’t think we were done with this yet, did you?
Two-deep shell defenses gave the Chiefs fits last season, particularly for long stretches over the middle of the schedule. Even if they produced some answers later in the year, they didn’t do so consistently. The Bengals’ tendency to drop extra defenders in coverage still baffled them.
Whether it’s an adjustment in scheme or an adjustment in personnel, now is the time to figure it out. Find a more permanent solution in the offseason. Teams should not be able to turn wide receiver Tyreek Hill into an underneath receiver without some sort of retaliation elsewhere on the field.
The Chiefs’ coaching staff began its schematic evaluations last week. They could use some fresh ideas, though they will be coming from some familiar places. Head coach Andy Reid filled the one vacancy on his offensive coaching staff by hiring Matt Nagy as his quarterbacks coach. Nagy was the Chiefs’ offensive coordinator in 2017. Reid, Nagy and offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy are the predominant decision-makers in the room.
At the combine this week, I asked Reid if he’d given any thought to bringing in a new voice.
“We’ve done OK for the last few years. We’re always striving to do better, but that’s kind of where we’re at,” Reid said. “I think with where Pat (Mahomes) is in his career, I think it’s important that it worked out that way. I’ve got guys on staff that could step in that could also do it. We always come up with new ideas, so it’s not like we’re short on ideas.”
Well, here’s one ...
4. Target a specific type of wide receiver
In conversations I had with agents during the combine, they believe the Chiefs’ primary objective is to throw resources at the gaps in their defense — which stretch to all three levels — but they ought to consider moving wide receiver up their list of priorities.
And a very specific type of wide receiver, at that.
Provide Mahomes with a bigger target who can make contested catches. He’s not had that since his arrival here. Not really, anyway.
Sure, Sammy Watkins complemented Tyreek Hill with a different sort of skill-set, and there would be value in adding a receiver who, like Watkins, does his work in tight spaces. There would be even more value in grabbing a receiver who needs no space at all.
It will cost them. Those guys are rare, but they’re out there. Allen Robinson is quite intriguing as a free agent, though he’d almost certainly have to be willing to accept less money to play in Kansas City than he could likely earn elsewhere. Still, given his track record of quarterbacks, maybe you can persuade him to re-establish his market by playing with Mahomes after he had a down year in 2021.
5. Find a right tackle of the future
It’s not the Chiefs’ fault this item is on their to-do list — Lucas Niang was thought to have this ability, but he tore his patellar tendon in Week 17, a serious injury that casts doubt on his immediate future.
Andrew Wylie spent most of the year at right tackle, but he is a free agent and could be in line for a pay bump given his flexibility to play inside or outside. That could take his career outside of Kansas City.
The Chiefs can’t rely on Niang’s return. Again, the draft could work to their benefit here — it’s thought to be deeper than usual in offensive tackles. With an extra second-day pick — earned when the Bears plucked Ryan Poles as their next general manager — the Chiefs have a prime spot to grab one.
This story was originally published March 4, 2022 at 5:00 AM.