Kansas City Chiefs lose star power, but gain balance this season
The Kansas City Chiefs are without Tyreek Hill and Tyrann Mathieu, but they have a more well-rounded roster heading into 2022.
It’s going to be much different for the Kansas City Chiefs this season. Maybe not the record, so much as their way to it.
This offseason, the Chiefs traded away star receiver Tyreek Hill — getting five draft picks in return — and allowed future Hall of Fame safety Tyrann Mathieu to leave in free agency for the New Orleans Saints.
Want $250 to bet on NFL futures?
However, Kansas City replaced Hill with a bevy of new faces, including JuJu Smith-Schuster and Marquez Valdes-Scantling in free agency, before drafting Skyy Moore out of Western Michigan in the second round. In the backfield, the Chiefs brought in running back Ronald Jones to provide an option alongside Clyde Edwards-Helaire.
On Thursday after an OTA practice, quarterback Patrick Mahomes talked about his new situation, per Chiefs beat writer Adam Teicher of ESPN:
“That’s what you’re going to see with this offense this year. It’s going to be everybody. It’s not all going to be one guy. Obviously [Travis Kelce] is still going to get a lot of completions, a lot of yards but the whole receiving room is going to have big days and that can be something we use to our advantage.”
“It’s a very deep receiving room. It’s hard to tell which guys are going to make it because we’ve got so many good receivers. That’s what you want. You want that competition. You want guys competing every single day to make the roster because they’re going to help us in the end.”
Read: Cleveland Browns Betting Really Big On David Njoku
Defensively, Chiefs general manager Brett Veach added a pair of first-round talents in edge rusher George Karlaftis to the defensive line, while also nabbing corner Trent McDuffie to replace departed veteran Charvarius Ward. In the third round, Leo Chenal was picked up from Wisconsin to bolster a young, exciting linebacking corps., joining Willie Gay and Nick Bolton.
For Kansas City, the roster looks much different. The names aren’t as big, but if a few of the draft picks hit, the 53-man unit is deeper and more versatile, not too mention cheaper. More importantly, the Chiefs added speed and athleticism on defense, giving them the potential to compete better with the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals, two teams they couldn’t stop last season.
The names have changed in Kansas City, but the opportunity to compete for a Super Bowl remains ever-present.
