Our Kansas City Chiefs won their second straight Super Bowl 207 days ago. Tonight, NFL football returns in impressive fashion as the Chiefs take the field at Arrowhead to face off with the reigning MVP Lamar Jackson and his revenge-driven Baltimore Ravens. A lot happened in our world over those couple-hundred days, but we're here to talk about what really matters - how has the roster for the back-to-back champs changed since then? Here are the three biggest changes to KC's roster for the start of the 2024 season:
3: Secondary
Should we get the bad news out of the way first? KC's secondary won't be as good this season, or at least not to start the season, without L'Jarius Sneed. He played in 91% of the defense's regular season snaps - the most on the team last year. Sneed emerged as a top-tier, versatile cornerback, and he's a Titan now because his remarkable efforts on the field priced him out of Brett Veach's very successful budgeting strategy. I'm not complaining. Veach never pays too much when building a secondary, and it's worked extremely well for the Chiefs, so I obviously trust the process.
However, Sneed wasn't the only significant piece of the secondary KC lost this offseason. Free safety Mike Edwards played in every game and 57% of the defense's snaps in the regular season, as well as over 27% of special teams snaps. While the Chiefs are hopeful that the loss of Sneed will be lessened by improved play from Joshua Williams and Jaylen Watson, they're confident they can overcome losing Edwards thanks to emerging talent at the safety position. Chamarri Conner and Bryan Cook were both respectable defenders last year, according to Pro Football Focus and other analytics experts. KC also just drafted a versatile strong safety with an incredibly high ceiling in Jaden Hicks. That versatility could allow him to help at the strong safety position if it ever suits the defense's needs.
2: Linebackers
Like Edwards, Willie Gay Jr. played in 57% of the Chiefs' defense's snaps last season. KC has only addressed this by re-signing Drue Tranquill and announcing an increased role for third-year linebacker Leo Chenal. That's a major change. Cam Jones and Jack Cochrane return to round out a Chiefs linebacker core that is unproven at best. They lost Gay and added...nobody.
It seems like trusting younger talent to get better will be a theme for the Chiefs this season. I guess I can't really knock it until Brett Veach stops winning Super Bowls.
1: Pass-Catching Options
Marques Valdez-Scantling played in over 54% of KC's snaps on offense last season. Jerick McKinnon and Kadarius Toney both played in over 20%. None of them made the regular season Chiefs roster. Rashee Rice led the team in snaps for receivers with only four more than MVS. By replacing that time on the field with speedster rookie Xavier Worthy and newcomer Hollywood Brown when he gets healthy, the Chiefs should have a nearly objective improvement at that position.
JuJu Smith-Schuster presumably will get significant playing time when injuries necessitate it, and the team justifiably trusts Justin Watson in meaningful moments. Mecole Hardman and Skyy Moore should both be determined, if nothing else, to prove they aren't obsolete in this revamped offense. This will be a big change for Chiefs fans, but not a bad one. Cast your mind back to early-season 2023 when the Chiefs receiving room looked like one of football's worst. When Brown comes back, this year's group of pass-catching threats may be one of the league's best.
Honorable mentions go to Donovan Smith, Tommy Townsend and Blake Bell. Bell's 22% of snaps on offense last year will go to a high-ceiling rookie in Jared Wylie and the recently traded-for Peyton Hendershot. I'll consider that a wash or a slight upgrade based on Wylie's potential. Smith played in 66% of the offense's snaps last regular season. He'll be replaced by the 63rd overall pick in the latest draft, Kingsley Suamataia, as well as a returning Wanya Morris, who played in 30% of the offense's snaps last season. Smith wasn't an elite lineman, so a change there for a highly touted rookie could make KC better by the time they reach the playoffs.
Now, will this revamped Chiefs roster hold up against the apparently very hungry Ravens? Everyone keeps telling me the Ravens are going to be hungry for revenge, hungry for victory, hungry to make a statement tonight. Aren't the Chiefs also hungry to make a statement? Adding Derrick Henry and losing pieces to their defense should make this a higher-scoring game than the AFC Conference Championship last year. The result will stay the same, though. I'm predicting a 24-20 Chiefs victory to start their fight for a three-peat and keep the fans in Baltimore bummed.
Stay tuned this weekend for some slightly late predictions on the whole season to come, as well as some more content on everyone's favorite football topic - punting. Welcome back to football season, Chiefs Kingdom. Enjoy it with people who love football and love you.
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