Mock (5/4)
 

Let's do this thing.

Assumptions:

1. The Chiefs lose Super Bowl LVI to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. HC Andy Reid and GM Brett Veach are retained. The salary cap jumps $35m.

2. OC Eric Bienemy is hired by your mom's favorite team to become a HC.

3. The Chiefs franchise: OT Orlando Brown.

4. The Chiefs cut: OG Laurent Duvarney-Tardif, ILB Anthony Hitchens.

5. The Chiefs extended: WR Tyreek Hill for 4 years, $80m ($52 guaranteed), S Tyrann Mathieu for 3 years, $52m ($30m guaranteeed)

6. The Chiefs tender: WR Jody Fortson, OT Prince Tega Wanogho, DE Tim Ward, LB Emmanuel Smith, LB Omari Cobb

7. The Chiefs re-sign: DT Jarran Reed 2 years, $20m ($8m guaranteed), DT Derrick Nnadi 2 years, $9m ($1m guaranteed)

8. The Chiefs re-sign to minimal deals: QB Chad Henne, RB Damien Williams, WR Marcus Kemp, LB Ben Niemann, LB Darius Harris, WR Byron Pringle, OT Mike Remmers, OG Andrew Wylie, C Austin Blythe, LS James Winchester

9. The Chiefs let walk: RB Jerick McKinnon, FB Michael Burton, OT Martinas Rankin, OG Kyle Long, WR Demarcus Robinson, TE Blake Bell, TE Nick Keizer, DE Taco Charlton, OLB Dorian O'Daniel, CB Charvarius Ward, S Dan Sorensen, S Armani Watts.

10. The Chiefs sign DE Emmanuel Ogbah to 2 years, $22m ($10m guaranteed), CB Malcolm Butler (Cardinals) to 2 years, $22m ($12m guaranteed).

11. The Chiefs are picking 31st.

The draft:

1. WR Jahan Dotson, Penn State
2. DE Zach Harrison, Ohio State
3. CB Altonae Taylor, Tennessee
3 (Bienemy). S Donovan Stiner, Florida
4. RB Max Borghi, Washington State
6. S Yusuf Corker, Kentucky
6. OG/C Brett Heggie, Florida
7. LB K'Vaughan Pope, Ohio State

the roster:

QB: Mahomes, Henne
RB: Edwards-Helaire, Williams, Borghi, Thompson
FB: some guy

WR: Hill, Dotson, Hardman, Pringle, Powell, Fortson, Kemp
TE: Kelce, Gray

LT: Brown, Remmers
LG: Thuney, Allegretti
C: Humphrey, Blythe, Heggie
RG: Smith, Wylie, Heggie
RT: Niang, Remmers, Wanogho

DE: Clark, Kaindoh, Ward
DT: Jones, Wharton
DT: Nnadi, Reed, Saunders
DE: Ogbah, Harrison, Danna

OLB: Gay, Cobb
ILB: Bolton, Niemann, Pope
OLB: Harris, Smith, Pope

CB: Sneed, Butler, Taylor, Fenton, Keyes
S: Mathieu, Thornhill, Stiner, Corker

K: Butker
P: Townsend
LS: Winchester

https://i.imgur.com/AiqfyiB.gif

1. Not gonna happen.

2. Not gonna happen.

4. Isn't LDT a free agent after this season?

8. They're going to re-sign Williams after him being gone for a year?

9. For better or worse, both Sorenson and Robinson will be back.

10. Not gonna happen.

I thought the same on LDT, but according to overthecap he's got a voidable year in 2022, so I just wanted to be completist.

I also meant Darrel Williams. LMAO Darn it.

What kind of flaming bundle of sticks Chiefs fan is picking the Bucs to beat the Chiefs in the SB again after what Veach just did with the OL?

You’re honestly the worst.

Man you are on a roll....

Pretty amazing how the whole offense is pretty locked up for 2022 now, the main areas of need look like they will be D Line and the Secondary.

Linebackers as well.

Right now, I'm banking on Matt House earning his paycheck and turning all these young guys into Spags 'backers.

That's anything but assured, and if it falls apart, the Chiefs are going to have to do a three-level makeover on that defense.

I think the Chiefs and the Bucs are pretty even.

I do think the Bucs have tools to slow us down, however. They're not going to smother Mahomes in a potential rematch, but they should be able to blanket our receivers again. It'll be interesting to see how our run game develops this year.

I'm not sure we have the tools just yet to slow the Bucs down. Obviously it's just May, so our rematch is like 9 months away, but right now, how do we get to Brady? How do we match up against their receivers? Are we confident about our run defense?

It's May. Everything's subject to change. This is just an intellectual exercise.

Blanket our receivers like they did in the first meeting? The one where we torched them because Mahomes had more than two seconds to throw the ball?

You guys REALLY NEED to watch the Bucs games again on the All 22.

They changed up their coverage entirely in the 2nd half and the Chiefs scored like two field goals.

Their coverage in the Super Bowl was pretty similar. They had a great, creative scheme (Todd Bowles ran out a weird, Big 12-esque coverage for much of the game) along with some outstanding performances. Sean Murphy-Bunting is a quick-twitch slot corner who's still somehow 6'0", and he pitched a near-perfect game in coverage. The Bucs threw everything at Kelce, but they also sometimes just slapped Lavonte David on him and David played out of his mind.

The OL probably cost us that game, but we all know the truth: the Bucs beat us in several ways, not just that one.

I think the Chiefs have gained on the Bucs, and maybe have surpassed them. But right now, in May, I think it's easier for the Bucs to score us on than it is for us to score on them, which gives the GOAT the advantage.

I think the Chiefs still have something up their sleeve in regards to WR #2

I hate to be that guy, but a huge, huge element of that game was early, questionable, drive-sustaining penalties exclusively called against the Chiefs.

These penalties both served as momentum killers for us and boosters for them, and also led to an early hole for us and lead for them.

Their early lead then led to us becoming even more one-dimensional (both due to poor play calling and necessity) as the game went on, which only served to exacerbate their strength and our weakness - their DLine vs our OLine.

I really think that if that same game is played 10 times - not as a series but rather in different timelines in the same exact scenario - we win it 7/10 times.

With standard officiating, their drives end when they are supposed to, the score stays close, Mahomes does his thing, we stay multi-dimensional, its a close finish.

If we re-played that game next month we'd win by 3 scores.

Some of you guys, man. I've been trying real hard to be positive.

But I think some of you guys are completely delusional.

Do you really not see how drastically better this team is than three months ago?

Do you really not get how talented and deep that offensive line is now?

We're DRAMATICALLY better. Maybe HISTORICALLY so.

They are battered Chief fans- they secretly wish for the Chiefs to lose so they can wallow in their own self-pity and get attention for it.

:thumb:

I think this is a fair interpretation, but that was probably a Top 3 DL going up against an entire line of backup OL. Combine that with Brady being Brady, and we were probably doomed.

That said, I saw windows for a victory. And I think the moves we made this offseason get us closer to one.

You need to dial it down. You do not have the monopoly on truth.

You were barking at me in some thread about, like, "what makes you think Fisher will even be ready to go!? YOUR FEELINGS!!??? THIS IS WHY YOU ARE INSANE" when I was just quoting Brett Veach. That's not the Meck I know or like. You've got the football juice, you don't need the venom. Or maybe you do, I don't know.

Regardless, I think our OL has taken incredible strides and if we can impose a run game on teams at will this coming season, I don't see how teams can stop us, because a dominant run game is the best substitute for having no true WR2.

There's no "probably" about it. The Bucs knew they could generate consistent, almost immediate pressure with four rushers. They knew that before the game even started and they schemed their entire defense around that HUGE advantage. The Bucs brought more than four rushers only five times the entire game, and Mahomes was still running for his life. That's nuts.

They "cheated" on the short/intermediate routes knowing the ball had to come out super-quick. They played two-high safety shell behind that.

Game over. There's really nothing else to say.

Stopped reading after #1.

They outscored us in the 2nd half of the regular season game after they changed up their defense.

The Bucs outplayed us in all three aspects, it wasn't just OL bad = loss. People forget Townsend punting it pretty much sideways.

You mean they outscored us in the 2nd half when we had a huge lead and took our foot off the gas like we ALWAYS do? OMG!!!!

Also, you still don’t understand that everything the Bucs did on the back end was due to their ability to rush 4 and still have Mahomes running for his life.

****ing moron.

I get the excitement But we’ve got Andy and Patrick and this ain’t gonna last forever. Every year is the gold standard for Chiefs football right now. I’m just trying to enjoy that while I can and not look ahead.

The future is right now

I doubt our plan was to let the Bucs close the gap and be in position to win the game.

We won the game, but we had to hold on against a strong Bucs comeback.

We need to just give them credit: they played an iffy game with a really good second half, and then an outstanding Super Bowl. To beat them, we are probably going to have to do more than just turn our OL into the fortress it's become.

Yea going from an OL that was full of backups and couldn’t block 3-4 guys to save their lives to possibly one of the best in the league clearly isn’t enough! That’s also obviously all we did!

It’s not like we also added a guy like Jarran Reed who could be a huge difference maker that easily gives us the best interior pass rush duo in the NFL. He’s not even worth mentioning in regards to a potential rematch, right?

You’re just further proving my point that this entire thread was your passive aggressive way of continuing to question Veach and bitch about what turned out to be a fantastic offseason.

I’m sure adding year 2 Gay and Bolton to our LB group from the SB won’t help either!

The Chiefs are basically still the team that lost that game!

You found me out. You discovered the secret messaging.

Pop into my DMs for your prize.

Wow.

Okay, now hold on. What exactly is it that I've said that's so radically out there?

You guys, I swear.

You act like all they did was address the offensive line.

The Bucs did outplay the Chiefs in all three phases. That's true. But if Townsend punts an absolutely perfect game, we're still losing that game easily. If the defense puts on a show and turns in their best performance, we're still losing that game. It's closer, but we're still losing.

It's a 100% different contest if the Chiefs have their starting offensive line. It's too much of a numbers disadvantage when our five guys can't block their four. Hell, they allowed instant pressure against a four-man rush every other down it seemed like. It's very simple math and there's no reason to overthink it. They were dropping six or seven guys in coverage. Normally when that happens, you should be able to run the ball or bide your time until someone comes open because there's no pressure. We couldn't do either. Why? Offensive line.

I think all you guys are arguing about depends upon perspective.

Serious question 1: If Brown Jr and Lucas Niang get hurt, are we in a substantially better position than last year when Fisher and Schwartz went down?

Being devils advocate to most, I'd argue that we'll be better suited on the interior but we do remain exposed on the outside due to lack of functional depth yet again. Albeit, the chances of that happening two years in a row are relatively slim.

Serious question 2: Has the pass rush significantly improved, or improved enough to actually create substantial pressure on Brady (or any elite QB for that matter)?

While I really like what Jarran Reed brings as an interior rusher, I don't know that it's enough to consistently affect a QB. If Clark goes down, we have absolute jack and shit on the edges.

Serious question 3: Has the Chiefs' ability to cover improved in any meaningful way, regardless of position (S, CB, LB)?

As it stands, Breeland is out and that leaves a promising Sneed, a stagnant Ward, and a mediocre Fenton at CB with no real influx of talent whatsoever. Safety play remains the same. LB play will be an interesting watch now that Gay should see more snaps and he's more proficient in coverage than Wilson. That's, of course, assuming Gay actually picked up all of his assignments between last year and this year and doesn't get torched for misalignments. While I really do like the pick of Bolton, I'm not sure if he substantially improves the coverage side of things in year one. So really, I don't know if the Chiefs have gained anything, and unless they add a veteran CB I think there isn't any gain/loss in the grand scheme of things.

Add in the fact that the Chiefs are essentially trotting out the same thing at the skill positions in 2021 and there weren't any substantial, position group altering, gains outside of the current state of the offensive line, I would think there is "some" pause for thought here in looking at what Direkshun is trying to convey.

In a nutshell, the Chiefs did not drastically improve their ability to rush the passer nor did they drastically improve their ability to cover, both issues in the Super Bowl. Hopefully, they at least gave Pat a lot more time to find targets outside of Kelce and Reek because they did nothing to change the fact that the rest of the targets can't get open quickly enough to make a meaningful difference otherwise.

I think the Chiefs are a better overall team this year, so long as they don't have anything ridiculous happen again, so long as some of these young guys like Sneed, Niang, and Gay project as planned.

1. Yea, if you’re going to assume that OBJ and Niang get hurt, the Chiefs didn’t get much better on the OL :rolleyes:

2. Yea, I don’t know how adding a top 10 interior pass rusher and one of the few guys capable of double digit sacks on the interior isn’t a significant upgrade to our pass rush. The best way to get to Brady is absolutely on the interior.

3. Having a healthy year 2 Gay and Bolton definitely upgrade our athleticism and coverage at the LB position in comparison to the SB group. Sneed should only get better in year 2. Thornhill is poised for a career year. I really don’t think our secondary was an issue as much as the biased and tight officiating took them off their game.

Also, if we’re going to talk about potential injuries, can we talk about the Bucs?

Their entire team outside of OJ Howard was healthy for the SB. What are the chances that they get that lucky again?

Did I mention that their QB is almost 43? Something has to give at some point.

1. I said it was unlikely. The point remains that tackle depth sucks.

2. He's a top 10 pass rusher in 2 of 5 seasons in the NFL. In 2019 he spent 6 games suspended. Hopefully, he maintains 2018 and 2020 production and availability. His best impact will likely come with he and Jones rushing together on obvious passing downs, which are likely roughly a 3rd of the total snaps. Other downs you're either taking a bit away from the run defense by taking Nnadi off the field or your moving Chris Jones out to DE where he is not as effective as a rusher himself. So there are some tradeoffs, but I did agree he's a good addition. He's the only addition that somewhat addresses the pass rush and is the best Brady beater given he collapses under interior pressure. Either way, you ignore the fact we're still one injury away from generating zero pressure off the edge and the combo of Reed and Jones is not an every-down situation.

3. You're assuming Gay will not be a liability based on athletic qualities. I am reserving judgment pending what's going on behind his ears. As I said, he has the potential to improve the pass defense. He also could be a major liability. You're also assuming Bolton would see enough snaps in coverage to make an impact as a rookie, which, based on how they handled Gay, is probably doubtful.

I'd argue are secondary was an issue. They were flagged repeatedly for grabbing receivers and some of it was warranted. I think Sneed is going to be a good one but we don't especially know if we have a 3rd CB that can step in and start if there is an injury and I'm still worried that Mathieu is the only DB that can reliably cover the slot and quick underneath routes with Sneed moving outside. It's one reason I mentioned picking up a player like DJ Hayden and adding more competition to the outside as well.

Not all is perfect, the Chiefs still have some voids they failed to address. There is time yet though so we'll see what happens.

Tampa Bay got better too. They definitely added talent that maintains or expands strengths into the future. Tryon is a terror on the edge, Hainsey looks like he'll be a top-flight guard, and Darden gives them juice from the slot.

Green Bay got better by adding Stokes at CB, they replaced Linsley with Myers, and they added Amari Rodgers in the slot which is huge, of course pending Aaron massaging his sore vagina.

The Rams are definitely better. Stafford changes their ability to consistently attack downfield and I feel like Atwell at WR, Jones at LB, and Rochell at CB were all sneaky good picks for them.

Looking more at our own conference and even getting to the SB again...

Pittsburgh is still there this year. Their top 3 picks are criminally underrated in terms of their ability to have a day 1 impact offensively. You know Ben is going to give it one last great hurrah.

I can't say enough about what Cleveland did. That team had a tremendous offseason and they damn near knocked us out last year. Newsome and Owusu-Koramoah were just outstanding picks. Adding John Johnson and Anthony Walker were enormous hole fillers. Clowney and McKinley as additions at least put something opposite Garrett. Plus, they get Delpit back at FS. That team is loaded. The only question is if Mayfield steps up even more after a really good rebound a year ago.

Buffalo at least took notes of KC's failures and addressed depth at LT and RT in the draft as well as focusing on improving their pass rush. They are still right there with no real dropoff. Plus Gabriel going into year 2 should continue to make that passing game more dangerous.

And in our own division...

The Chargers seem to be the running joke as paper tigers but they are most definitely a threat now. If Herbert doesn't look like an elite QB in the making, then I don't know who does. Adding Linsley at OC, Feiler at RG, and Slater in the draft at LT were enormous improvements to that offensive line. Asante Samuel will certainly help their secondary on an already good defense. Palmer and McKitty look like good additions in round 3 for them for the offense as well. They are good enough to threaten for the division title, especially if they can steal a head-to-head.

1. What team can survive losing not just one but both starting T’s? I’ll wait....

2. It’s been said over and over, but I fully expect the Chiefs to add a veteran at DE. Yea, if you’re going to assume Clark goes down, looking at the roster as it is now, they’d be at trouble at DE. Even then, if that happened, they would likely make a move. They never stop looking at opportunities to get better even during the season.

3. I think it’s safe to assume that Gay and Bolton together upgrade our LB group from the SB. We’ve seen flashes from Gay, and he was clearly the most gifted LB on the roster last year even while he was still learning and inexperienced.

I love how you say that about Gay and Bolton, but give the Bills credit for getting better at edge rusher because they drafted two guys, one of whom is very raw while the other isn’t a great high ceiling pass rusher by any means.

You want to talk about the Chiefs “failures” then turn around and give the Bills credit for improving? What the **** did they do this offseason to get better immediately? They couldn’t get pressure against the Chiefs patchwork OL and somehow two draft picks are going to be enough with all of the upgrades the Chiefs made on the OL? What did they do to fix their gaping hole at CB2?

I find it hilarious that completely rebuilding the OL in one offseason wasn’t enough for some of you. Their offseason, at least to some extent, was a “failure”. That’s completely and utterly ridiculous. It’s not like they didn’t add talent at just about every position of need except for CB, another position where I fully expect them to sign somebody at some point.

This is the Ravens argument from last year. I told everybody the Ravens were due and look what happened.

The planets don't align (or misalign in the case of the Chiefs offensive line) every year.

The Bills are banking on Dane Jackson being healthy this year at CB2. If 1st and 2nd round picks don't improve their shit pass rush, nothing will, and rookies there for them is likely an improvement. Plus they have Epenesa going into year 2 so there should be some development there to help.

That said, you should absolutely be alot more concerned about Cleveland, who should have and would have knocked us out if not for the most unlucky fumble in the NFL last year on what should have been a penalty on Sorensen anyhow.

It's probably safe to assume both tackles don't get hurt again. Making any of your other assumptions is probably not safe at this point.

Clark always has some nagging injury bullshit going on and the rest of our defensive ends suck donkey sack unless one steps up and proves otherwise all of a sudden. If you want to bag on Buffalo's DE situation, ours is far more dire if Clark goes out for any length of time or turns into a turtle again because some shit.

As for our LBs, I vocally didn't like the Gay pick so I'm merely holding out hope I was wrong at this point. I'm not going to expect he can be better than Wilson or even as good as Wilson until I actually see it happen. He has the measurables to be better, but the question remains on what's going on upstairs. I'm optimistic on Bolton because he's a better football player than Niemann but he doesn't have better measurables than Niemann. So I do have some pause for concern in the passing game and whether there is any real significant step up there, if any at all. His bigger impact will be his ability to trigger downhill.

Yea, well good luck with that Buffalo!

The only reason Cleveland remotely had a shot in that game was because Mahomes went down. Yea they definitely got better on defense, but I think our new OL offsets that in a potential matchup.

At the end of the day, I’m not worrying about any team with a QB like Mayfield when we have Mahomes.

Also, what unrealistic “other assumptions” am I making?

Even without Clark, our DL is still better than Buffalo’s because of Jones and Reed alone. They don’t have anybody of that caliber. Again, it’s likely that the Chiefs will add a veteran DE at some point. If you don’t think it’s safe to assume that, I’d say you’ve learned nothing about how Veach operates.

I would like to see a veteran CB, LB, and DE added to the fray. Instead, he's wasted some cap space on turds like Will Parks and Kam Correa... We shall see. I hope he continues his trend.

I don’t think they add a LB, but i think they add a CB and DE for sure.

According to Nate Taylor, the Chiefs are almost certainly bringing back Bashaud Breeland.

There's a 50/50 chance Melvin Ingram becomes a Chief, though.

The Bucs ain't gonna pressure Mahomes with just four. Not against the OL we have right now, and especially not after we've had a full season for them to gel together.

That's the bottom line. End of discussion.

Oh they would, just not every play like hot knives through butter. I'd say more like about 1/6th the pressure they generated in the SB.

It's kind of insane reflecting on 29 pressures and 3 sacks in that game. That's like 50% of snaps. You'd think a ****ing log could slow them down long enough to do that good, much less something that can move.

We're in so much better position than last year on the offensive line.

If OBJ and Niang go down, you have Thuney (who can do it in a pinch) and Long as well as Remmers who was serviceable at RT. You're three deep at OC, two to three deep at each OG spot with last year's best and most reliable lineman in Alegretti being second or third string inside. That's immently better.

Reed is a HUGE upgrade in pass rush. Adding a Chris Jones clone is a better thing than having the same production from DE, as interior pressure wrecks the pocket, and does so quicker. People that think we haven't done enough because we haven't signed a DE are totally missing the point. I expect we will pick up a vet DE anyway, and I think you're going to see a much improved pass rush. If they DON'T pick up a vet, I think it says a lot about what they think of Tim Ward's development.

Andy will be adding new wrinkles, as the Gray pick indicates we'll see some 2 TE sets with legit weapons (and he'll play some FB, and some big slot, etc., etc.)

We still scored 30ppg in games where Sammy was out anyway.

The offensive line rebuild should make the running game much more efficient; better utilizing last year's #1 pick and forcing defenses to abandon light boxes.

We're totally fine. We're much improved over three months ago.