{"id":24083,"date":"2023-07-22T03:27:33","date_gmt":"2023-07-22T07:27:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/?p=24083"},"modified":"2023-07-22T03:28:11","modified_gmt":"2023-07-22T07:28:11","slug":"taking-stock-kansas-city-chiefs-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/nfl\/taking-stock-kansas-city-chiefs-2\/","title":{"rendered":"TAKING STOCK: KANSAS CITY CHIEFS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BY ADAM GREENE<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s safe to say, heading into his sixth season as a starting quarterback in the NFL, Patrick Mahomes\u2019 Pro Football Hall of Fame jacket is already getting measured. The dude has started five years and made it to the AFC Championship in every one of those seasons. Three times he\u2019s taken the Chiefs to the Super Bowl and now, after defeating the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35 in Super Bowl LVII, has won it twice. This is a career trajectory not seen since Tom Brady\u2019s early years with the New England Patriots and, right now, Brady is only leading him by a single Super Bowl win, not appearance. And the fact that Mahomes could remedy that this upcoming season and no one, not a single human on the planet, would be surprised is everyone\u2019s problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was no easy road for the Chiefs. They had to go through the league\u2019s best to make it back to the Super Bowl after taking a year sabbatical. They knocked off the Jacksonville Jaguars, 27-20, in the AFC Divisional Round. In a rematch of last year\u2019s AFC Championship Game, the KC defeated the Cincinnati Bengals in the final seconds, breaking a three-game losing steak to that team in the process, 23-20. In the Super Bowl, they squared up against a loaded Philadelphia Eagles team with Patrick Mahomes playing on one healthy leg and won 38-35.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Head coach Andy Reid, who was already headed to Canton, is now in the conversation as one of the best head coaches of all time and, on most lists, is considered the best coach currently in the league.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mahomes went 14-3 as a starter with a 67.1 completion percentage in 2022-23, throwing for 5,250 yards, 41 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. He rushed for 358 yards and four touchdowns. Isiah Pacheco, a rookie seventh round pick, led the team in rushing with 830 yards and five touchdowns. Travis Kelce caught 110 passes for 1,338 yards and 12 TDs. He\u2019ll likely be the guy already in the gold jacket introducing Mahomes when he gets into The Hall. Chris Jones finished with 15.5 sacks to go with 44 tackles, 17 for a loss, four passes defended, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery. Nick Bolton had an astronomical 180 tackles with nine for a loss, two sacks, three passes defended and one forced fumble. L\u2019Jarius Sneed and Juan Thornhill tied for the team lead with three picks apiece. Sneed added 108 tackles, 11 passes defended, 3.5 sacks, three forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and five tackles for a loss. Thornhill had 71 tackles, nine passes defended, one sack and four tackles for a loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2022-23 Record:<\/strong> 14-3<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Playoffs:<\/strong> Won Super Bowl LVII over the Philadelphia Eagles<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2023 Super Bowl Odds:<\/strong> +650<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2023 AFC Championship Odds:<\/strong> +360<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2023 AFC West Odds:<\/strong> -160<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NOW WHAT?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Chiefs have kept a target on their back so this upcoming season is nothing new. What they need to return to their sixth consecutive AFC Championship Game is for the young receivers on their roster, Kadarius Toney and Skyy Moore, to blossom into their full potential, or at least competent pass catchers. With Kelce in the middle of the field and Mahomes throwing the ball, all KC needs is those guys, along with Marquez Valdes-Scantling (finally winning a Super Bowl after falling short with the Green Bay Packers multiple times) to just be a little better than average.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking over their schedule<\/a> is pretty much worthless as the Chiefs have the ability to beat every single other team in the NFL. They won\u2019t, obviously. Going undefeated, especially in a 17-game regular season, might be legitimately impossible. It\u2019s more interesting to pick potential losses than wins and the first real danger the Chiefs will face won\u2019t be until Oct. 22 when they host the Los Angeles Chargers. The Miami Dolphins, again in Arrowhead, will be a challenge on Nov. 5. They get a rematch against the Eagles, at Arrowhead, on Nov. 20. Host the Buffalo Bills on Dec. 10 and the Bengals on New Year\u2019s Eve. It\u2019s almost suspicious how KC faces its toughest opponents at home, with the lone exception being their second match up with the Chargers in Week 18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE DRAFT<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the holes on the Chiefs\u2019 roster are guys they let go because they were financially unable to keep them. It\u2019s a recurring problem and one that will eventually cost Kansas City, but we\u2019re not there yet. I gave them a C+<\/a> in my draft grades. They had a solid pick at the bottom of the first round in Feliz Anudike-Uzomah out of Kansas State. He\u2019s the only guy out of that class that will start, barring injury, but their third rounder, Wanya Morris, offensive tackle out of Oklahoma could step in if called upon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FREE AGENCY<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kansas City didn\u2019t sit on their wallets in free agency, adding right tackle Jawaan Taylor from the Jacksonville Jaguars, defensive end Charles Omenishu from the San Francisco 49ers, left tackle Donovan Smith from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, linebacker Drue Tranquill from the Chargers, backup QB Blaine Gabbert from the Bucs, wide receiver Richie Hames from the New York Giants, defensive end Matt Dickerson from the Atlanta Falcons and cornerback Lamar Jackson from the Denver Broncos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AFC WEST<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While it\u2019s true that the Chiefs have made the AFC Championship for five consecutive seasons under Mahomes, it\u2019s also true that Mahomes has never, even one time, played a road playoff game. That might be the real secret in how to keep the Chiefs from repeating. An improved overall AFC West could conceivably make nabbing home field more difficult, but all the other great teams in the AFC are also in brutal divisions. Anything between 12-14 wins and another Super Bowl trip, where they\u2019ll be undoubtedly favored, is possible for Kansas City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Follow Adam Greene on Twitter <\/em>@TheFirstMan<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Connect with us our socials on <\/em>Twitter<\/em><\/a> and <\/em>Instagram<\/em><\/a> for the latest sports news, viral moments, betting odds and the occasional memes.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY ADAM GREENE It\u2019s safe to say, heading into his sixth season as a starting quarterback in the NFL, Patrick…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":14634,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[129],"tags":[146],"class_list":["post-24083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl","tag-nfl"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24083"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24084,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24083\/revisions\/24084"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}