ST. JOSEPH, Mo. — Much has rightly been made about what the Kansas City Chiefs’ offense will look like this season without Tyreek Hill in the fold. Then you consider how teams cheated the Chiefs last season, at least for a while, with Cover-2 looks. Then you look at the arms race in the AFC West and how everyone has loaded up this offseason.
Are the bosses – and specifically the boss offense – ready to take a step back?
When I visited their camp last week, I didn’t expect Andy Reid or Patrick Mahomes to explain how they plan to attack defenses this coming season. But looking back on our discussions, I realize how much they were talking about the running game when I was more focused on the passing game.
“Yeah, I mean, I think it starts with the offensive line,” Mahomes told me when I asked how the offense was going to evolve without Hill. “We have this offensive line coming back and I think they did a good job last year, and it’s going to be even better. I think being able to lead the football and then having, like you said, that size receiver that can block but also catch the football, which still has speed. It might be a little different from the Kansas City Chiefs’ offense, but I think we’ll still have a lot of success.
The Chiefs chose the team’s long-term cap health over paying Hill this offseason, and they picked up 6-foot-4 Marquez Valdes-Scantling and 6-foot-1 JuJu Smith-Schuster. If teams decide to play both safeties against the Chiefs this year, Mahomes says they’ll be ready.
Why? Again… the racing game.
“We have running backs in this room running backs who are going to be able to run the game with this offensive line,” Mahomes said. “And then the receivers. Having these guys who are big, but also fast, are. … Besides tight ends, I think it’s going to be hard for teams to prepare for what we’re going to do, because we’ll be able to run the ball and pass the ball just as well.”
The Chiefs still have former first-round pick Clyde Edwards-Helaire as Jerick McKinnon enters his second year with the team. Kansas City picked up Isiah Pacheco in the seventh round of this year’s draft and he’s already turned heads as Ronald Jones could find himself on the outside once we complete the final cuts. KC also has arguably the best offensive line in football heading into Week 1.
Looking back to last year, the Chiefs averaged 4.54 yards per carry, which was seventh-best in the league. Their 4.6 yards per first down were sixth-best in the NFL. And they’re averaging 2.29 yards before contact per carry, leading all teams.
The Chiefs faced a box of eight or more players on just 14.2% of their rushes, last in the league and a sign of the respect opposing defenses had for Mahomes and the passing game. Conventional wisdom would indicate that the percentage will increase with Hill’s absence, and the Chiefs seem prepared for that.
“Yeah, so Tyreek, look,” Reid said, “I wish him well, so I want to make sure people understand that. And he’s going to do a great job for the Dolphins. (General Manager) Brett Veach brought people here, young and veteran guys, and so we’re excited about that and to know where the playbook kind of takes you within those guys layer and so that’s exciting too.
“But we’re excited about what we can do offensively and, you know, it’s a matter of doing it. That’s what people are going to be looking for.”
NFL Camp News and Notes
- The Denver Broncos are officially owned by the Walton-Penner family, following the league’s approval vote on Tuesday. If there is talk of a contract extension for Russell Wilson, it can start now. I was told that because the new property hadn’t gone in the gates, there hadn’t been talks of an extension yet. The Broncos plan to keep Wilson for years to come, and he’s under contract through the 2023 season.
- I expect the trade market for Bears sophomore offensive tackle Teven Jenkins to heat up after Saturday’s showdown against the Chiefs. Jenkins had 161 snaps in his freshman year last year, and he’s battled a back injury this preseason. If he can put on some good tape this weekend, it could drive up Chicago’s price to finally deal with it.
- As Joe Burrow continues to recover from his appendectomy late last month, the Bengals are not setting a timeline for his return. First off, I feel like he probably wouldn’t even have played in one of the shows if he was healthy. I’m confident from the team that he won’t miss a moment of the regular season. A very positive sign would be if he can get some work done against the Rams in joint practice before the Aug. 27 preseason game.
- Carolina’s QB1 job continues to be Baker Mayfield’s job to lose. The Panthers traded for Mayfield this summer hoping he’d come into camp and give the offense a boost, and he did (with a few mistakes they planned for considering his novelty with the offense.) I can appreciate how head coach Matt Rhule gave each guy a fair chance for the starter role by splitting first-team reps to start camp. Soon, however, he will have to decide who will get the full-time role.
- There’s little desire in Carolina to deal with Sam Darnold right now. First of all, there is no market for Darnold. The team is set to raise its cap to $18.86 million in the season. A capable and healthy quarterback is always an asset in this league, and Darnold can be insurance in a team with a possible starter in Mayfield who has recently struggled with injuries. And if a team comes calling Darnold due to injuries on their own team, Carolina doesn’t have to give it away.
- The decision to stand during training camp is one that weighed on Browns RB Kareem Hunt. He saw teammate Nick Chubb get an extension last offseason, then D’Ernest Johnson get tendered, then Jerome Ford get drafted, then Demetric Felton move into a more hybrid role. He also realizes that he is 27 and needs as much guaranteed money as possible. The Browns aren’t mad at him, but the kind of extension he wants probably won’t happen, and Cleveland has little incentive to trade him right now. Hunt returned to team drills after sitting them out for two practices. The Browns might eventually offer him some incentives, but I don’t feel like anything will happen beyond that right now.
- A good battle to watch in the Bills’ camp is the second cornerback position. Tre’Davious White is still testing his surgically repaired ACL, and the team hopes he’ll be ready by Week 1. If he’s not, it’ll be Dane Jackson and a rookie on the other side. Kaiir Elam was taken in the first round of the draft, but he struggled in some of Buffalo’s zone patterns. At the start of camp, he let these struggles take up too much space in his head. He’s equalized now, and when I saw him on Wednesday he had two good plays in the team drills. But the talk you hear outside of camp about sixth-round rookie Christian Benford isn’t just talk. He had a legitimate good side for a rookie, and a particularly good side for a late-round pick.