AFC West: ‘Let’s be honest, the entire league is chasing the Kansas City Chiefs’
This just in: a game of follow-the-leader broke out during the 2020 NFL Draft.
Super Bowl championships have a way of establishing trends, especially if the triumphant team is young. And now the Kansas City Chiefs can’t help but look around the AFC West, not to mention the rest of the NFL, and notice something of a reflection forming.
“Our AFC West rivals have had a very good draft,” Chiefs president and CEO Clark Hunt said Saturday. “Looks like they’ve really paid attention to the offensive side of the ball.”
The Los Angeles Chargers, Las Vegas Raiders and Denver Broncos each took skill position players with their first selections this week. The Chargers selected Oregon quarterback Justin Herbert with the sixth pick; the Raiders chose speedy Alabama wide receiver Henry Ruggs III at No. 12; and the Broncos added the another Crimson Tide wide receiver, Jerry Jeudy — a supreme route-runner for Mizzou and Lee’s Summit Drew Lock at quarterback — at No. 15.
The Chiefs have won the AFC West the past four years and are 27-3 against their division rivals since 2015. Now they’re defending Super Bowl champions with one of the NFL’s top offenses led by dynamic quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who’s entering his fourth season, and perennial Pro Bowlers in wide receiver Tyreek Hill and tight end Travis Kelce.
Their Andy Reid offense led the NFL in points in 2018, when the Chiefs lost to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game. The Chiefs finished fifth in scoring in 2019 but averaged 38 points in winning three playoffs games, capped by their 31-20 victory over the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LIV.
“I think teams, they have to score points against us,” Chiefs general manager Brett Veach said. “Even if you have a really good defense, it’s hard to stop our offense. So I think teams certainly are ready for a track meet when they play the Chiefs.”
The Raiders and Chargers are scheduled to move into new stadiums this season — the Raiders in an entirely new city. Adding exciting players in this draft was a goal.
So was keeping up with the Chiefs.
“Let’s be honest,” Raiders general manager Mike Mayock said. “The entire league is chasing the Kansas City Chiefs, but we’re in the same division. They keep getting faster and more athletic, more dynamic every time you turn around. Other teams have to do the same.”
That perhaps explains why Ruggs, considered one of the top three wide receivers in the draft behind Jeudy and Oklahoma’s CeeDee Lamb, who was selected by the Dallas Cowboys at No. 17, went first in the group.
“We’ll have some manufactured touches for him,” Mayock said. “Whether they are jet sweeps, screens, just an ability to get him the ball in space and use that speed.”
That’s very Chiefs-like. Reid likes to use Hill and fellow wide receiver Mecole Hardman that way.
In the third round, the Raiders added wide receivers on back-to-back selections with Kentucky’s Lynn Bowden and South Carolina’s Bryan Edwards. Bowden played quarterback for eight games last season, winning the Paul Hornung Award as the nation’s most versatile player.
Herbert joins the Chargers and will battle with veteran Tyrod Taylor to become the starter who replaces Philip Rivers, who signed a one-year deal with the Indianapolis Colts in March. Teams that drafted Herbert, LSU’s Joe Burrow, the top overall selection by the Cincinnati Bengals Thursday, and Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa, taken fifth by the Miami Dolphins, can dream of a Mahomes-like impact.
Chargers coach Anthony Lynn told reporters earlier this month that Taylor is “in the driver’s seat” but no position is final until training camp. Herbert said Friday he’s looking forward to the competition.
“They asked me how I felt about it, and I said I’m going to do everything I can to be the best quarterback I can be,” Herbert said. “If I’m the guy, that’s great. I love playing football, and I want to be the guy. But if I have to sit back and learn, I’m going to do everything I can to be the quarterback I need to be.”
With their second-round pick, the Broncos added another wide receiver, Penn State’s KJ. Hamler, a blazer who also returned kicks and punts for the Nittany Lions. Using their first two picks on wide receivers should help Lock, the former Missouri star who went 4-1 in five starts as a rookie last season.
In the fourth round, the Broncos added Lock’s former teammate at Mizzou and yet another target in tight end Albert Okwuegbunam.
“We’re looking to make our offense a little bit more stressful for people to defend,” Broncos coach Vic Fangio said.
For the second straight year, the Chiefs used their first pick to take an offensive playmaker. Last year, that man was Georgia Bulldogs product Hardman, who was named to the Pro Bowl as a return specialist in his rookie season.
On Thursday, the Chiefs used the final pick of the first round to grab LSU running Clyde Edwards-Helaire, who rushed for 1,415 yards for the national-champion Tigers. With his ability to split wide, and sound attributes in the areas of blocking and ball security, Edwards-Helaire ideally fits the Reid/Mahomes offense.
It’s up to others to keep up.
Herbie Teope contributed to this story.
This story was originally published April 25, 2020 at 1:21 PM with the headline "AFC West: ‘Let’s be honest, the entire league is chasing the Kansas City Chiefs’."