Arrowhead Pride
On Friday night, the defending AFC Champion Kansas City Chiefs will open up the 2025 season against the Los Angeles Chargers in São Paulo, Brazil. After a long offseason, the Patrick Mahomes era continues — giving Kansas City another chance to compete for an NFL Championship in Super Bowl LX.
Entering their second season under head coach Jim Harbaugh, Los Angeles hopes to build upon a strong 2024 campaign in which it made the postseason, but was eliminated by the Houston Texans in the Wild Card round.
This early AFC West showdown could end up being an important factor in the 2025 season.
In last season’s inaugural NFL game in Brazil — a matchup between the Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles — the headlines weren’t about the Eagles’ victory. Instead, they were dominated by the field conditions — which appeared to have played a role in an injury sustained by Green Bay quarterback Jordan Love.
The NFL has assured both teams that field conditions have been improved, but it will be worth watching whether this poses an issue to either team.
The Chiefs made headlines by releasing veteran defensive tackle Mike Pennel at the 53-man cutdown. After being a key piece on the 2019 and 2020 teams, Pennel rejoined the team in 2023, adding another Super Bowl ring and playing a crucial role on the defense’s running downs.
Pennel then signed with the Cincinnati Bengals’ practice squad, which effectively ended his second Kansas City stint. Since he had been in the team’s starting rotation for most of training camp, Pennel’s release was surprising — even though right before his release, the Chiefs had made a trade to bring defensive tackle Derrick Nnadi back to the squad. In March, the team had allowed Nnadi to walk after seven seasons with the team.
But even with Nnadi back in the fold, Kansas City is thin at the position. All-Pro Chris Jones headlines the group, which also includes new veteran Jerry Tillery and rookie Omarr Norman-Lott. We’ll probably see defensive end Mike Danna rotate inside on some passing downs, too.
In 2024, the Chargers were one of the league’s best rushing teams — and with first-round rookie Omarion Hampton poised to take most of the carries, stopping the run will be a major priority for the defensive line.
Rookie left tackle Josh Simmons and left guard Kingsley Suamataia will have their work cut out for them against a solid Charger defensive front — one that includes future Hall of Famer Khalil Mack. One of the league’s fiercest pass rushers, he’ll be facing a rookie in his first career start.
Early on, the Chargers will probably challenge both Simmons and Suamataia with a combination of blitzes and line stunts that use Mack and edge rusher Tuli Tuipulotu, who finished 2024 with 8.5 sacks. Defensive coordinator Jesse Minter has also shown exotic looks on third down....
