Arrowhead Pride
NFL trades from 2022-23: Hindsight evaluations for 23 deals | ESPN
The Chiefs obviously didn’t do too poorly, either, given that they immediately won the next two Super Bowls after the trade. I’d argue they won those titles in spite of their wide receiver room, but the move worked out fine for them. They landed an excellent cornerback in McDuffie, who has been making $3.5 million per year over his first four years in Kansas City, and an impactful wideout in Rice, who had 262 receiving yards in four playoff games during his rookie season before injuries and a six-game suspension put his career on pause.
GM Brett Veach traded up to add both players, and the rest of the return was underwhelming, but the Chiefs also cleared out salary to supplement the rest of their lineup. I’m not sure that signing Jawaan Taylor gave the Chiefs a star tackle, but even a league-average one helped Kansas City as it worked its way to consecutive titles. This is reasonably close to a win-win, but the Chiefs’ struggles to replace Hill have me leaning toward Miami.
In hindsight: Slight win for the Dolphins.
NFL Week 4 Preview: Schedule, storylines, matchups to watch and betting spreads | PFF
Matchup to watch: Ravens RB Derrick Henry vs. Chiefs run defense
Derrick Henry started the season in usual fashion with a massive showing against the Bills — up until he coughed up his first fumble of the season, which led to crushing loss. From that point forward, Henry has significantly underperformed, posting two consecutive games with a PFF rushing grade below 48.0,and recording two more fumbles.
Similarly, the Chiefs’ run defense has seen its fair share of unfamiliar mistakes early in the year, currently ranked 29th in PFF run-defense grade (53.3). Chris Jones has particularly had trouble fitting the run, with his 27.4% negatively-grade play rate against the run ranking as the highest mark of his career by a large margin.
Ranking NFL teams’ panic meters based on early-season issues | USA Today
Kansas City Chiefs’ offense
Perhaps no offseason talking point fizzled out more quickly than the notion of the Chiefs rediscovering their bygone explosive ways. With speed merchant Xavier Worthy sidelined by a shoulder injury in the season-opening loss to the Los Angeles Chargers and Rashee Rice serving a six-game suspension, Patrick Mahomes has had to fight for a mere toehold, repeatedly scrambling to keep defenses off balance and give his skeleton-crew receiving corps a better shot at making plays. Even a get-right game against the New York Giants yielded just 22 points and 306 yards, and Andy Reid was left to brush off another heated dust-up with Travis Kelce.
Panic meter – 6: Unlike many other teams on this list, the Chiefs actually have a legitimate personnel remedy awaiting them with Worthy on track to return this week and Rice’s suspension complete come...
