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OPPOSITION TERRITORY: Kansas City Chiefs · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:24
Speaker 1: Welcome to Opposition Territory here at the Philadelphia Sports Table
0:27
Speaker 1: podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show
0:30
Speaker 1: in the world, thirteen years strong. As always, we've got
0:34
Speaker 1: great content coming your way. We've got a great Opposition
0:36
Speaker 1: Territory podcast and discussion for your ears. And if you're
0:40
Speaker 1: watching on YouTube, Hello, we are going to be diving
0:43
Speaker 1: into the Kansas City Chiefs this week. Guest with our
0:46
Speaker 1: awesome guests. Who was just waving Jared Sap from Arrowheadpride
0:51
Speaker 1: dot com. You know we love our espidation sites. My friend, man,
0:54
Speaker 1: it's great to see you. Thanks for jumping on this.
0:56
Speaker 2: Week, appreciate it. Set us a little bit curious, Well,
1:00
Speaker 2: is there that much demand for Chiefs content on teams
1:03
Speaker 2: that we do not play this year? Yes, but we've
1:06
Speaker 2: got a pretty good recent history.
1:08
Speaker 1: I think so. Look, I think the Chiefs are a
1:11
Speaker 1: very interesting NFL team, and our Opposition Territory shows quite frankly,
1:16
Speaker 1: I like to take off the Philadelphia sports hat that
1:19
Speaker 1: I have worn my entire life to really talk about
1:22
Speaker 1: other teams, what their off seasons are like, and sometimes
1:25
Speaker 1: what they're doing in season as well. And I think
1:29
Speaker 1: the Chiefs are pretty interesting as we look towards the
1:31
Speaker 1: upcoming twenty twenty six twenty twenty seven season, because look,
1:35
Speaker 1: we know they went six and eleven last season, losing
1:38
Speaker 1: their last six games of the year, and this is
1:41
Speaker 1: essentially a team that's going through a bit of restructuring
1:44
Speaker 1: right now, some would possibly say some retooling. And I
1:48
Speaker 1: think it's interesting coming from the standpoint of this is
1:50
Speaker 1: a dominant team, has always been a dominant team, and
1:54
Speaker 1: there are some question marks here and there with regard
1:56
Speaker 1: to the Chiefs. So I guess a two part question
1:59
Speaker 1: here to start us off, Jared, where are the Chiefs
2:03
Speaker 1: right now in terms of their team building? And also
2:07
Speaker 1: can they really get back to the top of the
2:09
Speaker 1: AFC West in the foreseeable future?
2:12
Speaker 2: And we weren't coming off of such a bad season
2:14
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty two, but the last time we had
2:16
Speaker 2: this much rebuilding, we had a pretty good year this year,
2:20
Speaker 2: that year that some Philadelphia sports fans might have memories of.
2:24
Speaker 1: I don't know, yes, yes, unfortunately, Yes.
2:28
Speaker 2: We entered that season with a whole lot of questions
2:31
Speaker 2: at the time. Maybe Devonte Adams is the best wide
2:36
Speaker 2: receiver in football, Maybe Tyreek Hill was the best wide
2:38
Speaker 2: receiver in football. But both of them had been traded
2:41
Speaker 2: and we entered with a whole lot of questions. So
2:45
Speaker 2: I think that experience in the relatively recent past is
2:49
Speaker 2: kind of giving us time to think, Okay, maybe we
2:52
Speaker 2: should trust the process. That said two teams finished ahead
2:57
Speaker 2: of us in the AFC West last year. I got
3:00
Speaker 2: some questions about both of them, don't I don't buy
3:03
Speaker 2: either of them is having like long standing success like
3:06
Speaker 2: the Chiefs won the AFC West for a decade. I
3:10
Speaker 2: don't buy that the Broncos and Chargers are in quite
3:12
Speaker 2: that spot. But I mean, we've got two good teams
3:15
Speaker 2: that we finished behind, so right now and until we
3:18
Speaker 2: see otherwise, I think that I respect the Broncos and
3:23
Speaker 2: Charges what they did last year, probably more than a
3:26
Speaker 2: lot of my colleagues and Chiefs fans that I interact
3:29
Speaker 2: with on Twitter, like right now, Yeah, we've got to
3:32
Speaker 2: get to their level before we can worry about getting
3:35
Speaker 2: back to where we were. Yeah. Yeah.
3:37
Speaker 1: I mean, do you look at it as though the
3:39
Speaker 1: Chiefs are actually rebuilding here? Is it rebuilding or is
3:42
Speaker 1: it just like restructuring, because I think those are two
3:44
Speaker 1: very different things.
3:46
Speaker 2: I don't think. I don't think there's a rebuild when
3:49
Speaker 2: when you have Patrick Mahomes, even though he's coming off
3:51
Speaker 2: of injury, You've got Patrick Mahomes.
3:54
Speaker 1: And you've had a very good defense. To you said, yeah,
3:57
Speaker 1: you've had a very good defense too for a very
3:59
Speaker 1: long time.
4:01
Speaker 2: A lot of new faces on that defense, but again,
4:05
Speaker 2: we have a recent history of overhaul on that defense
4:07
Speaker 2: really quick, pretty much with the same time. Yeah, blueprint
4:10
Speaker 2: that we used this year. So we're gonna just have to.
4:13
Speaker 1: See, okay, all right, Well, moving along here, Jared, you know,
4:18
Speaker 1: free agency was pretty important to the Chiefs to bring
4:23
Speaker 1: in and also keep some veteran stability on the team.
4:27
Speaker 1: So whether it was bringing back, of course, tight end
4:29
Speaker 1: Travis Kelcey on a one year deal, signing running back
4:32
Speaker 1: Kenneth Gainwell, who we know all too well in Eagles Nation,
4:37
Speaker 1: Gilman was brought back in the safety position or brought in,
4:41
Speaker 1: i should say for as one of their new safeties.
4:44
Speaker 1: I mean, there seems to be some stability at certain
4:47
Speaker 1: positions that were in flux perhaps last season. So I'm
4:51
Speaker 1: wondering which free agent signings do you think really were
4:53
Speaker 1: the most critical for this upcoming season and even beyond.
4:57
Speaker 2: So the first move the Chiefs did is they out
5:00
Speaker 2: and they signed Kenneth Walker coming off with that Super
5:02
Speaker 2: Bowl run with the Seahawks, and I think that sent
5:07
Speaker 2: a message that they know they've put too much on
5:11
Speaker 2: Patrick Mahomes's plate for the past few years and we're
5:16
Speaker 2: going to have to navigate him coming back from injury.
5:20
Speaker 2: I think they realize getting that run game right, especially
5:23
Speaker 2: with how much they've invested in their interior three of
5:26
Speaker 2: the line. I think just getting an alpha at the
5:30
Speaker 2: running back position, and then they made two other moves
5:33
Speaker 2: at the running back position. We need Walker to be
5:37
Speaker 2: our star, but we need some we need some horses
5:41
Speaker 2: behind him too. So they didn't do a whole lot
5:45
Speaker 2: on offense other than just totally rehul the run game.
5:49
Speaker 2: Kind of they're counting on that to kind of be
5:51
Speaker 2: the ship that the tide that raises all ships. With
5:53
Speaker 2: free interesting the draft combined, I think the message that
5:57
Speaker 2: I saw put best on I think X from one
6:01
Speaker 2: of the sports radio handles in Kansas City that the
6:05
Speaker 2: most of the chief Sin is they think their problems
6:07
Speaker 2: on offense were coaching, and they think their problems on
6:10
Speaker 2: defense were players because they've overhauled that defense with players.
6:14
Speaker 2: Other than really upgrading the run game, their main thing
6:18
Speaker 2: on offense has been they've they've overturned the coaching staff
6:23
Speaker 2: a lot. Yeah, we had Matt Naggie, who it's always
6:29
Speaker 2: debailable how much of it's Andy Reid, how much of
6:32
Speaker 2: it's the offensive coordinator, But what the Chiefs have been
6:35
Speaker 2: doing the last couple of years on offense, it looked
6:38
Speaker 2: a whole lot like those underwhelming schemes that you would
6:41
Speaker 2: see from the Chicago Bears that got Naggie fired from there. Yeah. Yeah,
6:46
Speaker 2: And he's an old college teammate of general manager Brett Viach,
6:49
Speaker 2: like they played on they played for deublaware together and
6:53
Speaker 2: from the outside looking in, it always looked like Naggie
6:56
Speaker 2: just kind of showed up thinking he had something that
6:58
Speaker 2: he couldn't break and didn't do much. And you had
7:03
Speaker 2: for one time Eagles wide receiver Todd Pinkston as the
7:06
Speaker 2: running back coach. You had a wide receivers coach who's
7:11
Speaker 2: never had any other job in the NFL other than
7:13
Speaker 2: Andy Reid's quality control person. And that they've overhauled that
7:17
Speaker 2: side a lot. They brought Eric b Enemy back, who
7:23
Speaker 2: I think they had a much better reputation for Z
7:25
Speaker 2: and O's and doing things the right way and attention
7:29
Speaker 2: to tell when he was in house. And then they
7:32
Speaker 2: brought in DeMarco Murray, former NFL running back. I can't
7:36
Speaker 2: remember if he played for the Eagles or not. Oh,
7:37
Speaker 2: yes he did, did I remember? I remember the Cowboys
7:42
Speaker 2: and that they brought him in as the running backs coach.
7:47
Speaker 2: They brought in a veteran wide receivers coach who's was
7:51
Speaker 2: with the Patriots dynasty. So they really sent a message
7:55
Speaker 2: that they think the players they've invested in on offense
7:59
Speaker 2: were not getting the right coaching. And we'll see how
8:03
Speaker 2: that goes. But the one thing I really like about
8:05
Speaker 2: their free agency is ever since winning that Super Bowl
8:09
Speaker 2: in the twenty twenty two season, they've just not been
8:12
Speaker 2: able to quit on the same death players and you
8:16
Speaker 2: would see the same probably a dozen players brought back
8:20
Speaker 2: for one year contract up to one year contract, and
8:23
Speaker 2: by and large they have not brought them back. A
8:25
Speaker 2: lot of them have found new teams. Some of them
8:27
Speaker 2: I'm going to assume we're probably retired and just don't
8:30
Speaker 2: know it yet, but they really they really have overhauled places.
8:37
Speaker 2: Twenty three through fifty three on that roster better than
8:40
Speaker 2: the having years.
8:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think that's an interesting part of what
8:46
Speaker 1: the direction where the direction is going, whether you're talking
8:50
Speaker 1: about that that overhaul you just mentioned, or in terms
8:53
Speaker 1: of the coaching as well. Bringing Eric the Enemy back,
8:56
Speaker 1: I think.
8:56
Speaker 2: Is going to be huge for this team. I really do.
8:59
Speaker 1: They saw so much success with him letting him go,
9:05
Speaker 1: I just don't understand that.
9:07
Speaker 2: I really don't.
9:08
Speaker 1: But I also wanted to get your thoughts too.
9:10
Speaker 2: Jared on.
9:13
Speaker 1: On the NFL Draft and the Chiefs draft, specifically because
9:17
Speaker 1: Chiefs came out of the NFL Draft addressing multiple positions
9:21
Speaker 1: and arguably needs on both sides of the ball. They're
9:25
Speaker 1: obviously looking towards the future as well, So I want
9:28
Speaker 1: to ask you what they did well in the draft,
9:30
Speaker 1: maybe where they came up short as well. Let's start
9:32
Speaker 1: with where do you think they did well in the draft.
9:35
Speaker 2: I'm very confident they're going to get a lot of
9:37
Speaker 2: quality defensive snaps on rookie contracts over the next four years.
9:42
Speaker 2: They decided not to pet they in twenty twenty two draft.
9:48
Speaker 2: They pretty much drafted their whole secondary and you saw
9:53
Speaker 2: Trent McDuffie get the highest contract at the cornerback position. Yep,
9:59
Speaker 2: from the Rams, from the Chiefs, and they made I
10:02
Speaker 2: mean they made a decision. We did this once, we
10:04
Speaker 2: can do it again. But they drafted Mansteur de Lane.
10:08
Speaker 2: They traded up, they paid a price to go get
10:10
Speaker 2: him to replace Trent McDuffie. And I hate to put
10:13
Speaker 2: pressure on any rookie, but by the end of the season,
10:17
Speaker 2: you need to kind of be resembling the all pro
10:19
Speaker 2: we just traded for this to work out. Yeah, the
10:24
Speaker 2: pass rush was very underwhelming. They drafted Peter Woods, that
10:30
Speaker 2: defensive tackle out of Clemson with their other first round pick,
10:32
Speaker 2: which I don't know how closely you followed the NFL
10:35
Speaker 2: draft year round, but entering the twenty twenty five season,
10:38
Speaker 2: most people thought he was going to be a top
10:40
Speaker 2: five pick. Didn't have the senior year that a lot
10:43
Speaker 2: of people thought he did. But I do think the
10:46
Speaker 2: Chiefs looked at what the Eagles did, and really both
10:49
Speaker 2: teams in this year's Super Bowl, at just how important
10:52
Speaker 2: that inside pass rush and having multiple people that you
10:56
Speaker 2: can just rotate, especially in the fourth quarter against tired
10:59
Speaker 2: guards and center. Just how much how big that's been
11:02
Speaker 2: to defense in the last few years. I was really
11:06
Speaker 2: encouraged with the other pass rusher they drafted because I
11:10
Speaker 2: didn't even consider our Mason Thomas of Oklahoma because that
11:14
Speaker 2: just is not the type of player Steve Spagnolo has
11:17
Speaker 2: ever considered. I found that really encouraging that they recognized
11:23
Speaker 2: that drafting the exact type of player over and over
11:26
Speaker 2: and over again, maybe it's time for something a little
11:28
Speaker 2: bit different. Yeah. So they did a great job I
11:32
Speaker 2: think getting quality defensive snaps on rookie deals. And I
11:36
Speaker 2: think their first four picks I think will all play
11:39
Speaker 2: defensive snaps. Maybe not the fourth round cornerback, safety, nickelback,
11:44
Speaker 2: whatever you want to call jad and Kennedy, but their
11:46
Speaker 2: top three picks I think are going to have heavy
11:48
Speaker 2: snap counts from week one. I was kind of disappointed
11:54
Speaker 2: that they did not address offensive weapons.
11:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, well yeah, let's talk where they fell short in
12:00
Speaker 1: this draft here. So these lack of offensive weapons, for sure.
12:04
Speaker 2: They're putting a lot of trust on wide receivers Rushie
12:08
Speaker 2: Rice and Xavier Worthy, who have both had they've had
12:11
Speaker 2: excellent moments in the NFL, but they've also had stretches
12:14
Speaker 2: that show they don't really they're not really deserving and
12:19
Speaker 2: being trusted in those prime roles, and yeah, Travis Kelsey's
12:23
Speaker 2: getting older. The player I really wanted to see them
12:26
Speaker 2: ad is actually an Eagle now. I want to see
12:29
Speaker 2: them add Vanderbilt tight end Ui Stowers because I think
12:33
Speaker 2: they could have lined him up as their ex wide
12:35
Speaker 2: receiver this year and probably been a great compliment to
12:38
Speaker 2: what they have and Rice and Worthy. And if he
12:42
Speaker 2: doesn't have that Mike Evans ability at wide receiver that
12:45
Speaker 2: some endlists thought he did, you know, a year from now,
12:48
Speaker 2: I would bet money, there's going to be a whole
12:50
Speaker 2: lot of tight ends snaps available out of the spot. Yeah,
12:53
Speaker 2: So that was a player who I really wanted to
12:56
Speaker 2: see them add. Of course he's an Eagle now, but
13:02
Speaker 2: I feel like they're trusting the offensive weapons in house
13:07
Speaker 2: more than then. They've shown me that they can really
13:10
Speaker 2: be counted and to get the run game going.
13:12
Speaker 1: Like you said earlier, I mean a lot is going
13:15
Speaker 1: to be put on the run game and on that
13:17
Speaker 1: interior the offensive line as well.
13:20
Speaker 2: And that found I thought that found a great value
13:23
Speaker 2: at running back. On Day three in the draft they
13:25
Speaker 2: drafted him at Johnson of Nebraska. So I think I
13:29
Speaker 2: think he can be a really good compliment to Kenneth Walker.
13:32
Speaker 2: But I and I expected him to go in the
13:35
Speaker 2: top I expect him to kind of be a borderline
13:37
Speaker 2: top one hundred player, and they found him in the
13:40
Speaker 2: fifth round. I thought that was good value. I like
13:43
Speaker 2: the wide receiver they drafted Cyrus Allen in the fifth round,
13:46
Speaker 2: but I don't know how much you're really going to
13:49
Speaker 2: see him play. Although I think he plays on tap
13:54
Speaker 2: in college. He's better up man coverage than probably any
13:57
Speaker 2: of the wide receivers they have in house. So maybe
13:59
Speaker 2: maybe he'll surprise us. Yeah, I don't know. I don't
14:05
Speaker 2: know if anybody knows if Tyreek Hill is going to
14:07
Speaker 2: play in twenty twenty six or ever again. But if
14:11
Speaker 2: he gets cleared to play, I think there's a good
14:13
Speaker 2: chance he's gonna end up back in Kansas City that
14:16
Speaker 2: I would like to see them add something a pass
14:21
Speaker 2: catcher who would factor into twenty twenty six. And I
14:25
Speaker 2: think that's kind of where the trade up for Delane
14:28
Speaker 2: hurt them, because they lost their third round pick, and
14:30
Speaker 2: just in that stretch, you saw tons of wide receivers
14:33
Speaker 2: and tight ends just fly off the board where it
14:37
Speaker 2: was pretty bare before they got back on the board
14:39
Speaker 2: on day three.
14:40
Speaker 1: Absolutely yeah, absolutely, all right, folks, Again we're talking to
14:43
Speaker 1: Jared Sap from Arrowhead Pride dot com. Head on over
14:47
Speaker 1: there to check out all Chiefs coverage. If you want
14:51
Speaker 1: to dive into the Chiefs see what they're doing this
14:53
Speaker 1: offseason again Arrowheadpride dot com. You can also follows Jared
14:57
Speaker 1: on the Twitter slash acts at Truman chief Great, great,
15:01
Speaker 1: follow folks. We're gonna take a break. I'm gonna pay
15:03
Speaker 1: some bills, but when we get back, we're gonna get
15:05
Speaker 1: into the offensive line. We're also gonna talk about, of course,
15:08
Speaker 1: Patrick Mahomes and where he is at in his career.
15:11
Speaker 1: Stick with us. We'll be right back. All right, we
15:16
Speaker 1: are back with Jared Zapp from Arrowhead Pride dot com.
15:21
Speaker 1: Let's now get into Jared this offensive line of the
15:24
Speaker 1: Kansas City Chiefs because I'm wondering if the front office
15:29
Speaker 1: has really done enough to protect Patrick Holmes Patrick Mahomes,
15:32
Speaker 1: excuse me long term in terms of the offensive line,
15:37
Speaker 1: and in terms of that a concern about the depth
15:41
Speaker 1: after some recent roster turnover here, what are your thoughts
15:45
Speaker 1: like where the offensive line is at at this point?
15:47
Speaker 1: And then and then the depth in case something happens
15:50
Speaker 1: with some of the more powerhouse guys on that line.
15:55
Speaker 2: So my impressions, the front office pretty much told the coach,
16:00
Speaker 2: f we've devoted a ton two offensive line and it's
16:05
Speaker 2: your job to figure it out. Like their left tackle
16:08
Speaker 2: is a first round pick. They have the highest paid
16:13
Speaker 2: guard in the league and Tray Smith. They had the
16:15
Speaker 2: highest paid center in the league and Creed Humphrey until
16:19
Speaker 2: I think a recent contract by the Raiders this offseason.
16:22
Speaker 2: Their other guard is a second round pick who was
16:26
Speaker 2: drafted to play left tackle and that has not worked out,
16:28
Speaker 2: but he's been outstanding left guard. So really the only
16:34
Speaker 2: position that they don't have that they did not have
16:37
Speaker 2: a known starter at was right tackle. They they let
16:41
Speaker 2: Jean Taylor. They released Jawn Taylor for cap purposes, which
16:46
Speaker 2: Taylor had had been battling a knee injury for about
16:50
Speaker 2: two years, and I don't think anybody thinks there's a
16:53
Speaker 2: whole lot left on that knee. And I mean he's
16:59
Speaker 2: been on the injury report every for two years, every
17:02
Speaker 2: every week with a knee injury, limited practice anytime they
17:06
Speaker 2: practice indoors for the last two years, so and he
17:11
Speaker 2: racks up a lot of penalty, so I think they
17:14
Speaker 2: needed to let him go right now. Their right tackle
17:17
Speaker 2: is Jalen Moore, former forty nine er, who they signed
17:22
Speaker 2: to be their stopgap left tackle last offseason, not knowing
17:26
Speaker 2: they were going to draft Josh Sentmons so and he's
17:28
Speaker 2: a very highly paid player at this point, so the
17:31
Speaker 2: resources are there. The injury to Patrick Mahomes last year
17:36
Speaker 2: gets a whole lot of attention that the Chiefs suffered
17:41
Speaker 2: a lot of injuries on the offensive line, and more
17:44
Speaker 2: than I think you would expect any team to take
17:47
Speaker 2: care of with depth. I mean, Tray Smith had a
17:50
Speaker 2: back injury in a high agle spring throughout the year.
17:55
Speaker 2: The Thanksgiving Day game against the Dallas Cowboys, the Chiefs
17:58
Speaker 2: actually lost both of their starf garding tackles ultimately for
18:02
Speaker 2: the season. Josh Simmons, the rookie, broke his hand. Kareem
18:06
Speaker 2: Hunt ran directly into him and he broke his hand,
18:11
Speaker 2: and then Juwan Taylor. I can't remember the injury. I
18:16
Speaker 2: don't think it was the knee. Oh. He blew out
18:18
Speaker 2: his elbow in that game and he was lost for
18:20
Speaker 2: the year. I think if they had made the playoffs,
18:23
Speaker 2: Josh Simmons probably would have came back later on in
18:25
Speaker 2: the year with a club, but they lost both their
18:29
Speaker 2: tackles and had been having a right guard injury, and
18:32
Speaker 2: then the next week their swing tackle, who was replacing Simmons,
18:36
Speaker 2: he went out for the season on the first play.
18:39
Speaker 2: And by the end of the year they had an
18:41
Speaker 2: undrafted rookie at left tackle who played well, and then
18:45
Speaker 2: they had an international player. And not everybody can find
18:49
Speaker 2: an international pathway tackle like the Eagles can. They had
18:54
Speaker 2: an international tackle basically who had never played organized football
18:58
Speaker 2: before on the right side.
19:00
Speaker 1: So.
19:02
Speaker 2: I mean they had depth. It's just they had a
19:07
Speaker 2: scene amount of just injury after injury injury that no
19:11
Speaker 2: team is going to have the depth to survive what
19:14
Speaker 2: they had on the offensive line in the second half
19:16
Speaker 2: of the year last year. I mean, I think they
19:22
Speaker 2: have adequate depth for normal scenarios. Basically, their question right
19:29
Speaker 2: now is with the non Josh Simmons tackles, can they
19:32
Speaker 2: find a starting right tackle in a serviceable swing tackle,
19:35
Speaker 2: And if they can't, I think they're going to turn
19:37
Speaker 2: out to be an okay shape. There. We talked a
19:40
Speaker 2: little about a bit about Eric Banamy, and I don't
19:42
Speaker 2: have any data for this other than what my eyes
19:46
Speaker 2: from watching the games tell me. But I strongly feel
19:49
Speaker 2: that when he was there, he did a better job
19:53
Speaker 2: of whatever the offensive coordinator under any reads a role is.
19:56
Speaker 2: I think he did a whole lot better job coordinating
19:58
Speaker 2: with the offensive line coach than Matt Maggie ever did,
20:02
Speaker 2: because there's a lot of times there's seem like the
20:05
Speaker 2: Chiefs did more with less when the enemy was there
20:09
Speaker 2: than with the resources they have devoted to the offensive
20:12
Speaker 2: line the last couple of years.
20:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, I it's gonna be real interesting to see, you know.
20:18
Speaker 1: I remember years ago when the Eagles were weathering the
20:22
Speaker 1: you know, weathering the ship with tons of injuries on
20:25
Speaker 1: the offensive line, and even last year you had the
20:27
Speaker 1: Eagles starting offensive linemen just continuously injured throughout the season.
20:32
Speaker 1: It's why the run games suffered, It's it's why a
20:35
Speaker 1: lot of the offense suffered last season in Philadelphia. But
20:41
Speaker 1: I really wanted to talk about one particular gentleman and
20:45
Speaker 1: so many eyes always on him, always going to be
20:48
Speaker 1: on him, and that is Patrick Mahomes Jared, And it's
20:52
Speaker 1: that million dollar question I think that folks are asking
20:55
Speaker 1: and talking about every now and again, and it's whether
20:59
Speaker 1: or not Patrick mahone is truly beginning to decline. I
21:03
Speaker 1: mean sometimes I feel like he's still that twenty four
21:06
Speaker 1: year old kid slinging the ball around. It's thirty right now,
21:10
Speaker 1: and some say, you know, he is like starting on
21:13
Speaker 1: that perhaps downward spiral. I'll be honest, I don't believe
21:17
Speaker 1: it at all. Patrick Mahomes has to show me that
21:20
Speaker 1: he is in the toilet for him to be not
21:22
Speaker 1: effective at the quarterback position, and I don't think that
21:25
Speaker 1: is We're even near that at all. The numbers don't
21:29
Speaker 1: tell the full story or paint a full picture with
21:32
Speaker 1: what happened last season, of course, so I'm wondering, what
21:36
Speaker 1: are your thoughts on where the thirty year old Patrick
21:38
Speaker 1: Mahomes is at in his career right now?
21:42
Speaker 2: I think he asked most Chiefs fans right now. I
21:45
Speaker 2: think the question is more is a sixty seven year
21:49
Speaker 2: old and d Reid and his scheme washed than thirty
21:52
Speaker 2: girl Patrick Mahomes.
21:53
Speaker 1: That's great, that's a great point.
21:55
Speaker 2: I don't think the answer to that is yes either.
21:58
Speaker 2: But at last year, and there was no mystery to
22:03
Speaker 2: anything that the Chiefs were planning to do, and they
22:08
Speaker 2: kind of got a rejuvenation when Rashie Rice came back
22:13
Speaker 2: from his suspension and just went on a tear for
22:16
Speaker 2: about three games, and Patrick Mahomes looked as good as
22:19
Speaker 2: he ever did. Then he got down the stretch and
22:23
Speaker 2: it kind of from about the second half of their
22:25
Speaker 2: game with the Bills on and it just seemed like
22:30
Speaker 2: every defense knew everything that they were doing and there
22:34
Speaker 2: was no mystery. Rice really started to struggle with drops
22:39
Speaker 2: and part of that was he had a defender exactly
22:41
Speaker 2: where he was going to go every single snap.
22:44
Speaker 1: YEP, reminiscent of the Philadelphia Eagles offense. Everybody knew what
22:48
Speaker 1: was going to happen. Everybody we all knew the plays
22:51
Speaker 1: that were actually going to be happening as fans. That's
22:53
Speaker 1: how terrible last year was.
22:55
Speaker 2: And there was a lot of that. There's a lot
22:57
Speaker 2: of that with the Chiefs, And I mean, I don't
23:02
Speaker 2: think Reed is washed. I still think Reid has a
23:05
Speaker 2: championship run left in him. But if we're not, I
23:10
Speaker 2: think there's a fear among Chiefs fans that if Reed
23:15
Speaker 2: is not going to change and bring some new stuff in,
23:18
Speaker 2: I think there's a fear that Mahomes' prime is going
23:21
Speaker 2: to get wasted on like a Chuck Noll situation with Steelers, gotcha,
23:26
Speaker 2: Tom Wandry's situation with the Cowboys, where I don't think
23:31
Speaker 2: that's going to happen. I think, you know, Kansallity's general managers,
23:35
Speaker 2: I think forty seven years old. I think he plans
23:37
Speaker 2: some time in the league, probably after Reid, So I
23:41
Speaker 2: don't think that's going to happen. But if that's not
23:44
Speaker 2: a lot better, at least by the end of the season,
23:47
Speaker 2: I think there'll probably be a little bit of grace
23:49
Speaker 2: with Mahomes coming back from injury, and I don't think
23:52
Speaker 2: he's leaving the pocket very much to start the year.
23:56
Speaker 2: But if at the end of the year it's looking
23:59
Speaker 2: like like what we saw really the last three years,
24:03
Speaker 2: because the Chiefs offense was not exactly great in twenty
24:07
Speaker 2: twenty three and twenty twenty four, they caught a whole
24:11
Speaker 2: lot of green lights up until the point they faced
24:14
Speaker 2: the Eagles the second time in the Super Bowl. If
24:17
Speaker 2: the scheme is not getting better, if the run game
24:20
Speaker 2: does not, you know, magically make the scheme better and
24:23
Speaker 2: open up more space, I think it's probably gonna be
24:26
Speaker 2: getting pretty ugly a year from now. Yeah, that's towards
24:29
Speaker 2: the unity.
24:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's going to be interesting to watch Patrick Mahomes
24:33
Speaker 1: from here on out and what happens with that arm,
24:37
Speaker 1: what happens with his mobility for sure. But Jared, Buddy,
24:41
Speaker 1: before I let you go, we'd like to talk about
24:43
Speaker 1: strengths and weaknesses on the various teams that we talk
24:46
Speaker 1: about here on our opposition territory pods. So let's start
24:51
Speaker 1: off with in terms of, you know, after dissecting with
24:54
Speaker 1: the Chiefs have done this offseason, what's the biggest strength
24:58
Speaker 1: and weakness on this team? Let's start with the biggest strength.
25:00
Speaker 1: What do you think that is.
25:03
Speaker 2: To be the run game? Because they've invested heavily in
25:07
Speaker 2: their interior three of the offensive line, they went out
25:11
Speaker 2: and gave a top of the market contract to a
25:13
Speaker 2: running back and Kenneth Walker. They signed another running back
25:19
Speaker 2: who played for the Cardinals of Maari d Mercado. He's
25:22
Speaker 2: most known for spiking the ball before he crossed the
25:25
Speaker 2: end zone, but people also kind of forget he had
25:27
Speaker 2: to think a seventy something yard run on the way
25:30
Speaker 2: to that, and is an excellent pass blocker. And then
25:33
Speaker 2: they trade it up to draft another running back so
25:36
Speaker 2: if the run game does not turn out to be
25:38
Speaker 2: their strength this year, that's that's going to be a
25:42
Speaker 2: colossal disappointment. Yeah, I think their secondary might have some
25:48
Speaker 2: growing pains early in the year, but I think by
25:50
Speaker 2: the end of the year, especially with Steve Spagnolo does
25:55
Speaker 2: a great job with defensive backs, Chiefs have an outstanding
25:58
Speaker 2: defensive backs coach and Dave Merritt. I think by the
26:01
Speaker 2: end of the year you're going to see the secondary
26:03
Speaker 2: probably looking like it didn't really drop off any from
26:08
Speaker 2: both starting cornerbacks going to the Los Angeles Rams. Also,
26:12
Speaker 2: of the run defense is generally a strength. Nick Bolton
26:15
Speaker 2: takes a lot of heat from Chiefs fans because he's
26:18
Speaker 2: highly paid and he's not Fred Warner, but he is
26:21
Speaker 2: an outstanding run defender and gets everybody in the right position.
26:24
Speaker 2: And they also, instead of bringing back the same rotational
26:28
Speaker 2: nose tackles over and over again, they went out inside
26:32
Speaker 2: Carrey's tonga from the Patriots to just plug that metal.
26:36
Speaker 2: So I think on both sides, the run game is
26:38
Speaker 2: going to be a strength. I think their secondary probably
26:42
Speaker 2: by the second half the season, it should be a strength.
26:45
Speaker 2: With the lease horses they've devoted to it until they
26:49
Speaker 2: show me otherwise. Right now, their weakness is going to
26:51
Speaker 2: be pass catchers. Okay, I think they can make it
26:55
Speaker 2: work Like I did not in twenty twenty two, not
27:00
Speaker 2: particularly well of a starting wide receiver duo of Jujus Smith,
27:04
Speaker 2: Schuster and Marquez Veldez Scantley. Yeah, but they made it work.
27:11
Speaker 2: A big difference is like, even though it was not
27:14
Speaker 2: that long ago, Travis Kelcey's body I think was in
27:17
Speaker 2: a completely different position. I think Rashi Rice and Xavier
27:22
Speaker 2: Worthy can be a better pass catching duo and former
27:26
Speaker 2: patrons of bus Taekwon Thornton, who he played well for
27:30
Speaker 2: the Chiefs last year surprisingly and he got a moderate
27:33
Speaker 2: contract to stay in Kansas City. I think they can
27:36
Speaker 2: make it work, especially if you know the run game
27:39
Speaker 2: is doing what it's supposed to be doing and teams
27:42
Speaker 2: aren't able to just drop everybody in man coverage like
27:45
Speaker 2: they've been doing the last couple of years. But I
27:48
Speaker 2: got to see these guys stay on the field.
27:50
Speaker 3: And not have terrible concentration drops and run some real
27:58
Speaker 3: bona fide NFL routes and not just gimmicky stuff from
28:02
Speaker 3: the spot.
28:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, well it's gonna be interesting to watch US Chiefs
28:06
Speaker 1: team this coming twenty twenty six twenty twenty seven season, folks. Again,
28:12
Speaker 1: he is Jared Sap from Arrowheadpride dot com. Over at
28:15
Speaker 1: SB Nation at Truman Chief over on the Twitter slash X,
28:20
Speaker 1: my friend. Thank you so much for taking the time
28:21
Speaker 1: to join us here on Opposition Territory this week. Great conversation.
28:25
Speaker 1: As always, Come back and join us down the join
28:27
Speaker 1: us down the road. I would love to have you
28:29
Speaker 1: back on the show.
28:30
Speaker 2: Hey to Jeff, Thank you.
28:33
Speaker 1: That's gonna do it for us here on Opposition Territory
28:36
Speaker 1: this week. Please share our podcast with your friends and
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28:42
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