Aug. 31, 2019
By Fred Liggett
FredL@lstribune.net
The last time everyone saw the Kansas City Chiefs on the field it was following an appearance in the AFC Championship game the first one ever played at Arrowhead Stadium. Having been just one game away from the goal of reaching the Super Bowl the Chiefs are now back to work to make it happen this season.
The Chiefs main reason for advancing as far as they did was an electrifying record-breaking offense led by NFL MVP QB Pat Mahomes. The crowd-pleasing players are back ready to repeat that success in 2019. Mahomes has many choices on who to get the ball to on game days. All Pros like TE Travis Kelce, WR Tyreek Hill and WR Sammy Watkins all return. Chiefs rookie WR Mecole Hardman is expected to get his fair amount of touches as well. The Chiefs backfield looks to be manned by a running back by committee. Darrel and Damian Williams will get most of the carries but expect someone not named Williams to get some playing time too.
During the off season teams always make changes whether it’s due to salary cap issues or to player’s performance. Not many teams who play in a conference championship game spend so much time and money in overhauling their roster the way the Chiefs did this spring and summer. Not satisfied by the Chiefs defense Coach Reid brought in an old friend, Steve Spagnuolo as his new defensive coordinator. Then Chiefs GM Brett Veach drove to an area ATM that allowed him to spend freely on defensive free agents.
To improve the Chiefs defense the team brought in free agent Frank Clark from Seattle at a cost of $21 million a season. Later it was S Tyrann Mathieu who signed for $14 million a year. Eventually DL Alex Okafor signed a $17 million dollar deal over three years. Bringing these players into the Chiefs Kingdom combined with a new defensive strategy bigger and better things are expected from the unit as the team tries to win their fourth straight AFC West division title.
When fans look at the Chiefs 2019 schedule it looks pretty familiar to what they saw last year. There is a road game at Super Bowl champion New England. Another road game is set for Mexico against a team from Los Angeles, this time it’s the division rival Chargers. The Chiefs once again begin the season with a pair of road games and both this year are against AFC teams. Yes, the Chiefs will find their way onto national TV again with Sunday night home games against Indianapolis and Green Bay. The game in Mexico is on a Monday night and the Chiefs travel to Chicago for a late season Sunday night contest.
With so many young weapons on offense the Chiefs can expect to be in every game they play. The hope is the defense will improve enough during the season that the Chiefs will get results they desire in winning the AFC West Division for the fourth straight year. Then the Chiefs play well enough on both sides of the ball to roll through the AFC playoffs and earn a trip to Miami the site of the 2020 Super Bowl.
Thanks to Chiefs Coach Andy Reid the Chiefs are a good bet to get off on a hot start. Three of Reid’s six seasons in KC have started, 5-0 twice and 9-0 once. The Chiefs finish the regular season with the division home games in December a key the team will use to win the AFC West again in 2019 this time with an 11-5 record.
That’s What I REID Into It for this season.
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