I definitely agree that all Chiefs corners acquitted themselves nicely on Saturday.
That being said the Bears look to be one of the worst offenses in the league and one of the worst teams overall in 2022. I'd be pretty worried if our starting guys struggled with the murderer's row of Darnell Mooney, EQ Brown, Dante Pettis, and Tajae Sharpe.
Yeah but is he a #1 receiver??? He had a thousand yards last year, but to expect him to fill Allen Robinson's shoes is asking a lot. Unfortunately I look at the Bear's entire roster and find myself shaking my head and saying to myself, "What in the world are they thinking? This doesn't even look good on paper!"
Their roster feels like a reset, except they just drafted a dude. This is why the short shelf life in the NFL makes going to get "your guy" at QB so messy.
Happiness is ... a "Chief in the North Newsletter" continaing a film review where new additions to the Chiefs D look GOOD. If the Chiefs D can just be average this year (~22 points/game), instead of last year's ~28 points/game, the team will be much harder to beat overall, as this would force teams to hold the Chiefs O to under ~21 points/game - a full TD less than they averaged last year. The Chiefs O defintely isn't going to fall off that much and, who knows, might even turn out to be a bit better. Still, same O and a significanty better D would mean high marks for this past offseason overall.
That's the beauty of having Mahomes. Average defense = Super Bowl favorite. subpar defense (or terribly inconsistent one) still means Super Bowl contender.
The youth movement on defense is so nice to see. Karlaftis, McDuffie, Cook, Williams, and possibly Chenal will all get meaningful snaps as rookies. If they do well that will do wonders for the defense moving forward and will be great for the salary cap situation.
It's almost impossible to hit on that many rookies. Or even 3 tbh. So I'm REALLY interested in what this looks like. I'd be surprised if Chenal saw more than a third of the snaps at most at this point, but I've been surprised before!
Yeah, I think Chenal plays only situationally (4th and inches or 3rd and long as a blitzer). I don't think we want him out there if he'd do anything than try to attack downhill.
I was in the midst of reading this article, another sterling example of Seth's work, when the first word about Mecole being carted off the field in St Joe with a leg injury came out. (Some early reports have it as a groin injury rather than leg injury. As of when I'm typing this, there's nothing definitive.) A hamstring problem for McKinnon is hardly surprising but that's not encouraging either. Definitely a good news / bad news situation!
I was at training camp today and I think Chris Jones was injured too. He was only on the field maybe 5 minutes. Then he got in a cart and drove off. Never saw him back.
These rookie reviews are very encouraging! It would appear that the Chiefs have either adequately replaced or upgraded from departed players, with the obvious exception of Tyreek Hill. Skyy Moore (4th WR) >> Byron Pringle or Demarcus Robinson. Karlaftis (3d? Edge) >> Okafor and Danna and maybe Ingram as well. McDuffie > Ward and Hughes. Bryan Cook >> Sorenson.
And at LB, we'll see Bolton improving upon Hitchens, Willie Gay looking like he might finally break out, and Chenal or Lee filling the SAM role.
It could look ugly for the first 5 games or so, but I think the Chiefs defense will be regarded as a team strength by season's end.
I agree. 5 months of game experience, practices, training and coaching and here you are in January peaking. It seems these rookies have the physical skills and attitude to be successful but can they learn and grow? Time will tell.
This has nothing to do with the rookie CB's but I figure that Mahomes is always on-topic around here....
Last year, if you take an objective look at the numbers you'll see that Mahomes had one of the very best seasons an NFL QB has ever had. Yet he took a pretty fair amount of absurd criticism.
Maybe this is wishful thinking, but something tells me that's going to help motivate him to absolutely come out guns blazing this year, and it's just not gonna stop. (Thanks to EB, we're all quite clear on how competitive he is!)
Among other things, I think he wants to prove that he "made" Tyreek more than the other way around. No criticism of Tyreek intended, but there are VERY few QB's who could have let him put his full speed to such good use so frequently.
It would be interesting to dig into the numbers and see how much YAC had to do with that. I'd be very surprised if Alex had completed "longer in the air" passes than Mahomes but maybe he did....????
The other thing is, during that time I always got the sense that opponents (both players and coaches) just genuinely didn't believe or grasp how fast he really was until they got on the same field with him. Most of them looked absurdly unprepared for it. Even after those first nightmarish experiences with him, it took a while for some of them to come up with a way of defending him that even had a half decent chance of success.
First thought I had on the fail was if it was related to the catch and you answered it. Nice! We can't just assume they were related even though that is the tendency.
I'd thank you for cranking out all the reviews but I know you are loving it! Football is back and you are in the moment. Did you pick the best rookie performances to look at first or is this coincidence? Just getting ready to brace myself for the not-so-great reviews.
It's such a blast! I picked the guys that I was most interested in from the get-go, and also they just sorta stuck out. Watson had a few rough moments that I saw but IDK if I'll have time to get there.
I'll have to write a negative review about someone next week just to break tendency hahaha.
Seth - what do you make of EB's comments about Clyde and Pacheco a couple of days ago? Sounded to me like a backhanded swipe at Clyde's preparation and conditioning: "He finally understands what it takes to be ready to play on 7 or 8 or 9 plays in a row."
All the praise of Pacheco sounded to me as if it were more directed at Clyde than anyone else.
Teicher on the radio Friday: "What I'm hearing quietly from the Chiefs is that they expected Kinnard to be a starting-caliber tackle. And he's not even close to that. Not even close to being 2nd-string caliber."
Adam sees him as a practice squad guy this year, if they keep him around at all. I have no criticism of the Chiefs over this - nobody goes 10-for-10 in a single draft. It was inevitable that at least a couple of guys, if not more, would disappoint.
He also reported that Hardman, Jones and JuJu "looked fine" at practice Friday but we're unlikely to see them play on Saturday.
I know the focus right now is on the new acquisitions, as it should be. But I was just thinkin' this morning: once the regular season starts I can hardly wait for the next installment of "Creed humiliates professional football players," a production of Seth Keysor studios. 😁
This made me roll my eyes....from an article on a fan website:
Brett Veach traded up to the 21st pick in April’s 2022 NFL Draft, and did so to select former Washington standout, cornerback Trent McDuffie. The team, predictably, has high hopes for the former All-PAC player, and seem primed to name him a starter to begin his rookie campaign. Despite that, the results throughout the offseason have been somewhat underwhelming; we heard little about McDuffie during rookie minicamp, throughout OTAs, in training camp and when we finally got the opportunity to see him in live game action during the preseason, he was mostly just okay."
I definitely agree that all Chiefs corners acquitted themselves nicely on Saturday.
That being said the Bears look to be one of the worst offenses in the league and one of the worst teams overall in 2022. I'd be pretty worried if our starting guys struggled with the murderer's row of Darnell Mooney, EQ Brown, Dante Pettis, and Tajae Sharpe.
They should look good and they did. Good start.
Good point, which actually makes me feel a bit better - had they NOT looked good against such a HoF lineup, I'd REALLY be worried.
Mooney can play, that's not fair to throw him in there! :)
Yeah but is he a #1 receiver??? He had a thousand yards last year, but to expect him to fill Allen Robinson's shoes is asking a lot. Unfortunately I look at the Bear's entire roster and find myself shaking my head and saying to myself, "What in the world are they thinking? This doesn't even look good on paper!"
Their roster feels like a reset, except they just drafted a dude. This is why the short shelf life in the NFL makes going to get "your guy" at QB so messy.
Happiness is ... a "Chief in the North Newsletter" continaing a film review where new additions to the Chiefs D look GOOD. If the Chiefs D can just be average this year (~22 points/game), instead of last year's ~28 points/game, the team will be much harder to beat overall, as this would force teams to hold the Chiefs O to under ~21 points/game - a full TD less than they averaged last year. The Chiefs O defintely isn't going to fall off that much and, who knows, might even turn out to be a bit better. Still, same O and a significanty better D would mean high marks for this past offseason overall.
That's the beauty of having Mahomes. Average defense = Super Bowl favorite. subpar defense (or terribly inconsistent one) still means Super Bowl contender.
The youth movement on defense is so nice to see. Karlaftis, McDuffie, Cook, Williams, and possibly Chenal will all get meaningful snaps as rookies. If they do well that will do wonders for the defense moving forward and will be great for the salary cap situation.
It's almost impossible to hit on that many rookies. Or even 3 tbh. So I'm REALLY interested in what this looks like. I'd be surprised if Chenal saw more than a third of the snaps at most at this point, but I've been surprised before!
Yeah, I think Chenal plays only situationally (4th and inches or 3rd and long as a blitzer). I don't think we want him out there if he'd do anything than try to attack downhill.
Loving the breakdown of rookies film! Thanks a ton!
Appreciate you reading, as ever!
The big question: will Williams be able to be the antidote for JaMarr Chase over the top? If so, he’s a difference-maker for this team.
I don't think anyone is an antidote for that other than just running quarters and having help over there tbh.
Best antidote would be a pass rush 😏
Indeed!
I was in the midst of reading this article, another sterling example of Seth's work, when the first word about Mecole being carted off the field in St Joe with a leg injury came out. (Some early reports have it as a groin injury rather than leg injury. As of when I'm typing this, there's nothing definitive.) A hamstring problem for McKinnon is hardly surprising but that's not encouraging either. Definitely a good news / bad news situation!
I was at training camp today and I think Chris Jones was injured too. He was only on the field maybe 5 minutes. Then he got in a cart and drove off. Never saw him back.
Sore back, worth keeping an eye on.
Hopefully he ends up OK!
These rookie reviews are very encouraging! It would appear that the Chiefs have either adequately replaced or upgraded from departed players, with the obvious exception of Tyreek Hill. Skyy Moore (4th WR) >> Byron Pringle or Demarcus Robinson. Karlaftis (3d? Edge) >> Okafor and Danna and maybe Ingram as well. McDuffie > Ward and Hughes. Bryan Cook >> Sorenson.
And at LB, we'll see Bolton improving upon Hitchens, Willie Gay looking like he might finally break out, and Chenal or Lee filling the SAM role.
It could look ugly for the first 5 games or so, but I think the Chiefs defense will be regarded as a team strength by season's end.
I agree. 5 months of game experience, practices, training and coaching and here you are in January peaking. It seems these rookies have the physical skills and attitude to be successful but can they learn and grow? Time will tell.
I heard that Demarcus was cut yesterday by the Raiders. Why was he on our roster so long?! 🙄
In theory, that's how they want it to pan out (upgrading spots that were weaker last year). Here's hoping!
And yes, it could definitely look ugly the first half of the season with so many young bodies.
This has nothing to do with the rookie CB's but I figure that Mahomes is always on-topic around here....
Last year, if you take an objective look at the numbers you'll see that Mahomes had one of the very best seasons an NFL QB has ever had. Yet he took a pretty fair amount of absurd criticism.
Maybe this is wishful thinking, but something tells me that's going to help motivate him to absolutely come out guns blazing this year, and it's just not gonna stop. (Thanks to EB, we're all quite clear on how competitive he is!)
Among other things, I think he wants to prove that he "made" Tyreek more than the other way around. No criticism of Tyreek intended, but there are VERY few QB's who could have let him put his full speed to such good use so frequently.
I think we're going to see another 50+ TD, 5,000+ yards season this year from Mahomes. It's become personal to him.
"there are VERY few QB's who could have let him put his full speed to such good use so frequently"
I agree with your point, but note that Hill's 2nd highest season yards per reception (15.8) came in 2017 with Alex Smith.
It would be interesting to dig into the numbers and see how much YAC had to do with that. I'd be very surprised if Alex had completed "longer in the air" passes than Mahomes but maybe he did....????
The other thing is, during that time I always got the sense that opponents (both players and coaches) just genuinely didn't believe or grasp how fast he really was until they got on the same field with him. Most of them looked absurdly unprepared for it. Even after those first nightmarish experiences with him, it took a while for some of them to come up with a way of defending him that even had a half decent chance of success.
It was interesting to me how much of the CHI-based commentary when Mahomes and KC's offense took the field was about how he had a "down" year for him.
First thought I had on the fail was if it was related to the catch and you answered it. Nice! We can't just assume they were related even though that is the tendency.
Right, the coverage was really good and it's tough to call out the process there!
As always you go the extra mile and put in the work. Thanks!
"(when you’re 6’3” it’s easy to be lean)"....not when your 55 years old 🤣😅
I'd thank you for cranking out all the reviews but I know you are loving it! Football is back and you are in the moment. Did you pick the best rookie performances to look at first or is this coincidence? Just getting ready to brace myself for the not-so-great reviews.
What is this “not so great”? These are Chiefs! OUR Chiefs! 😉🫶🥳
Yes I love OUR CHIEFS but I'm going to burst your happy bubble. To get down to 53 guys, somebody's gotta be not-so-great.
See my comment below on Adam Teicher's reporting re Kinnard!
It's such a blast! I picked the guys that I was most interested in from the get-go, and also they just sorta stuck out. Watson had a few rough moments that I saw but IDK if I'll have time to get there.
I'll have to write a negative review about someone next week just to break tendency hahaha.
So will McDuffie be your "smallish" adult son?
hahaha I hadn't even thought about that.... I don't hate it!
Seth - what do you make of EB's comments about Clyde and Pacheco a couple of days ago? Sounded to me like a backhanded swipe at Clyde's preparation and conditioning: "He finally understands what it takes to be ready to play on 7 or 8 or 9 plays in a row."
All the praise of Pacheco sounded to me as if it were more directed at Clyde than anyone else.
Your thoughts?
Somebody’s been listening to Petro and Clinkscale! 😉😁
Yep! I e-correspond with Danny a lot. "Danny unleashed" almost always gives us a topic or two to chew on....
Teicher on the radio Friday: "What I'm hearing quietly from the Chiefs is that they expected Kinnard to be a starting-caliber tackle. And he's not even close to that. Not even close to being 2nd-string caliber."
Adam sees him as a practice squad guy this year, if they keep him around at all. I have no criticism of the Chiefs over this - nobody goes 10-for-10 in a single draft. It was inevitable that at least a couple of guys, if not more, would disappoint.
He also reported that Hardman, Jones and JuJu "looked fine" at practice Friday but we're unlikely to see them play on Saturday.
I know the focus right now is on the new acquisitions, as it should be. But I was just thinkin' this morning: once the regular season starts I can hardly wait for the next installment of "Creed humiliates professional football players," a production of Seth Keysor studios. 😁
This made me roll my eyes....from an article on a fan website:
Brett Veach traded up to the 21st pick in April’s 2022 NFL Draft, and did so to select former Washington standout, cornerback Trent McDuffie. The team, predictably, has high hopes for the former All-PAC player, and seem primed to name him a starter to begin his rookie campaign. Despite that, the results throughout the offseason have been somewhat underwhelming; we heard little about McDuffie during rookie minicamp, throughout OTAs, in training camp and when we finally got the opportunity to see him in live game action during the preseason, he was mostly just okay."