Ranking Every Chiefs Position Group From Best to Worst

Which position group is the Kansas City Chiefs ' strongest heading into the season? And which one still has the most to prove? Sterling Holmes and Josh Brisco break down the entire Chiefs roster, ranking every position group from top to bottom. From Patrick Mahomes and the quarterback room to the offensive line, wide receivers, pass rushers, linebackers, secondary, and special teams, the guys debate which units deserve elite status and which groups could determine how far Kansas City goes this season.

View More

Video Transcript

Welcome to the Arrowhead Addict podcast on this Tuesday.

Sterling Holmes, Josh Briscoe.

Follow him on the X at JB Briscoe, myself at home stretch KC.

Subscribe to our newsletter QR code right there on screen.

We're gonna have some fun today.

It's June 23rd, which means we have some offseason conversations.

That means rankings.

We all like a nice ran.

Ranking, don't we?

Well, we're going to.

So whether you like it or not, welcome in.

We'll be ranking the position groups of the Kansas City Chiefs.

We'll have a couple that are combined and a couple that are not.

Position group, for example, that's combined defensive line, position group that will not be combined, corner and safety.

Those are separate.

Uh, also, wide receiver and tight end shall be separate as well.

Those shall be the rules.

Uh, Briscoe, how are you on this fine Tuesday?

Sterling, it is the time of year where I legitimately have to take a couple of times throughout the day and think, what day is it?

Not because I don't have anything to do, but because everything just bleeds together so much.

There is, there is not much of a cadence to this time in the, in the NFL calendar, especially when there's just always World Cup soccer happening.

Any day, anytime, it's just, it's probably on a TV somewhere.

I also will tell you, I have a notepad here.

I will not show you the contents of that uh has my Chiefs positional ranking from doing this like a month ago.

We're locked in, man.

There, there are no new ideas, there are only goodpod only new podcasts, and this is a, a good podcast.

We're gonna spend some time , we're gonna talk about some position groups, we're gonna, we're gonna get through this together.

Uh, together and we'll have fun doing it and maybe we'll find something about ourselves along the way.

Oh, can you imagine what a delight that would be?

Probably not.

All I'm gonna find is like 3 Marlboro Southern cuts and like 6 Bush Lights.

I mean, let's, and a newfound frustration from the linebacker room.

Like, yeah.

And the beers were empty.

Great.

Love it.

They're just.

Bleep me.

All right, let's get into it because I want to have some fun.

Keep this tight.

Like, hopefully, the Chiefs' offense will be this upcoming season because I do have some enthusiasm, but I was the dumb ass who had enthusiasm about the Chiefs' offense last year.

You weren't alone.

If you're listening, I did a sarcastic fist pump.

Uh, all right, quarterback.

That is number one.

We can just go ahead and get number one position group out of the way.

We don't have to dive in too deep, but obviously, it's Patrick Mahomes.

Quite frankly, I think the combination of Garrett Hussmeyer and Justin Fields is a solid backup QB room in general.

I've had not, Many major issues with the Chiefs' backup quarterback room other than the fact that I'd like to see him get a little younger, and they did with Garrett Nessmeyer.

And you still have the veteran in field.

So overall, Best quarterback room in football.

Yep, and look, I, I don't remember is Mitchell Trubisky and Shane Bushell, are they 2 and 3 for Buffalo?

They have the 2nd-best quarterback room in football, and I don't know for sure who the backups actually are there.

So it is, of course, carried by your QB1.

The Chiefs have the best of those, and I agree with you.

Interesting to see them get a little bit younger at the backup position.

You hope Nusmeyer can take that job long-term.

Right now, it's Fields, and you hope you don't have to see any of them play, except for maybe in a little week 18 cleanup duty.

And if Nussmeyer does play.

And looks good, well, there's your Jimmy G. There's your flip for picks, or that is your long-term backup quarterback who sits behind.

You have options.

That is why I like going with the youth movement.

Uh, number 2, I think 2 and 3. are in a tier of its own, I agree, and you can flip them either way .

I'm actually going with the newcomers though.

I'm going running back.

I'm going to running back too.

Reason why is I'm very high on Kenneth Walker and I think because what the running back room will do to help other position groups, that will have the biggest noticeable impact.

Because let's be real.

Number 3 for me is offensive line.

I'm sure your offensive line was number 2 for you.

So they're, they're in the same tier.

They're basically interchangeable.

I think for me, it's because the running back room yet again will be the most noticeable difference.

The O-line will be hopefully pretty similar, just healthy .

I think for me why the running back room gets the nod.

Kenneth Walker I love the draft pick of Emmett Johnson.

I really liked the bringing in of Amari DeMarcado.

And even like a Jay Knott as a UDFA is intriguing.

So I think you have so many options that all four are almost better than last year's options not named.

Short yardage Kareem Hunt.

And that's not even counting Breshard Smith wherever you want to view him, but I, I kind of consider him in the Jay Knott category of, hey, one of those guys is probably gonna be on the 53.

We'll find out who.

And also, it could be EJ Smith, son of Emmitt Smith, who's on the roster right now, who's like gotten mentioned in some pressers and stuff.

Yeah, I, I agree that those two positions at the O-line in the running back room are on the same tier.

I'd put running, I'd put O-line at 2 for me and running back at 3, and we can talk more about the O-line when you unveil that, uh, surprise, quote unquote.

Um.

I think my one little teeny bit of like a tiebreaker on the running back room is that we are giving Kenneth Walker, like, almost, almost an entirely backloaded memory of like, remembering him in the playoff run when we were all watching you in Super Bowl MVP, his ceiling is still very high.

He, he was still a running back in a a bit of a.

Not quite a committee in the way you think about it, where you don't really have any good running backs, but it, it wasn't until injuries made him the, the, the bell cow that he became the bell cow in the way that we remember him down the playoff stretch.

But you hope that Amari DeMarcado and And whichever of the rookies make an impact, you hope that they make that also true in Kansas City.

That's largely true for almost any running back.

Christian McCaffrey would, would leave the field to just try to preserve his health here and there.

Derrick Henry is an alien.

Don't find another Derrick Henry, they don't exist.

They made one.

So, I, I agree those two go, go hand in hand.

Um, I, I go O-line of a running back, but ever so slightly.

Uh, I will push back to your pushback of said pushback.

Oh, is Jamir Gibbs now considered a, a split carry guy cause he splits carries with David Montgomery?

We're gonna find out that, and that, that kind of interesting thing.

Like I think, I do think that is a fair question to ask of Jamir Gibbs, which is that you have been an unbelievable player to this point, but does that math change for you when you are the guy, period.

Um, so I think it's a part of the conversation and it also wouldn't have prevented me from, uh, Signing Jamir Gibbs, it is probably a reason I would take Bejon Robinson over Jamir Gibbs if I had to choose, you know, just kind of, we, we are now talking about the tiers within the top tier there, um, and I just think we haven't seen exactly where Kenneth Walker is gonna fit as the largely one of the focal points of this offense.

And I, again, I think that's an exciting thing as much as it's a nerve-wracking thing.

My point was when it comes to bell cows, they're not many, and even Derrick Henry comes off the field on 3rd down.

So the point I'm, I was trying to make was, Um, I think it was used more, not because they didn't think he was better than Charbonnet, but they had different skill sets and they wanted to keep Kenneth Walker fresh.

I think that was a big part of it was keeping him fresh.

So that's my pushback to your pushback, which was the pushback of all the pushbacks.

and Matchbox 20 wrote the song Push.

So, with that being said, O-line.

I have 3rd.

I get why they're 2nd.

Continuity obviously makes a big difference.

4 of your starters are coming back.

Jalen Moore did start as well, so you can even make the case for 4.5 of your starters coming back.

I like Esapole a lot.

The backups overall are, um, fine.

Hunter Norzad, another year in this, in the system.

Uh, you know, Chew Godrick if you want.

Uh, there, there are some, Concerns and the fact that you don't have a ton of knowns at the backups, but nothing that makes you, like last year would have been better because you would have had the, the, the almost known of Jalen Moore as your swing tackle, right?

That would be, quote unquote, almost more of a known.

Um, a little lesser so heading into this year, but still, I'm high on these guys.

And let's be real, Kingsley blossomed into a top 10 left guard in football.

I think that's probably fair.

I think he was probably in that 8 to 10 range of left guards, maybe even slightly higher.

He was really good.

Creed Humphrey, best center in football.

Trey Smith had his first kind of injury-riddled season, and then Josh Simmons just similar situation.

We'll probably never know what actually transpired in the, the missing time frame he had, plus the unfortunate injury he did suffer.

They're back.

This O-line group's healthy.

This is a top, one of the top units in football as well.

Yup, absolutely.

And I, again, I do think, you know, just to push back to our last pushback, I think your pushback there to push O-line back from 2 to 3 is I would say you could, you could push that from fair to very fair in my book.

Um, it, it's totally reasonable.

I think Jalen Moore also is a little bit more of a question mark than Jawan Taylor was at right tackle, but some of the questions that that Juwan Taylor answered, people didn't like the answer to in terms of like, so what's it gonna look like with you being over there every play of the game.

I feel pretty good about Jalen Moore.

Obviously, I feel great about Creed Humphrey.

You're absolutely right to highlight Kingsley Suamataa, the quietest success story of of last season for the Chiefs, and, and maybe one of the more quiet success stories in the NFL just because there was a, like after week 3 of his rookie season, there was a chance that his career was over.

Just like, oh, well, maybe his confidence is fried and he's just never, the Chiefs don't trust him, he doesn't trust himself.

He put all that behind him, came back with a really, really strong year.

You're right about Trey Smith.

I, I think you could probably say it was his worst year as a pro just because of the injuries nagging that way.

In fact, to come right after a big contract is unfortunate, but it's not like he's dealt with a lot of nagging injuries over his career to this point.

That was really the first blip on the radar.

So, can Trey Smith stay healthy?

If he does, he's going to be one of the best right guards in football.

You trust Creed with your life, Kingsley, very similar deal.

I think part of my O-line at 2 optimism is that I am workshopping some absolutely nuclear Josh Simmons takes this offseason.

I, I wanna make sure that I've really got my feet under me a little bit more than I do here in late June, and again, I'm not just bored, but I think that for Unrealized potential, and like with a reason to believe in that potential becoming realized, I think Josh Simmons might be the biggest firecracker on this 53 or right now, 91 man roster.

Um, I just think his ceiling is unbelievably high and I have no Reason to think that he's gonna be absent for the middle stretch of the season .

So, I, I think I'm, I'm, I'm adding points on Josh Simmons, even though it's very reasonable to point to a little bit more questionable depth and, and not knowing exactly what you're gonna get from Trey Smith.

This time last year, we didn't know what we're gonna get from Kingsley.

Uh, bleep a firecracker.

Give me a mortar.

Uh, I'm trying to see some big bombs.

Uh, all right.

Now we finally get to the defense.

I think those are the top 3.

I think it's clear cut Chains lyric that sounded like a 2 Chainz lyric.

I kind of did, didn't it?

It really did.

They call me Big booty or she was.

She has a big booty, so I call her Big booty.

She got a big booty, so I call her Big booty.

Yeah, I mean, that's just.

Come on now.

When your pen's on fire, your pen's on fire.

You gotta hope you get to the studio before you lose it.

I mean, that's just eloquent, truly.

And so I mean, look, it's stuck with, it's memorable.

Not all great poetry has to be Shakespearean, you know, sometimes you need just need to have a couple of bars that you'll remember from the moment you hear it till the day you die.

You know what you don't forget on, on stage?

She has a big booty, so I call her big booty.

There's no, there's no, oh, I'm gonna, I'm gonna mess this one up.

What does she have?

Much easier, much, much easier for me to remember than Romeo.

Romeo, wherefore art that Romeo?

That's all I got.

I don't remember the rest.

Pretty, pretty simple.

Thanks, Two Chainz.

Um, look up his first name.

If those that listen don't know his real first name, not like his actual name, but what he went by before Two Chainz.

Oh yeah, he had a few identities, I believe he did, but one's very, um.

Breast focused.

That's, that's true.

That's true.

Boy, I was excited to figure out how you were gonna land that plane.

He also, he's also like a true hooper, right?

Like, isn't he like 65 or 6'5.

Why did I know how tall 2 Chainz is?

I don't know, but apparently I did.

And I believe he's actually a very Smart dude.

Like he went to college and got like a 4, I think it was like a 4.0 GPA.

I'm reading, I'm reading it right now on his Wikipedia.

I didn't know that.

Sometimes you might be a smart guy who bawled out and might be like a nice guy, but sometimes your, your, your bars might be so good, you say, why would I go into like science research research when I can talk about booties.

I mean, like, we, we made it about halfway there.

We're talking about sports.

Yeah, we're, we're, we're getting close.

You know, you know where you gotta have some big booties, Sterling, on your defensive line.

You are combining the D line altogether though, you said, yeah, and by the way, that's way higher than where I have mine.

Well, I didn't, I don't, I don't have the entire defensive line.

I, I did have those split the tackle and the end, and I was looking for a segue, so, um, I would also not have them up next just yet.

OK, I have cornerback up next.

Number, you know what I had, this is my pre, I think this was my pre-draft ranking.

I have corner way lower than I would have them right now today.

So I have corner at 4.

That's my first defensive spot.

Again, the top 3 spots, quarterback, running back, O-line, they're in their own category.

Drop down next to, uh, 4th spot.

I have corner.

I like a lot of their depth.

I understand concerns that some have because you don't really have a lot of sure things, right?

But I think there's about 11 guys that if you told, 11 or 12 guys, if you told me they made the roster, I'd be like, I guess it's kind of safety included too.

It's a little difficult because like, where do you list Christian Roland Wallace?

He's, he's a flex.

He's a nickel.

Where, where do you, where do you list Jadon Kennedy?

Uh, more corner, but still, yes , and then, and then Kater Cohus is corner.

Where do you Les Legerius need?

Because I, I think it's ill corner, but I think you're right.

That there's a, there are a lot of names here that if you get to, if you get to the 53 man and you won't, you wouldn't go, what happened to Monsour Delane?

Just go, oh, nice, Gary Eland made the team.

Good for him.

Yeah, and so for me, I think you, you cornerback, you have for sure, Monso Delane, Noah Williams, Christian Fulton.

I trust those three guys.

Maybe people will push back.

Totally fine.

Understand.

I just trust Dave Merritt and Spaggs, and I'm buying in a little bit to to Kya Elam.

And if he doesn't make the, the ros, the roster, OK. Fine.

But like, if he does, I feel like there could be a trajectory of a, Bashad Breland or like a Mike Hughes, who, by the way, Mike Hughes ended up getting a big contract down in Atlanta, doing great things since his stop in KC when they revitalized his career.

The Chiefs are very good at former first-rounders, not overall.

I'm not talking Taco Charlton.

I'm talking in the defensive back room.

They do, they, they, they do have a nice track record of reclamation projects back there.

I like the flyer on Kyrie, uh, Kyrie Elam.

I think between Kader Khu.

Uh, Kennedy and, uh, CRW, there's someone who can play the slot there.

One of those guys probably won't make the team.

It's probably either Khu or CRW.

We'll find out unless CRW plays strict safety.

And then obviously the, the, the unknown, but still a nice flyer on Legerius.

I think cornerback has a lot of depth.

And by the way, even if like Kevin Knowles made the roster, I'd be like, yeah, he's played and hasn't looked horrendous.

I mean, there is depth in this CB room.

Yeah, no, I agree with that.

I think that this is one of the few rooms, I think most have the opposite problem.

I think this is one of the few rooms on this roster where you have bigger questions about the top of the depth chart than the middle and the bottom of it, because, uh, Monso Delaine has to start, barring injury, he has to start week one.

No Williams or Christian Fulton, flip a coin.

If you told me that Laerrius Snead was starting week one, I wouldn't be able to tell you that I thought you were lying to me, you know, like that feels like a kind of spagsy thing to have happen.

I, I don't think Kyre Elam is starting week one.

I think Katerohu could.

It doesn't seem like that's kind of where the momentum is going, but we'll, we haven't made the training camp yet, so we'll, we'll see on that.

Kennedy, probably not because you're giving him the extra rookie buffer and he's not in a position where he has to play.

Um, and I know that he's truly in the other room now in this conversation, but Shamari Connor now not having to be your slot defender is good for everybody.

So, I, I think some combo of Snead, I guess maybe this is the order, I've had Khu up first for a while.

Some order of Khu, Snead, Kennedy can solve your slot question, while some combo of Noel Williams, Christian Fulton, and Lagerius Snead again, and maybe Khu, but probably not, solves your other outside corner situation.

And you've got some actual depth in both of those spots.

So, I, I would agree, I, I think.

I think there is a fall-off, um, between running back O-line, wherever you'd put that, and corner, but I do think that that's the next one up.

Yeah.

So, we're on the same page that that tier has started of tier two, if you will.

Um, and the next one in this tier, same tier, safety.

I have safety in the 5th spot overall position group-wise.

Um.

I know Matt Connor is very high on Eloi Gilman.

I like Eloi Gilman.

I like the signing.

I'm glad there's another veteran in this room.

I think he'll fit very, very well, but I'm not ready to crown him the next Justin Reid or, or, or Tyrann Mathieu.

I think it's a little early, but I was also the same guy that was questioning the Justin Reid signing originally.

The original signing of Justin Reid, I had questions about.

And then I did a little more research and I go, OK, well, no one was good on that Texans defense back then, which is funny looking at the Texans defense now.

It's obviously a big change, but we saw what the Chiefs coveted in Justin Reid, the skill set that he brought, and it was a perfect fit for this Chiefs defense.

We'll see with the Loie Gilman.

I like it, but I do think Jamari Connor is a good safety.

I didn't think he was a good slot corner.

And so now he's back in his real position.

That's great news.

Uh, CRW I'll probably throw in this category, but again, it's kind of CRW.

I could see Snead playing safety, honestly, cause he did in college.

I wouldn't be shocked.

And Jaden Hicks is the outlier or the, Outlier is a strong word.

He is the He will, how he plays will take this safety room to either being really, really, really good or, yeah, it's a solid group.

Because Jaden Hicks has shown flashes of, wow, OK. And then he's shown flashes of, wow, OK, get him off the field.

I, I think I, I wrote about Shamari Connor like 2 hours ago over on Chiefs on SI and we talked about Jaden Hicks quite a bit on Weird Games on Thursday, maybe, maybe I talked about Hicks yesterday on everything else with myself, it doesn't matter .

It's just, man, June is just a quagmire.

You see what I mean about not knowing what day it is?

But I, my, my brain has spent a lot of time in that, that safety room as of late, and I, I tend to agree, I think.

Gilman for me.

I am also like, I have a bit of hesitance, I think, because I don't wanna just assume like, oh yeah, they did it with Tyrann Mathieu, and then they did it with Justin Reid, now they're gonna do it with Aloy Gilman.

I'm not sure Gilman is that same kind of player, but I think it is worth having, I'm not sure if he's that same caliber of player, I should say.

I think it's still worth having a veteran safety like that, who Sags can just say, hey man, you're gonna be in the right spot, and like, I've talked to other coaches around the league and they've all agreed, you're not dumb.

In fact, you're actually smart enough to help me run all of these weird disguises and all of this coverage and everything.

Um, so I, I think that adding Gilman or a player like him was almost necessary after losing Brian Cook.

I agree on Shamari Connor.

I think he is a better player than he's gotten credit for the last couple of years cause he's been put in poor situations, and as we just talked about, all the slot corner stuff means that that Connor can just play safety.

I really like Jaden Hicks.

Again, the end of his rookie season, you went, oh man , this dude's the future.

By the end of his 2nd season, you went, oh man, Spags hates this guy .

And now in this, this point in the offseason, I could see it really going either way.

I think it's a good way to look at it, to say, hey.

If, if Jaden Hicks has a great season, this is a really good safety room.

If Jaden Hicks has a poor season, this is a poor safety room, because they are gonna play 3 safeties, and I do think that I'd put Chris Rowland Wallace as, he's like the only other guy on the depth chart, realistically, to get to 4 safeties, and again, you're gonna play 3, so it it it feels like a bit of a fragile group to me that way too, but.

That's gonna be true for most NFL rooms.

Most NFL safety rooms don't have 4 starting caliber safeties.

That's me being a little bit greedy thinking about how good that room has been in recent years.

And by the way, I do think CRW is a I, I'm higher on CRW than almost everyone else.

I just, I, I like the versatility.

I've, I've liked what I've seen from him.

I don't know.

I, I, I've been high on him for a couple of years now, so I'm not gonna stay healthy and be around because if so, I, I, I tend to agree.

I think there's something there.

Yeah, I'm not getting off that train now.

Uh, all right, so I kind of have that in its own tier 4 and 5 right there.

This next one's close But I couldn't quite see it.

And that's the D-line.

I really like the interior.

Kyris Tonga, Chris Jones, Umar Norman Lott, Peter Woods.

I like George Carloftis a lot.

I like the flyer of R. Mason Thomas.

I like the thought process to an extent of Glati and Armason Thomas create one D-lineman.

Right, in the aggregate.

Like we're moneyballing this thing.

But FAU is DN4.

Ethan Downs.

I wanted Cam Jordan forever.

That didn't seem like that was ever really gonna happen.

So I'm dumb, uh, but I just, The edge is so.

So weak I don't, I don't, I, I, like even trying to talk myself into it, like, even if you're like saying best-case scenario.

OK, best-case scenario, Karl Loft just gives you a, you know, 10 sack season, uh, Motor's great.

He does Kar Loftus things, just very, very solid all across the board and you're like, OK, that was a really good season for him, which I think we all expect.

I have no idea with our Mason Thomas.

I think Glati, again, I like the thought process, but I, I don't see him.

It's, it's a very weird schematic fit that we've not seen in Spag's system.

The last guy we saw like him was Osheer and Ucher didn't play.

So, I mean, it's really hard to project that.

FAU would get 6 snaps a game and look good for 4 of them and then never get on the field.

Then it was injured all of last year.

I, I, I have.

Same thing.

And then Glati is just, I think to an extent, Mike Dana, which is fine.

I think that's a very good role.

You hope he, you hope he becomes Mike Dana.

I think, I think he had a better rookie season than Dana did.

He was also drafted higher, but like, you hope he stays on that trajectory because Dana was a very fine player.

I mean, that, that was a really fine rotational piece.

Last year was a bad year, but overall, in his tenure, Dana was a really solid player.

Last year was just, the whole D-line was a disaster, right?

And so I find myself saying, I can't put him any higher, even though I really like the interior.

I mean, there's, there's a thought of me going, bleep, are they gonna put Chris Jones back outside again?

Like he played last year almo almost fifty-fifty.

I mean, or was it sixty-forty, I forget what it was, but he plays way more edge snaps than I think people think.

Like way more than people think.

Is that gonna flip-flop?

And now he's playing, you know, 60 on the outside, 40 on the inside because they don't trust anyone else?

I, is Peter Woods gonna play a little edge here and there?

I mean, you've taken both, you've taken both of my little, little tweaks to put on top of this, is that I think you're probably gonna see quite a bit of Chris Jones on the edge on 3rd downs, which again, isn't abnormal, and I think you're probably gonna see some of that from Peter Woods, maybe.

And that's where we're at is.

This group to me just has so many question marks.

You could squint and maybe talk yourself into it even squinting, I'm, I, I, I've seen enough of the defensive line in Kansas City recently to, to not get my hopes up too dramatically.

And that's where I'm at.

Like cornerback, for example, you've seen the coaching and turn dudes or guys into dudes.

We feel like on the defensive line, we've seen dudes get turned into guys.

We've seen guys turn into guys, right?

Like, like, it's just like, OK, nice, sick, love it.

Um, so I, they don't, they haven't earned the benefit of the doubt yet.

And so for that reason, I have D-line here.

I, I agree with that.

I think, um, I think defensive tackle for me would have been 4 if it was just the tackle on its own, and defensive end on its own for me would have been 2nd to last.

Um, it.

It could work, like you said, if you get 17 healthy games of the best case outcome for Car Loftus and Glati and Armason Thomas, even if you don't bring FAU into it.

Hey, you know, if you can play those guys for a total of 85% of your snaps, and uh if all of them take the steps that you want all of them to take, then I think the room could be good, not great, but good.

And there's just, there's a lot of hypothetical going on there that I'm It's, it's the room that I'm maybe like.

Or defensive end in particular is still the position or maybe the most confused still of like do the Chiefs think this is good?

I just, I just thought for a long time they were gonna look at that room and go, well, we can't go in the next season with Ashton Gillati as our number 2, a, a pass rush specialist, our Mason Thomas, rookie, our Mason Thomas as our 3, and FAU is our 4.

And also, I, I really like George Carloftis.

He's a very good starting NFL defensive lineman, but he's not Miles Garrett.

So it's not like, all of this, you know, all the attention will go over there.

A lot of attention will go to Chris Jones, and then Carloftis has to make the most of it healthier this year than he was last year.

But yeah, it's um.

It's not my favorite.

I almost have it in a tier of its own D-line and then I dropped down one to a position that I also would have in a tier of its own.

We might argue, we might disagree, but this could be fun.

Wide receiver.

Oh, no, I think that, so can you, real quick, just for the show setting, do you have 3 groups left including wide receiver?

Is that what's, so we've done quarterback, running back, O-line, corner, safety, D-line.

That's 3 groups left.

I now go to wide receiver.

And you've got, you, I don't want to spoil it, but I think tight end and linebackers we have not yet discussed.

So with , with that in mind, I actually don't disagree with you.

I have wide receiver here because we've at least seen Rice look good when he is on the field and he should be on the field.

It all sounds like, I mean, he should be almost every time, but let's be real.

There, other circumstances have kept him off but himself.

But, but we'll see.

At least we know he's a good player.

There's no arguing he's a good player.

He's not a top 10 wide receiver like some Chiefs fans wanted to make us believe last year, which was just asinine.

I'm buying stock on Worthy.

I think Worthy will be a much better receiver this year, especially with Kenneth Walker.

I think that's a big change and difference for this entire, um, offense.

A lot fewer light boxes.

I think Worthy will take more of the Hollywood Brown role and Tyquan will take the.

Xavier a worthy role.

I think those 3 guys, I'm actually pretty content with as the Chiefs' top 3.

I'm not saying it's the, the best in the NFL by any means, but I don't think it's this disaster, right?

I don't think it's a disaster.

I think those top 3 guys are probably what?

17 to 22, best.

Top 3 in the NFL around that range, yep, I think that's totally fair.

And so middle of the pack, probably on the other side of, of middle, but middle of the pack.

The depth is what concerns you with Cyrus Allen, Jalen Royals, and I guess right now, Nika Ramijia would be probably wide receiver 6, I guess, but.

If one of the top 3 gets injured, which based on what we've seen, It just happens.

Just a thing that happens.

That's where I get concerned because again, the top 3, I'm content with the next 3.

I'm hoping Cyrus Allen can be a nice possession wide receiver, uh, get a lot of targets.

I'm hoping Jalen Royals can be Juju Smith-Schuster , but that's why I have wide receiver at, uh, at 7.

I, I think that's right.

I, I am with you, actually.

The order that I had, receiver, tight end and linebacker, receiver was the top of those three rooms.

Again, I think I might have done this list, I'm looking at pre-draft.

Nothing really changed in the draft.

I think Cyrus Allen is a good swing, but it's not changing your, your top three.

Maybe he's wide receiver 4 as a rookie, it's a lot on his plate.

Um, but I agree, I think that there is a And I think, I think I would actually put receiver over defensive end if I was separating those, because I do think there is a bigger path to a successful year for the receivers than there is for some of these other groups we're gonna talk about, cause if Chad O'Shea is a superhuman coach that, that he's kind of painted to be right now, if Rasheed Rice just plays football, and XXavier Worthy takes advantage of his opportunities in a way that I think he very well could, and Tyquan Thornton realizes, hey, my NFL career is back, let's do this thing.

I think that is a I think that is a fine group in the right circumstances, and they have Patrick Mahomes, so it's probably good circumstances.

So, 8 and 9 position group, I have in its own tier, because I think both are the worst two tiers.

And I, I, I went back and forth.

I went linebacker 8 and then tied in 9. the reason why I went linebacker 8 is because I think there's at least two guys I really trust, Nick Bolton and Drew Tranquil.

I know it's another year older for Drew, but I still thought I was higher on Drew last year than most.

And I get that.

I fully admit that.

I, I, I thought he at times got a bad rap last year.

Um, he came back on a pay cut, so I mean , it's not like there was gonna be, he's gonna have a big market or anything, you know, like it's, he's here on a reasonable number.

I do think he was probably better last year than he was the year before.

Fine, fine, fine linebacker.

It's just after those two.

It gets a little bleak.

The depth isn't quite there.

Now, Nick Bolton, for the most part has been a guy who plays, even injured.

He'll, he'll fight through it.

He's a really strong, uh, physical guy.

But without Leo, you're sitting here going, OK, Cooper McDonald.

Looked OK last year in limited snaps.

Cooper McDonald looked fine.

Not like Leo, but looked fine.

Jeffrey Bassa never really saw the field.

He played 4, like what, 4 snaps in like final game and it was like 4 snaps.

It wasn't until the very, very, very end.

And then you're with, uh, special teamers Jack Conkran and, and Cole Christensen, so.

I don't love the depth right now at linebacker.

Now, this is why you pay Nick Bolton.

You know me, Mizzou guy, I love, love Bolton, but this is why you pay him to coach up these.

Young dudes and hopefully get them ready to actually play meaningful snaps.

That's your hope.

That's your goal, and that's what the money's for.

So we'll see if Bolton, I, I, I get it.

It's hard to be like, hey, Bolton, we're paying you to not only play but be a coach, but I think that is what they're doing to an extent.

And so, Bassa or someone, hopefully Bassa is gonna really need to step up.

Yeah, I, I think right now I, I, I would probably just bet that we see more Cooper McDonald than Jeffrey Bassa in 2026, just like a straight up and down like snap count bet or something.

Um, I think you mentioned it.

Say again.

I think by a wide margin, by the way, I think Cooper plays a lot more than Bassa.

And that's probably true.

I, I think there is a little bit of potential flexibility for Drew Tranquil playing like whichever role you need filled.

Like if Cooper McDonald can do some of the Sam stuff, then you can have Tranquil still play some of the will, and he's not the coverage backer that he used to be.

When you talk about a year older, that's what that really seems to impact.

Um, and then if Jeffrey Boss is ready to race around with some tight ends, then Drew Tranquil can go play the Sam side.

He can still move forward and thump somebody, so.

I, that's to me why I think like Tranquil is a good, Tranquils the 3rd linebacker that you want, you know, like he, he's the guy that can answer any question.

If he's a low end 2 instead of a high end 3 or whatever, that's all fine.

Nick Bolton, like not, this doesn't explain how players are going to perform, but Nick Bolton has almost a $20 million cap hit.

It's the 4th biggest cap hit on the roster this year.

This is the first year you're really feeling paying him like one of the core members of this team.

And so, not only, you know, uh, sometimes coaches get annoyed when you talk about a guy being like a coach on the field or having him be an extra coach on the sideline when he's hurt or whatever, I feel like sometimes coaches will just be like, no, that's what the coaches are for.

But with Nick Bolton.

You, you have to be in a position.

To say, hey, we're, we're paying you $19 million cause we think you can erase some of the deficiencies that let's say $10 million could have bought us in this defense.

And uh this is gonna be the year to find out if he can actually do that or not.

Tight end is the last for me, which is hard because that's a room that has Travis Kelsey, who's probably still a top 7 tight end, maybe even a, like the 5th-best tight end in football.

Yep, I'd take that 5, absolutely.

And that's why it's so hard and explains what behind Kelsey looks like.

Because Noah Gray had such a regression last year and talked with Matt Derek, he just said, somehow it looks like Noah Gray, even at his age, lost a step.

Just looks a little slower and that's why some of the explanation for the struggles happened last year.

He said that no one looked good in, in OTAs.

I heard him talk about that.

He said Trey Watson looked like the best tight end.

He ain't making it.

He's on this team, so that's not good.

Wiley, Brenningstool, Gillenberg.

I mean, you can have, pick your guy.

But we're talking UDFAs.

And you gotta play more than one tight end.

This can't be, it can't, you can't have 80% of Travis Kelsey again and then no number 2.

I. I, I would go, I, I would, I slotted in linebacker lower than tight end by a couple of slots because Travis Kelsey is better at his job than Nick Bolton is at his, even this season, I think, and, but Drew Tranquil might, I might have more confidence in Drew Tranquil right now than I do in Noah Gray, I think it's probably close , and then everybody else is Jeffrey Bassa or Jared Wiley or whatever, man, we're just like, hey, you drafted somebody, yeah, UDFA that you like.

Do you like the UDFA burning stool?

Do you like the UDFA Cooper McDonald?

Do you like the draft pick Jared Wiley?

Do you like the Jeff Jeffrey Massa?

I, I don't know.

I, I, I have, I have.

There are plenty of these groups we've talked about, you're like, oh man, I'm kind of surprised the Chiefs landed where they did this offseason.

This is the one I'm the most surprised by, I think.

It's like, oh man, you didn't add anybody.

If you, you said goodbye to Big Bob Tonyon and signed one more UDFA and that's the group you're rolling with.

That's, that was surprising to me on a few levels.

If they sign Will Disley, this group gets maybe even better than wide receiver.

Yeah, yeah, to, to an extent like where, where I go, OK, so you have Kelsey, now Will Disley, and then Noah Grazier 3.

Sure, right.

Then Noah Gray is in that Drew Tranquil role that I want you to be in where you can just kind of fill whatever need is available at a passable level , and Will Disley is your people mover for this big running game in uh insurgence you wanna have this year.

Kenneth Walker and Eric Biennamy is back, and all these running backs.

And we've seen Will Desley catch the football as well.

Like, I'm not saying that's his normal go to, but we've had seen him have some big games and so enough so that it's still a threat when he's on the field.

Absolutely.

And that's why I'm just, uh.

flummoxed at the Chiefs game plan at tight end, yet here we are, baby, till the wheels fall off, and I guess we're really going to put that to the test this year because Travis Kelsey is gonna have to play all the snaps.

Again, for like the 3rd consecutive time we've gone, you gotta take some of the, some of the responsibility of Travis Kelsey's shoulders.

Let's, let, he's repeating on overachieving expectations year after year.

He, we're like give him fewer snaps and just go more, more snaps, more, more snaps.

Uh, all right, that's so I have a breaking down cornerback, running back, offensive line, corner, safety, D-line, wide receiver, linebacker, tight end.

Uh, that's how I see it breaking down.

I wish I could have tight end higher because I'm so high on Travis Kelsey, but I'm so low on everyone else.

We have to see them do it.

And I like running 12 and 13 personnel, and that ain't happening with these dudes, at least from what we've seen so far, and maybe we will just be surprised.

Appreciate everyone hanging out and listening with us.

This is a little position breakdown right here on the Arrowhead Addict podcast.

Again, if you want to subscribe to our newsletter, a daily newsletter gets dropped in your email every single day right there.

Scan the QR code, like and subscribe.

Leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

For Josh Briscoe, I am Sterling Holmes.

Until next time, we are out.

Close