Since Patrick Mahomes took over as Kansas City Chiefs quarterback in 2018, he’s thrown 179 touchdowns, and Tyreek Hill was on the field for 146 of those. Hill, along with Travis , have long been safety valves that Mahomes could trust. Now one is gone, so it’ll be interesting to see how the Chiefs adjust to defenses playing them differently.
Orlovsky Says They’ve Got The Best QB, OL And Other Pieces Still
Even with the Hill trade, Mahomes is the maestro that makes it go. They have one of the best offensive lines in the league and they added some weaponry in free agency to replace the significant loss of Hill.
NFL guru Dan Orlovsky believes that having Mahomes is enough to make up for the loss of Hill.
“We’ve got the best quarterback in football. We’ve got one of if not the best offensive lines in football… MVS [Marquez Valdes-Scantling] is there. JuJu Smith Schuster’s there. They’ve got two really good running backs there. Obviously, Travis Kelce, still there. Four picks in the top 60 of the NFL draft, five in the top 100. The Chiefs are going to be just fine.”
Last week the Kansas City Chiefs shocked the football world when they traded Pro Bowl wide receiver Tyreek Hill to the Dolphins for a haul of picks. Hill wanted to be the highest-paid wide receiver in the league after seeing former Packers receiver Davante Adams get a huge extension in his trade to the Raiders.
Chiefs GM Brett Veach and head coach Andy Reid just didn’t believe in paying Hill upwards of $28-30 million per season. Many feel that the move changed the landscape of the AFC and AFC West, as a whole but ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky said not so fasy this week on “Get Up.”
“I think the Chiefs can take solace in three things. They still have the best coach in that division. They still have the best quarterback in that division, and they still have the best offensive line in that division. And that’s why I don’t get the whole like the Chiefs are done situation now. I think the reality is this, Greeny [Mike Greenberg], the Chiefs realize that their offense has been great. That just hasn’t been great enough. They’ve won one Super Bowl over this four year stretch that they’ve been absolutely lights-out in offensively, and I said this last week and I feel the same way today. This is a little bit of a philosophical change in this organization.”
AFC West Added Some Real Firepower
Since Mahomes became the starter in 2018, the Chiefs have played in every AFC Championship game. Winning two and losing two in overtime, in fact all four have been played at Arrowhead Stadium. The Chiefs have had the most talented roster. That might not be the case anymore. The Broncos added Russell Wilson via trade, and then signed defensive end Randy Gregory to pair with Bradley Chubb.
The Chargers traded for edge rusher Khalil Mack, to team with Joey Bosa. The formidable duo ranked second and third in the league in third-down quarterback pressures the last three seasons. Only Aaron Donald has more. The Raiders traded for arguably the league’s best wide receiver in Adams, and then signed edge rusher Chandler Jones to team with Max Crosby.
You get the theme here? Each team added offensive weaponry, but they also added talented pass rushers to harass Patrick Mahomes, who’s torched the AFC West and NFL since 2018.
Additions to the AFC West:
Broncos:
– Russell Wilson
– Randy Gregory
– DJ JonesChargers:
– Khalil Mack
– JC Jackson
– Sebastian Joseph-DayRaiders:
– Davante Adams
– Chandler Jones
– Rock Ya-SinChiefs:
– Justin Reid— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) March 17, 2022
Andy Reid Says No Hard Feelings: It Was A Business Move
Signing wide receivers Valdez-Scantling and Smith-Schuster were huge because this still allows K.C. to stretch the field.
Reid said the Chiefs did all they could to keep Hill, but it became too much for the team’s salary cap. He respects Hill’s contributions to K.C’.s mini-dynasty and understands that he is from the Miami area, so Reid said this week at the NFL meetings he wanted Hill to be happy if a price tag couldn’t be agreed upon.
“I love Tyreek. There is no rift between me and Tyreek. We tried to sign Tyreek at a certain cost.”
Reid says the cap has to always be taken into consideration to stay at a high level as a franchise. They had a prolific run. All’s well that ends well.
