2024 NFL Season Preview: Kansas City Chiefs

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Kansas City Chiefs (Last Year: 11-6)



Season Summary:
Dynasty. The Chiefs became the first repeat champion in 19 years, winning a Super Bowl for the third time in five years.



2024 NFL Season Preview:

Veteran Additions:
QB Carson Wentz, WR Marquise Brown, TE Irv Smith.
Early Draft Picks:
WR Xavier Worthy, OT Kingsley Suamataia, TE Jared Wiley, S Jaden Hicks, C Hunter Nourzad. Chiefs Rookie Forecast
Offseason Losses:
WR Mecole Hardman, WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling, OT Donovan Smith, G Nick Allegretti, LB Willie Gay, CB L’Jarius Sneed, S Mike Edwards, P Tommy Townsend.

2024 Kansas City Chiefs Offense:
The Chiefs are known for their explosive attack, but their offense was plagued by constant drops and false starts last year. The result was a meager 21.8 points-per-game average for the regular season. This result was far worse than the figure the Chiefs had maintained during Mahomes’ other five years as a starter, which were 29.2, 28.2, 29.6, 28.2, and 35.3. To their credit, the Chiefs were able to be more productive in the playoffs, but their postseason average (23.8) was still far worse than the numbers from 2018 to 2022.

Despite the Super Bowl victory, the Chiefs knew that they had to fix their offensive woes. Addressing the receiving corps was crucial, especially in the wake of Rashee Rice’s legal issues. Thus, Kansas City signed Marquise Brown and then used its first-round pick on Xavier Worthy. Both Brown and Worthy are explosive downfield threats, and they’ll provide an enormous upgrade over Marquez Valdes-Scantling. Assuming Rice isn’t slapped with more than a six-game ban, the Chiefs figure to have a trio of capable receivers in 2024. There’s also Travis Kelce, whose performance declined tremendously during the regular season prior to his explosive playoff performances. Kelce could continue to play well, but his age (35 in October) is becoming a concern.

Blocking on the edge was also a problem last year. Donovan Smith and Jawaan Taylor resembled human turnstiles at times, with Taylor being especially poor with his constant false starts. Unlike the receiver position, the Chiefs didn’t address this area with multiple players, but they used a second-round pick on Kingsley Suamataia. The BYU product is raw, but has plenty of upside. He could potentially unseat Taylor. Meanwhile, 2023 third-rounder Wanya Morris figures to start on the blind side. Morris started some games as a rookie, but wasn’t any better than Smith. Perhaps he’ll improve with some experience.

Kansas City’s offensive line isn’t poor despite the problems at tackle. This is because the Chiefs’ interior blocking is outstanding. Kansas City possesses a pair of terrific guards in Joe Thuney and Trey Smith. They sandwich Creed Humphrey, arguably the best center in the NFL. The Chiefs lost a key depth player in Nick Allegretti, who signed with the Redskins. Fifth-round rookie Hunter Nourzad is expected to replace him.

The Chiefs’ stellar interior blockers will continue to blast open holes for Isiah Pacheco, who rushed for 935 yards and seven touchdowns last year. Pacheco showed great improvement as a receiver, hauling in 44 passes for 244 receiving yards.



2024 Kansas City Chiefs Defense:
With the offense sputtering throughout the regular season, the defense had to pull its weight. It did exactly that, surrendering just 17.3 points per game, down from 21.7 in 2022. The stop unit was even better in the playoffs, limiting the opposition to 15.8 points per game despite battling Tua Tagovailoa, Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson in the three games leading up to the Super Bowl.

There’s some concern that Kansas City’s defense won’t be as potent in 2024. That’s because L’Jarius Sneed is gone. Sneed often shut down opposing No. 1 receivers, so much so that No. 2 receivers were overly productive against the Chiefs. Sneed has joined the Titans, so there are some question marks about the outside cornerbacks, with Joshua Williams and Jaylen Watson slated to start in those spots. Williams is a fourth-round pick from the 2022 NFL Draft who has some potential, but he didn’t play many snaps last year. Watson did, but was just mediocre in coverage. The best cornerback will be third-year Trent McDuffie, who was stellar in the slot last year.

Kansas City will return its two starting safeties, with Bryan Cook and Justin Reid reprising their roles. Cook missed the final third of the 2023 season with a gruesome leg injury, so his presence will be enormous with Sneed gone. Reid will need to do a better job in coverage because he was burned often last year.

The Chiefs’ secondary will at least have strong support from the defensive line. The front is spearheaded by Chris Jones, arguably the best defensive tackle in the NFL now that Aaron Donald has retired. Jones missed the opening-week battle against the Lions, a game that showcased how important he is to the success of the team. The Chiefs don’t have much else at the position, but they possess a couple of talented edge rushers in George Karlaftis and Mike Danna. Karlaftis produced 10.5 sacks in his second season and should continue to improve. Danna, meanwhile, is another young player with upside. He had 6.5 sacks in 2023.

Rounding out the defense is a capable linebacking corps comprised of three solid players in Nick Bolton, Drue Tranquill, and Leo Chenal. Bolton is the best of the trio, though he missed a chunk of the 2023 season with an injury. Tranquill is better in coverage than run support, while Chenal is the opposite. Bolton and Chenal are 24 and 23, respectively, so there’s a ton of potential with this group.



2024 Kansas City Chiefs Schedule and Intangibles:
The Chiefs needed to bring back the Arrowhead magic that existed prior to 2007. Since that year, Kansas City was a dreadful 20-37 as a host heading into the 2014 campaign. However, Kansas City is now 70-25 at Arrowhead over the past nine seasons. This includes the seven victories in the playoffs leading up to Super Bowls LIV, LV, LVII, and LVIII.

Harrison Butker has drawn the ire of cat ladies this offseason, but there’s no denying his kicking talent. He was 33-of-35 last year, including 5-of-5 from 50-plus. Harrison Butker aprons are available for sale by clicking the link.

Punter Tommy Townsend led the NFL in net average in 2022, but was just in the middle of the pack last year. He didn’t do a good job of pinning the opposition inside the 20. The Chiefs decided to replace him with the ultra-talented Matt Araiza.

The Chiefs have a mixed schedule. They have to battle some difficult non-divisional conference opponents like the Ravens, Bengals, Browns, Bills, and Texans. However, they get to beat up on the NFC South teams as well.



2024 Kansas City Chiefs Rookies:
Go here for the Chiefs Rookie Forecast, a page with predictions like which rookie will bust and which rookie will become a solid starter.



2024 Kansas City Chiefs Positional Rankings (1-5 stars):

Quarterbacks		Offensive Line		Secondary
Running Backs		Defensive Line		Special Teams
Receivers		Linebackers		Coaching