The Kansas City Chiefs have now lost two straight games and three of their last four. These are not the Chiefs fans are accustomed to seeing at 8-5.
Who knows, maybe they’ll get it together and go on another Super Bowl run with Patrick Mahomes and their mostly-excellent defense. But, for the time being, it’s worthwhile to look ahead.
Some significant players have performed poorly enough that they no longer deserve to be on this roster. Can the Chiefs realistically part with all of them? Most likely not. However, these individuals are producing problems.
1. Donovan Smith, T
Say what you want about the wide receiving core (which has been awful), but the offensive line isn’t helping Patrick Mahomes, at least not on the outside. Donovan Smith, a historically good pass blocker, was considered as a wonderful fit for the Chiefs. But he’s been terrible this season. He appears to have dropped off.
Smith has given up 42 pressures this season. He’s allowed two sacks and seven hits on Mahomes, as well as nine penalties. So far, his performance has left Chiefs fans scratching their heads, wondering what happened. He provided excellent coverage for Tom Brady when with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was one of the game’s top pass-blocking tackles. How has he fallen this far, this quick?
It might just be that time for Smith. Age could be catching up to him, and next year, the Chiefs need to go a different direction.
2. Justin Reid, S
On this defense, there may not be a more vexing guy for Chiefs fans than safety Justin Reid. Sometimes he’ll make a big play or a tremendous hit that will have supporters jumping out of their seats. At times, he’s been observed blowing covering and getting heavily beaten.
If you were unfamiliar with Reid’s play, a simple Twitter (X) search would reveal exactly my argument. Reid is prone to making the error of an inaccurate pre-snap read. Time and again, quarterbacks will take advantage of this. Reid believes the play is a run, therefore the opposition quarterback will hit his receiver or tight end on a crossing route for a big gain. It’s a true rinse-and-repeat situation.
The Chiefs can save more than $10 million by cutting Reid next year, and they should do it. He’s shown to be a liability. Reid is a weak link on an otherwise strong defense. They can no longer be victims of his misses, especially in covering. He’s allowing opposition quarterbacks to complete more than 61 percent of their passes, while allowing a passer rating of 100.1 and four touchdowns on the season.
3. Derrick Nnadi, DL
Derrick Nnadi, a defensive lineman, is another weak link on a brilliant defense. This year, the Chiefs’ pass defense has been outstanding. But what about their run defense? Not quite as good.
Kansas City currently allows 114.9 yards per game on the run, which ranks in the bottom half of the league. Nnadi is by far the poorest run defender up front, and Pro Football Focus agrees, assigning him a paltry 35.8 in this category.
The Chiefs should expect more from a player who has played the second-most snaps of any interior lineman on the team. So far this season, Chris Jones is the only interior lineman providing Kansas City with a well-rounded play. Nnadi is in his sixth season with the squad, and his play has deteriorated over the last three years. When free agency begins next spring, it is time to say goodbye.
4. Marquez Valdes-Scantling, WR
This one should go without saying. This season, the wide receiving core as a whole has been dreadful. The Chiefs are desperate for a person to step up and assume a WR1 role, and while youngster Rashee Rice appears to be doing his best, the Chiefs continue to refuse to expand his route tree beyond largely short yardage types.
Marques Valdes-Scantling was intended to be the Chiefs’ go-to guy on long balls. His straight-line speed is elite, but the Chiefs let Tyreek Hill go and went with a Dollar Tree version instead.
In fact, comparing Valdes-Scantling to Tyreek Hill at Dollar Tree may be overly charitable. With the way he’s played, his talent could be found at a Salvation Army outlet. He’s missed several wide-open touchdowns this season, causing the outcome of games to be drastically different.
Valdes-Scantling is projected to hit the cap with $14 million next year. However, Kansas City can save $12 million by releasing him. If the Chiefs even consider doing something else, someone should go right up to Veach’s office and talk sense into him. Valdes-Scantling was a terrible signing, and Kansas City needs to entirely replace this position by 2024.
5. Jawaan Taylor, T
Tackle Jawaan Taylor may be the most overrated offensive lineman in sports. When Kansas City signed him to a four-year, $80 million contract this winter, I’m sure 31 other teams secretly raised an eyebrow in surprise.
Taylor has been a solid tackle. He has not, however, been an outstanding one by any stretch of the imagination. Taylor has largely doomed the Chiefs this season by making Mahomes’ drive-in and drive-out increasingly difficult.
How’s this for a startling statistic? Taylor has been called for 17 penalties this season (mainly false starts). On average, that is more than one every game. In the middle of the season, he went three games without being penalized. Aside from that, he’s good for at least one each game.
The Chiefs obviously cannot get out of this contract and must hope he begins to figure things out. If Kansas City is to make any noise in the postseason, Taylor must produce at a high level. They already have an advantage due to their large receiving room. Taylor is only making matters worse for them.
6. Kadarius Toney, WR
Returning to the Valdes-Scantling debate, wide receiver Kadarius Toney may follow him out the door during the offseason. And it’s not only because of the contentious penalty called at the end of the Chiefs-Bills game last week. Toney was a good 12 inches past the line of scrimmage, so that’s on him at the end of the day.
Despite all of the fanfare around him coming out of college, Toney clearly did not fit in with the New York Giants organization. After the Chiefs acquired him in a trade last year, many believed that this was the franchise that could extract the actual potential from him that New York couldn’t.
Those people were completely wrong. Toney has been utilized rarely this season and is clearly not entirely trusted by the coaching staff. According to Pro Football Focus, he has been targeted 33 times this season and has three dropped passes.
His passer rating when targeted is only 83.4, demonstrating that he is unable to do much with the ball in his hands. He’s hardly the player the Chiefs expected to obtain in that trade.
