Breaking down the 5 big questions for the Chiefs as they get ready for the start of training camp
Derrik Larsh @dlarsh15 Chiefs Focus @Chiefsfocus
The start of training camp is celebrated by any NFL fan, as it indicates the start of the new season, but with the celebration comes questions about their favorite team. This will cover 5 big questions that will be on the mind of the chiefs kingdom.
1.What will the chiefs do about the OBJ situation
The question chiefs fans have had in their mind all offseason, what happens if Orlando Brown Jr. Doesn’t get extended and sits out? The July 15 deadline to extend his contract has come and gone. the chiefs and Brown are still far apart, it looks like Brown will either sign his franchise tag or sit out of training camp and possibly even into the season.
So what will the chiefs do? One option that has been floating among chiefs fans is to bring back Eric Fisher the former number one overall pick for the chiefs who spent last season with the colts. Another option is to push Tuney out to Left Tackle like they did when both Brown and Niang went down with injuries during week 17 last season, it could also be to start Niang on the Left and the chiefs 5th round draft pick, Darian Kinnard on the right side no matter what the chiefs do have options.
2.What is the plan for the defensive line?
The defensive line has been a question for chiefs fans for the past couple of seasons. Going into 2022 the chiefs defensive line is headlined by Chris Jones and Frank Clark with a supporting cast of Mike Danna, Derrick Nadi, Kahlan Sanders coming back from an injury last season, and the first-round pick Geroge Karlaftis among a host of others.
The question will be going into training camp will be dose Veach make a move either through a trade or signing of a veteran to help bring depth to this unit. The biggest name linked for a possible move is Robert Quinn from Chicago who had 60 tackles and 18.5 sacks for the Bears last season. If the price is right for Veach and company it would be a big upgrade to the once deemed, ‘sack nation. Other free agents available include Jason Pierre Paul, Trey Flowers, and Ndamukong Suh. Veach is known to pull a trade late during camp to obtain a talent on the verge of being cut using a day 3 pick or bottom-of-the-roster type of players such as Charvarious Ward and Mike Hughes, so don’t be surprised if that is the plan.
3. Who emerges as WR1
The wide receiver room had a complete makeover this offseason with the departure of Tyreek Hill, Demarcus Robinson, and Bryon Pringle via either trade or free agency and the additions of Juju Smith-Shuster, Marquez Valdes scantling, Skyy Moore, and Justyn Ross to go along with Mecole Hardman, and Josh Gordon who return from last year’s team.
With a whole new room, it bags the question of who will be Mahomes number 1 option? We all know that Kelce will continue to be the go-to guy for this offense but speaking strictly for the receivers it’s a hard question and the simple answer is all of them as they all have the ability in any game to shred a defense and I think that will benefit the chiefs in the long run as the defense can’t just hone in on one player. The way Andy likes to run his offense requires every receiver to know each position of the playbook so he can mix and match whenever he sees fit. If I had to answer I would say we see a big jump from Hardman to become Mahomes go to recover.
4. The young bucks of the defense
Similar to the Wide Receiver room the defense as a whole got an offseason makeover as well with the chiefs using 8 of their 10 draft picks to get younger, stronger, and faster on the defensive side of the ball. Each level of the defense was addressed during the draft with Karlaftis on the line, Leo Chenal for the linebackers, Trent Mcduffie, Bryan Cook, Joshua Williams, Jaylen Watson, and Nazeeh Johnson to the secondary.
The losses of Tryann Mathieu, Charvarious Ward, Dan Sorenson, Jarren Reed, and Ben Nieman leave a lot of opportunities for the younger players to get on the field early. The question will be can they grasp the more complicated system that Steve Spagnolo likes to run, we will see growing pains during camp as well as early in the season, so patience will be key for the young bucks.
5. The crowed Running back room
The Chiefs will enter 2022 with a mix of both new and old players to their running back room returning we have former first-round pick Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Derrick Gore, and Jerrick Mckinnon, and the addition of free agent Ronald Jones II and a seventh-round pick Isiah Pacheco.
The chiefs usually will keep 3 maybe 4 running backs on the active roster, but with the loaded receiver room more than likely, we will only see 3 of these running backs at one time. What will make this position battle interesting is every player brings a unique skill to the room so no matter what direction the chiefs go forward with they will have one of the more balanced group of running backs in the league.
Training camps will always have questions that are what make them fun. This training camp will be very important to set up the next phase of the Mahomes era.
