The Kansas City Chiefs are no longer the team to beat in the AFC West, and that turn came into sharper focus this offseason. Cody Williams of FanSided gave general manager Brett Veach a B grade for the last couple of months, even while praising the addition of Kenneth Walker III.
That judgment lands in a division that has moved fast around Kansas City. Williams gave the Las Vegas Raiders an A grade and the Los Angeles Chargers an A grade, a sign that the Chiefs’ rivals have improved significantly either last year or in this offseason. The result is a division race that looks less comfortable for Kansas City than it has in years.
The Chiefs still addressed most of their roster needs, but the work was not complete. Williams pointed to a lack of insurance behind Rashee Rice and noted that Kansas City did not pursue a big-name pass catcher last season. He also said the Chiefs did not replace Jawaan Taylor, leaving another spot where the depth chart is not fully settled.
Rice is the most complicated part of the picture. Williams said there are no guarantees he will make a full recovery from his knee injury now that he will be in jail for a month, and even if he does recover, he could still face a suspension. That leaves the Chiefs trying to plan around a receiver whose availability cannot be taken for granted.
The backfield brings its own questions. Williams praised the Walker addition, but he also described the running back depth behind him as rather suspect. For a team trying to keep pace in the afc west, that means the margin for error remains thinner than it should be.
The bigger problem is the backdrop. Since Patrick Mahomes took over the offense, Kansas City had not missed the playoffs until the season referenced in Williams’ assessment, but the streak is gone now. The Chiefs have a title pedigree and a quarterback who still changes every game, yet the division around them has caught up enough that they can no longer rely on reputation to carry them through.
That is why the B grade matters. It is not a verdict that says the Chiefs failed to build a roster; it says they did enough to stay relevant while their rivals did more to close the gap. In the AFC West, that may be the difference between control and chasing.
