As the 2022 season draws near, the Kansas City Chiefs will look to reign supreme atop the AFC West for an unbelievable seventh straight season. While the rest of the AFC has been busy playing catch-up, the Chiefs have established themselves as the gold standard in the conference over the past four years.
Kansas City will have to contend with a much-improved AFC this season and the AFC West will be a complete gauntlet. The Broncos steadied the ship at the quarterback position while bringing in Russell Wilson while the Raiders made a big splash trading for WR Davante Adams. The Chargers have been on the verge of exploding since the arrival of Justin Herbert and they traded for defensive star Khalil Mack.
5 bold statements for the 2022 Kansas City Chiefs
- The Chiefs will not be the 1-seed. KC fans will watch frustratingly all season long as the team looks up at Buffalo in the standings. The Bills have the benefit of playing in the overtly-tame AFC East and should have the inside track to the 1-seed. Not only that, but the Chiefs will be chasing the Chargers all season long as KC’s brutal schedule will be a tough hill to climb. While Kansas City is playing the Bengals, Bucs and Bills, the Chargers play the Browns, Falcons and Dolphins.
- Travis Kelce will be the team’s only 1,000 yard receiver. And that may not be a bad thing. The team’s revamped receiving corps may lack the explosiveness that they had with Tyreek Hill but this group will be solid all-around. JuJu-Smith-Schuster and Marquez Valdez-Scantling will be more move-the-chains receivers and will split a lot of targets. Add Mecole Hardman into the mix (who is always good for 700 or so) and you could see Travis Kelce as the only 1,000 yard receiver this season.
- Rest easy, however, the Chiefs will have a 1,000 yard rusher. We haven’t seen a 1,000 yard rusher in Kansas City since 2017 but that changes this year. If nothing else, this may occur by necessity as the offense morphs into more of a ball-control type offense. Can third-year former first round draft pick Clyde-Edwards Helaire finally break out and become the player the Chiefs thought they had in 2020?
- KC will have it’s first double-digit sack man since 2018. Unbelievably, the Chiefs have not had a single player amass more than ten sacks since Dee Ford and Chris Jones both did it back in 2018. The team spent a first round pick on DE George Karlaftis this offseason and brought in incumbent veteran Carlos Dunlap. Frank Clark once again returns on a renegotiated deal and this rotation needs to be highly productive. Whether it be one of these players or DT Chris Jones, we are going to see someone hit that magical 10 sack mark.
- Kansas City is going 11-6. And you’ll want to sign up for this right now Chiefs Kingdom. Whether this will be enough to win the division remains to be seen but an unrelenting schedule coupled with many defensive and skilled position question marks will make this a bit of a “retooling year” in KC. The division is as good as it’s been in decades and EVERYONE is coming for the Chiefs in 2022.
