After Kansas City suffers a second-half meltdown for the ages in the AFC Championship game, the organization decides to deal away a key piece of their foundation. The Kansas City Chiefs National Football League offseason in 2022 kicked off with a resounding dose of reality.
It seemed as if Kansas City was going to make it to the Super Bowl for the third year in a row when they took a 21-3 lead early on in the AFC Championship game against the Cincinnati Bengals in January.
But the Bengals were able to complete an 18-point comeback in the second half, led by Cincinnati’s rising star quarterback Joe Burrow, which allowed them to go to the championship game while Kansas City was eliminated.
Patrick Mahomes, the quarterback for the winning team, remarked after the game, “When you’re up 21 to 3 at one point in the game, you can’t lose it.” His worst performance as a starter as a quarterback came in the second half when he had a rating of 1.4.
Mahomes Said: Latter Two Quarters Were a Struggle for Offense for KC
Mahomes responded by saying, “I brought it on myself.” The offense of KC was unable to get going in the second half, and as a result, they were only able to muster 83 yards of total offense after halftime, compared to 292 yards before the break.
Andy Reid, the head coach of the Los Angeles Rams, told reporters the following Monday after his team’s 27-24 overtime defeat.
“Obviously, our second half was not good enough.” After that, Reid elaborated by saying, “Whether it’s strategies or whether it’s the roster,” “we’ll spend the summer here getting things sorted out.”
It would seem that the first significant domino toward “working things out” in Kansas City dropped in the month of March.
Tyreek Hill, a great wide receiver, and the front office of the organization have apparently reached a stalemate in their contract discussions, and the franchise has reportedly decided to let “the Cheetah” find a new home. Hill was signed by the Miami Dolphins a few hours later.
Both I And Patrick Kept Our Options Open During the Conversation
“Both myself and kept the lines of communication open with Patrick. When asked about the agreement in the middle of April.
Reid said, “There’s a fairly decent probability there’s going to change that’s going to take place over your career.” He came to the conclusion that it was an inevitable consequence of playing that position.
The cheetah was not the end of the process of change. Longtime front office executive Ryan Poles abruptly left Kansas City to take the general manager position in Chicago, bringing a few key contributors with him.
The Texans decided to go with Justin Reid as their starting safety rather than go with the veteran Tyrann Mathieu. Cornerback Charvarious Ward, defensive lineman Jarran Reed and Melvin Ingram, and other important defensive players all found new teams to play for.
With vacancies on the team and coaching staff, Kansas City brought back an old friend in the form of former Bears head coach Matt Nagy (in the role of senior assistant and quarterbacks coach).
He restructured the contract of edge rusher Frank Clark and signed the pair of lanky wideouts JuJu Smith-Schuster and Marquez Valdes-Scantling to team-friendly contracts. All of these moves were made in an effort to fill the vacancies.
Adding Mahomes Weaponry is a Plus
“Every time you can add more weaponry for Mahomes, we’ll give it some serious consideration. GM Brett Veach mentioned this during a speech to the media in February about the status of the team.
“There is some drafting cash available for our use.” He went on farther. “All that has to be done is to fill in the blanks and combine it with what we believe is available in the draft,” said the general manager.
The Kansas City Chiefs entered the 2022 NFL Draft in Las Vegas with a total of 12 picks, and they took this opportunity to bulk up at places where they were weak.
Both Trent McDuffie and George Karlfatis, who was selected in the first round, are expected to play in Week 1. It was the starting lineup for the team that had won the AFC West the previous season.
Meanwhile, late-round value choices Joshua Williams and Isiah Pacheco have impressed coaches enough to earn significant playing time thanks to their performance in training camp.
The offseason, which began with a devastating defeat and ended with the promise of better times ahead, has now come to an end.
“I believe your window is always open when you have a guy as great as Pat,” Veach said. “When you have a player as gifted as Pat.”
