The AFC West has become the wild west during the 2022 offseason. The increasingly aggressive arms race has seen the Denver Broncos trade for Russell Wilson, the Las Vegas Raiders trade for Davante Adams, and the Los Angeles Chargers trade for Khalil Mack – all the while, those three teams also made numerous moves in free agency. Despite the AFC West improving, the Kansas City Chiefs remain the measuring stick.
It’s hard to be a good team in the NFL. It’s even harder to remain great in an ever-changing landscape like the National Football League. The upper echelons of the NFL aren’t for every Tom, Dick, and Harry. Consistency is what separates the good from the great and there aren’t many teams that can hang around the top for long. Since Andy Reid was named head coach of the Chiefs in 2013, they’ve been a model of consistency.
The Chiefs have 9 consecutive winning seasons, have won double-digit games in 8 of Reid’s 9 seasons with the team and have won the AFC West six years in a row. It didn’t necessarily translate to playoff success in the Alex Smith-era, but that switch was flipped in 2018 when Patrick Mahomes became the starter.
Since the Mahomes-era began, the Chiefs have averaged 12.5 wins per season and have made it to the AFC Championship four years in a row with two consecutive Super Bowl trips in 2019 and 2020, ultimately reaching the mountain top against the 49ers in 2019. The Reid-Mahomes connection has lifted the Chiefs to a higher plane and they’ll be perennial Super Bowl contenders because of it.
The Chiefs offseason dealings were surprisingly put under the microscope, thanks in large part to the decision to trade Tyreek Hills to the Miami Dolphins. Losing a receiver of Hill’s ilk is a big blow. His speed and ability to separate is one-of-one and impossible to replace. Hill tallied 6630 receiving yards and 56 receiving touchdowns in his six seasons with the Chiefs – was a three-time First Team All-Pro and cemented himself as one of the best receivers in the NFL during that time.
Losing Hill is a big blow. The Chiefs will miss his presence, but as long as Mahomes is under center, they’ll remain competitive. That’s the benefit of having the best quarterback in the league on your team. Mahomes can offset that sort of loss with his ability to pull receivers up to his level. And, of course, he still has Travis Kelce, the best tight end in the NFL. That connection, arguably, meant more to the Chiefs offense.
The Chiefs have watched the AFC West improve around them on, what seems like, a weekly basis. And the Chargers, Raiders, and Broncos are all scary prospects, but the Chiefs haven’t flinched. They added a multitude of receiving weapons in free agency, and drafted extremely well. All while keeping the majority of a championship winning core together.
The rest of the West is catching up, but when you’ve had success like the Chiefs have over the last few years, you’re granted a little leeway. The West still runs through Kansas City, even if the AFC itself is more open. Either way, the Chiefs are still the measuring stick against which the Raiders, Broncos and Chargers will compare themselves.
-Thomas Valentine
Twitter: @tvalentinesport
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