All things considered, a huge loss for the Chiefs. I thought perhaps they had a Plan B like trading for Waddle or some other receiver. MVS is a guy who will come up with some big plays but is best when targeted 3-4 times per game.
No one seems to bring this up much, but Travis Kelce is 33 this year. He's the same age as Gronk. Yards per target dropped from 9.8 in 2020 to 8.4 in 2021. That's a massive drop and indicates his decline might have already happened...it's inevitable it will happen soon.
The Chiefs also lost Mathieu; I understand their preference for Reid, especially wanting to be younger at that position, but Matheiu's impact on the defense reminds me of Rodney Harrison. They were simply a much better unit in every way when he was on the field.
Hill gone. Mathieu gone. Kelce possibly in steep decline. The team was built entirely around those three superstars, Mahomes and Jones. And with these guys departing, they don't have much to spend for replacements. This is an example of cap consequences, though people seem to not even realize when it's happening right in front of them because the GM doesn't announce "we're in cap hell."
One other note: Mahomes hasn't restructured his contract this year. Is it too early? I'm very curious about this because I thought it was a foregone conclusion he'd do it every season.
Curious to see what they do. Looks like Peter King's 2021 puff piece about Brett Veach was a bit premature, obviously.