2021 NFL pre-season: Kansas City Chiefs Predictions and Match Preview
The Kansas City Chiefs made their second consecutive Super Bowl appearance last season after an impressive 14-2 regular-campaign record. A late regular-season injury for Patrick Mahomes caused him to miss Week 17, but he was available through the playoffs.
Mahomes and the Chiefs then proceeded to beat both the Cleveland Browns and Buffalo Bills to win a trip to the Super Bowl to face Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But a depleted offensive line caused problems for Kansas City ,as they just couldn't hold off the Bucs' defense, losing 31-9 in Super Bowl LV.
With Kansas City's first pre-season game less than ten days away, let's get into the preview and predictions for the Kansas City Chiefs.
What can be expected from the Kansas City Chiefs' offense?
The Kansas City Chiefs offense is led by one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL. Patrick Mahomes has led Kansas City every season for a while, and it helps that he has Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill alongside him.
The Chiefs' offensive line was the Achilles Heel of the entire offense. In just the Super Bowl, the offensive line allowed Mahomes to be pressured 29 times and was unable to score a touchdown in the big game.
Injuries to Mitchell Schwartz, Eric Fisher and Kelechi Osemele caused the Kansas City Chiefs to go to backups. The Chiefs were also without their right guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, who opted out of the 2020 season so that he could go back to his medical career and work on the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This off=season, the Chiefs made significant moves to address their offensive line. The team signed veteran guard Joe Thuney to a five-year deal. Kansas City also drafted Alabama center Creed Humphrey in the second round of the 2021 NFL Draft. The Chiefs also traded for left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. from the Baltimore Ravens to add another veteran piece to their offensive line.
That should give Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs' offensive line more time and an opportunity to make plays happen, something that wasn't there towards the end of last season.
What to expect from the Kansas City Chiefs' defense?
The Kansas City Chiefs' defense was able to retain the majority of their big-name defensive players, except for Bashaud Breeland, who is now with the Minnesota Vikings.
The 2021 season will be a contract year for a lot of the defense, though, and with the Chiefs perilously low on salary cap space, it should prove interesting which direction the organization proceeds to go.
The 2021 NFL second-round draft pick linebacker Nick Bolton has been showing in training camp so far this season, and should be a great addition for the Cheifs defense.
For this season, the Chiefs have drafted a talented rookie in L'Jarius Sneed out of Louisiana Tech. Meanwhile, veteran safety Tyrann Mathieu is once again a leader in defense, which should allow the secondary to be as fierce as it has been.
Kansas City Chiefs pre-season prediction
The Kansas City Chiefs will have three preseason games, two away and one at home. The Kansas City Chiefs will travel to the San Francisco 49ers and the Arizona Cardinals before they have a home game against the Minnesota Vikings.
Meanwhile, starters like Patrick Mahomes won't see significant playing time in the first pre-season game. But several different configurations of offensive linemen will likely be worked out for the coaching staff to get a feel for which lineman could be the best fit to allow the offense to be the most productive.