After going to back-to-back Super Bowls, the Kansas City Chiefs spent the 2021 offseason improving their already talented depth chart. With some impressive additions in the past couple of months, what shape does the Chiefs’ depth chart take as we look ahead to the 2021 NFL season?
Kansas City Chiefs Depth Chart
Let’s take a look at the Chiefs’ depth chart as it stands heading into the remainder of the offseason programs.
Offense
Quarterback: Patrick Mahomes, Chad Henne, Anthony Gordon, Shane Buechele
Running Back: Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Darrel Williams, Jerick McKinnon, Darwin Thompson, Elijah McGuire, Derrick Gore
Wide Receiver: Tyreek Hill, Mecole Hardman, Demarcus Robinson, Byron Pringle, Cornell Powell, Antonio Callaway, Marcus Kemp, Gehrig Dieter, Tajae Sharpe, Jody Fortson, Chad Williams, Maurice Ffrench, Dalton Schoen, Daurice Fountain
Tight End: Travis Kelce, Blake Bell, Noah Gray, Nick Keizer, Evan Baylis
Offensive Tackle: Orlando Brown Jr., Mike Remmers, Martinas Rankin, Lucas Niang, Prince Tega Wanogho
Offensive Guard: Joe Thuney, Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, Kyle Long, Nick Allegretti, Andrew Wylie, Trey Smith, Yasir Durant
Center: Austin Blythe, Creed Humphrey, Darryl Williams
Defense
Interior Defensive Line: Chris Jones, Jarran Reed, Khalen Saunders, Derrick Nnadi, Tershawn Wharton, Tyler Clark
EDGE: Frank Clark, Taco Charlton, Tim Ward, Michael Danna, Joshua Kaindoh, Austin Edwards, Malik Herring, Demone Harris
Linebacker: Anthony Hitchens, Willie Gay Jr., Nick Bolton, Ben Niemann, Dorian O’Daniel, Omari Cobb, Darius Harris, Emmanuel Smith, Riley Cole
Cornerback: L’Jarius Sneed, Charvarius Ward, Mike Hughes, Rashad Fenton, BoPete Keyes, Dicaprio Bootle, Deandre Baker, Chris Lammons, Marlon Character
Safety: Tyrann Mathieu, Juan Thornhill, Daniel Sorensen, Armani Watts, Rodney Clemons, Will Parks, Zayne Anderson, Devon Key
Special Teams
Kicker: Harrison Butker
Punter: Tommy Townsend
Long Snapper: James Winchester
Chiefs Depth Chart Analysis | Offense
On a talented Chiefs’ offense, which positions are up for grabs in the training camp, and who is locked in as a starter.
Quarterbacks
At this point, we are running out of superlatives to describe Patrick Mahomes. Creating highlight-reel plays every game, his ceiling is to go down as the greatest QB in NFL history.
Mahomes put together yet another outstanding campaign in 2020. He compiled 4,740 passing yards, 38 touchdowns, and 6 interceptions, in addition to 308 rushing yards and 2 scores on the ground. When on the field, Mahomes elevates the rest of the Chiefs’ depth chart to a level we have rarely seen before in the history of this game.
Chad Henne saw action when Mahomes rested at the end of the season. Furthermore, he saw pivotal work in the AFC Divisional Round of the playoffs. Henne got within inches of the first down with a headfirst dive on a 3rd-and-14 scramble, then found Tyreek Hill to convert on fourth down and bring on victory formation.
Two intriguing college quarterbacks in Anthony Gordon and Shane Buechele will battle it out to be considered for the third QB role. The Chiefs are unlikely to invest in either over Henne, who provides them a veteran presence in the absence of Mahomes.
Running Backs
The No. 32 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, Clyde Edwards-Helaire was thought to have put the Chiefs over the edge — not that they needed any help.
Edwards-Helaire put together a solid rookie season, with 181 carries for 803 yards and 4 scores across 13 regular-season games, in addition to 36 catches (54 targets) and another touchdown. After a prosperous start to his career, Edwards-Helaire failed to break the 50-yard mark on the ground in all but two of his remaining seven contests. This drop in production coincided with the midseason addition of Le’Veon Bell.
With Bell gone and the release of Damien Williams, the Chiefs brought back Darrel Williams to back up Edwards-Helaire. Signed to a one-year contract worth up to $2.13 million to remain with the Chiefs, Darrel rushed 39 times for 169 yards with 1 touchdown while catching 18 passes for an additional 116 yards.
Jerick McKinnon will provide the Chiefs with another veteran presence. After injury concerns, he returned in 2020 with 5 rushing touchdowns and a receiving touchdown. McKinnon is not the type of back to lead the offense but could be a useful contributor in a backup role.
Wide Receivers
Hill is arguably the most dangerous receiver in the NFL. He led the Chiefs’ vaunted passing attack with six 100-yard performances during the 2020 regular season, recording 87 catches for 1,276 yards and a career-high 15 touchdowns. This was Hill’s third 1,150-plus-yard season in his last four years.
Mecole Hardman is expected to take on a more significant role on the Chiefs’ depth chart after Sammy Watkins went to the Ravens in free agency. Still a somewhat raw player, Hardman could be dangerous if he is on the same page with Mahomes. In 16 regular-season games in 2020, Hardman caught 41 of 62 targets for 560 yards and 4 scores.
Kansas City re-signed Demarcus Robinson to a one-year contract to stay with the team. Robinson set a career-high in receiving yards last season with 466 on 45 receptions while adding 3 touchdowns.
Byron Pringle, meanwhile, is returning for his all-important third season. He has had just 25 receptions so far in his career but has caught over 75% of his career targets.
The Chiefs also added WR Cornell Powell in the fifth round of the 2021 NFL Draft. He could make the roster as the fifth receiving option and provide a possession-type receiver for the Chiefs.
Tight Ends
There is no larger gap from the No. 1 to the No. 2 ranked player at any position in the NFL than there is with Travis Kelce to his contemporaries. Yet, somehow Kelce still found a way to take his game to another level. He set career-highs across the board in 2020 with 105 receptions, 1,416 receiving yards, and 11 touchdowns. Kelce has had over 1,000 yards in every season since 2016 and established a new NFL record for the position last season.
Nick Keizer logged 302 snaps on offense in 2020 but saw minimal action, catching 6 of his 9 targets for 63 yards throughout the season. So long as Kelce is on the roster, Keizer is nothing more than a blocking tight end. Fifth-round selection Noah Gray will likely battle with Blake Bell for the role of third tight end. Gray could even push Keizer as the secondary tight end on the roster with a strong training camp.
Offensive Tackle
After watching Mahomes run for his life in the Super Bowl, the Chiefs’ only goal of the offseason was to upgrade the depth chart at the offensive line. Therefore, the Chiefs made a massive move as the 2021 NFL Draft approached by trading for Orlando Brown. He indicated he wanted to play left tackle to fulfill his late father’s dream. Now, he gets his chance in Kansas City.
Brown, who turns 25 in May, has started 42 games for Baltimore since being a third-round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. What will be interesting is how his game changes, going from a run-centric offense to a passing-forward attack. He is one of four offensive tackles selected to the Pro Bowl in each of the past two seasons.
Things are not quite as set opposite of Brown as the right tackle position could turn into a battle during camp. One potential option is Mike Remmers, who played in 13 games for the Chiefs in 2020 and would likely be the betting favorite for the position. He didn’t allow a single sack during the regular season last year (13 games), with less than 20 pressures playing three positions in total.
Remmers is not the only option, however. Andy Reid has mentioned Kyle Long and Lucas Niang as other options at tackle.
Niang is a very intriguing player, as the Chiefs have yet to see him on the gameday field after he opted out of the 2020 season due to concerns surrounding the pandemic. Before opting out, Reid expressed interest in possibly moving Niang to left tackle before the season. While this does speak to his versatility, he would likely be the most comfortable at right tackle, his position while at TCU.
Regardless of where the Chiefs ask him to play, Niang’s continued offseason work with behavioral movement specialist Brett Yarris of the Bx Movement should pay dividends if the Chiefs ever shuffle their line around.
Offensive Guard
Joe Thuney was the most highly regarded offensive lineman available in free agency, and the Chiefs spared no expense when they brought him in. With the visions of the Super Bowl debacle fresh in their minds, Kansas City happily wrote a check to Thuney to the tune of a five-year, $80 million contract. Thuney had started all 80 of the New England Patriots’ regular-season games since they selected him in the third round of the 2016 NFL Draft.
There are times in life where playing a game goes on the back burner as there are bigger purposes in life. Laurent Duvernay-Tardif exhibited this last year when he became the first NFL player to opt-out of the 2020 season, choosing to continue working at a long-term healthcare facility near Montreal.
While we all get to see his work on our TV screens on Sundays, the tireless work of Duvernay-Tardif, along with all healthcare workers, will be forever in our debt. He is expected to return to the team this season to resume his NFL career.
Long retired following the 2019 season, but after sitting out 2020, the veteran is back for the 2021 campaign. After starting his career with three-straight Pro Bowls, Long dealt with injuries in his final four seasons in Chicago.
Long has lined up at right guard for the majority of his career — logging 60 starts — but he played right tackle for the entire 2015 season. The addition of Trey Smith is unlikely to see any returns in 2021, but he will battle with Nick Allegretti as one of the reserve offensive guards.
Center
The battle for the starting center role on the Chiefs’ offense will be intriguing. Kansas City added Austin Blythe in free agency. Over the past three seasons, Blythe started 47 games and played over 3,000 snaps for the Los Angeles Rams.
However, the Chiefs will not have believed their luck when Oklahoma center Creed Humphrey landed in their lap in Round 2. Humphrey was one of the top centers during his time in college and has the potential to be an immediate starter.