ESPN Ranks Chiefs as Having Top-10 Offseason in the NFL

As the NFL's reigning Super Bowl champions, the Kansas City Chiefs have been faced with one of the tallest tasks in the league: have an offseason that maintains the franchise's spot at the top of the mountain. Recent reviews of the job general manager Brett Veach and company are doing have been mixed, but one outlet is shedding some positive light on Kansas City's past couple of months.

In his continuation of ranking the best and worst NFL offseasons to this point, ESPN's Bill Barnwell published his top 16 list on Tuesday morning. Taking home the No. 7 spot are the Chiefs, and Barnwell was quite complimentary of what Kansas City has done at the offensive tackle position. Veach's willingness to be bold jumped out to Barnwell, serving as something he believes went right for the Chiefs:

A fair number of NFL organizations would have just settled for what they had; they would have given Brown an enormous contract and kept Wylie to maintain their offensive line continuity. I wouldn't even fault them too much; objective No. 1 for any team with a Hall of Fame quarterback should be keeping the franchise upright.

Instead, the Chiefs dared to get better and probably got there. They originally signed former Jaguars tackle Jawaan Taylor, presumably as part of a move from the right side to an unfamiliar spot at left tackle. That seemed curious to me, but when Donovan Smith's market failed to develop, they brought in the longtime Bucs tackle on a short-term deal to play left tackle. Smith committed too many penalties a year ago and wasn't really ever a great left tackle, but neither was Brown.

With those two sandwiching a strong interior three of Joe Thuney, Creed Humphrey and Trey Smith, the Chiefs have one of the league's best lines on paper. That's all Mahomes needs.

Of course, no team's offseason has been perfect, and even the champions of the league have some spots left to fill on their roster. According to Barnwell, one element of the offseason that's gone wrong for the Chiefs has been a lack of fortifying Steve Spagnuolo's pass rush. Despite adding veteran Charles Omenihu in free agency and drafting Kansas State product Felix Anudike-Uzomah in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft, Barnwell points to the losses of Frank Clark and Carlos Dunlap as noteworthy and potentially hindering. As a result, he thinks Veach might need to add one more pass-rushing threat:

Chris Jones is still here, but as he enters the final year of his deal, how much more can the Chiefs hope to get from their star defensive tackle? He tied his career highs with 15.5 sacks and 29 knockdowns a year ago and played his first full season since 2018. There's no questioning what he can do on the interior, but if he does miss meaningful time, can the rest of what this team has on the line make up the difference? I suspect we'll see Veach dip back into the market for one more veteran here, although it might be an in-season move.

Speaking of a "dip into the market for one more veteran," Barnwell singles out the cornerback position as an area that could be of interest moving forward. While Kansas City currently has a trio of young, talented players at the position, the team's end-of-depth-chart rotation doesn't have a ton of proven substance at the moment. Bringing in one veteran likely wouldn't hurt, which is something that Barnwell lists as something the team has left to do before the end of training camp:

I wouldn't be surprised if they go after a highly drafted cornerback who either hits the waiver wire or comes up as a bargain trade candidate at the end of camp. Former first-rounders without starting jobs such as Noah Igbinoghene or Caleb Farley stand out as possible reclamation projects.