Super Bowl ceiling should prompt Chiefs to bolster defense at deadline

Sunday’s nationally televised legitimacy showcase should halt any notion of another midseason Chiefs swoon.

The 45-10 rout of the Bengals further illuminated the possibilities for these Chiefs, with their loss in Foxborough not beginning the kind of descent that exposed the 2013 and ’17 Kansas City teams as fringe contenders.

A Super Bowl ceiling resides over the Chiefs for the first time in at least 15 years, probably more. Their schedule lightens up over the next three weeks (Broncos, Browns, Cardinals), and two Raiders meetings loom in December. Home-field advantage will be within reach.

A franchise that’s found uniquely painful ways to torment supporters in January now looks like the team with the best shot of ending the Patriots' run. But the Chiefs should not view Sunday’s dominance as a reason to believe their defense is reliable. Deficiencies exist on all three levels for the No. 26 DVOA unit.

The AFC leaders need to strongly consider acquiring help before the Oct. 30 trade deadline. 

These chances are not normal for this franchise. The Chiefs are much closer to a Super Bowl berth than just about anyone (probably even the Chiefs themselves) envisioned before the season. If it takes future draft capital to ensure the AFC playoffs go through Missouri, the Chiefs need to be buyers.

This is the Chiefs’ best championship opportunity since the 1990s, when they held the AFC’s No. 1 seed twice in a three-year span. They went 0-2 in the playoffs those years and are 1-11 since a win over the '93 Oilers. Footage of the Chiefs’ last Super Bowl cameo is almost 50 years old. 

The best window-maximization move would be making the Cardinals a legitimate offer for Patrick Peterson. But the Cards have gone all out to insist the three-time All-Pro cornerback isn’t available. 

General manager Brett Veach accepted the Rams' modest Marcus Peters offer, and the Chiefs have tried to cope with three career slot corners as their top three cover men. Both Steven Nelson and Orlando Scandrick have improved after a rough start, but the Nelson-Scandrick-Kendall Fuller troika isn't a great deterrent in a playoff assignment against the Patriots or Steelers — both of whom eliminated recent Chiefs teams with better defenses.

The twofold problem the Chiefs face prior to the deadline: There aren’t many sellers; and corners who may be on a non-Peterson trade block aren’t playing especially well despite displaying better form in past seasons.

• Janoris Jenkins is probably the next best piece behind Peterson, but he’s struggling — at least, in the view of Pro Football Focus, which lists him as its No. 90 corner this season. And a recent contract restructure inflated his future cap numbers ($14.75 million in 2019 and '20).
• Jimmie Ward is in a contract year and can offer versatility after being tugged between corner and safety in San Francisco. Playing on a fifth-year option, he doesn’t look to be in the 49ers’ long-term plans.
• Would Cleveland general manager John Dorsey send E.J. Gaines to Kansas City? The Browns are still in asset-collecting mode, and Gaines is more a stopgap than a long-term contributor.

Veach was ready to acquire Earl Thomas, but there isn’t a comparable safety available. Tre Boston has played well for the free-falling Cardinals and is on a one-year, $1.5M deal. If the Chiefs get Eric Berry back, he almost certainly won’t be what he was because of time off and a potentially significant pain management issue. Middling-at-best starter Daniel Sorensen is on the way back from IR, but this Chiefs secondary isn’t going to scare the AFC’s quarterback royalty.

Kansas City’s also relying on Dee Ford as its top edge rusher. While Ford (five sacks, 13 quarterback hits) is delivering in a contract year, he’s authored an inconsistent career. The Chiefs could use a bench weapon behind Ford and Justin Houston or insurance against another injury to the starters. Two sellers, the Bills and Cardinals, have assets that would help.

• PFF’s No. 1 2018 edge defender, Lorenzo Alexander, is on an expiring, cheap deal (barely $2M remaining on his 2018 salary) at age 35 and delivered his best season as a 3-4 edge player (12.5 sacks in 2016). The Chiefs and Bills made two trades last year: the franchise-changing Patrick Mahomes pick swap and the Reggie Ragland deal.
• Shaq Lawson has been available for many months. The 2016 first-rounder has played only 127 snaps this season.
• Former University of Missouri standout Markus Golden (12.5 sacks in 2016) is in a walk year and may not be in the Cardinals’ long-term plans, with Arizona now using a 4-3 scheme that’s also marginalized linebackers Deone Bucannon and Haason Reddick.
• Neither of K.C.'s run-defender inside linebackers — Ragland and Anthony Hitchens, the latter posting a dominant run-stopping 2017 season — has rescued a defense that’s allowed three 150-yard rushing games. Covering backs has also been a big problem, though third-round rookie Dorian O'Daniel has flashed in limited duty. That could possibly dissuade a trade for Bucannon, a converted safety on a fifth-year option. Reddick (who could be controlled through 2021) would profile as a pass-rush weapon — his college role — but require more trade compensation than Bucannon would.

The Chiefs hold less than $4M in cap space, but a restructure could create enough room for a veteran contract or fifth-year option salary.

Mahomes' rookie contract may now be the NFL's most valuable, and he's tied to it through at least 2019. Rookie QB deals allow for more veteran expenses. This luxury played key roles in the Seahawks and Eagles winning titles, and the Rams are pushing the strategy to its limits. The Chiefs’ attempt at bolstering their roster -- deals for Hitchens (five years, $45M) and Sammy Watkins (three/$48M) — hasn't gone as well. Watkins' money could have been allocated to multiple defenders. Paying the offense's No. 4 option $16M per year helped create deadline-week needs.

Veach will have to weigh the cost of parting with draft capital against adding complementary pieces for a championship-caliber team. None of the non-Peterson contingent here would cost the Chiefs a first-rounder or one of its two 2019 second-rounders. A 6-1, championship-starved team should not be worried about sacrificing Day 3 draft capital when it's in this position.

Teams are too hesitant to surrender late-round picks for proven talent, and the Chiefs hoping their incumbent defenders can hold up against Tom Brady-, Ben Roethlisberger- and Philip Rivers-piloted attacks may haunt them — even with an offense this powerful.

Chiefs brass should be willing to trade some later-round picks in hopes the payoff can lead to the 2018 team reaching a long-sought-after destination. The reward far outweighs the risk.