The Chiefs' Weakened Secondary Matters More Than Ever

The Denver Broncos traded for Jaylen Waddle, which pushes their wide receiver room to the top of the AFC West. The Chiefs' receiving room rivals theirs, but outside of that, no other team in their division has a receiver as dynamic as Waddle.

The Broncos should be the Chiefs' fiercest competitors next season, as they're the team that stepped up and claimed the division as theirs after the Chiefs let their decade-long stranglehold go. The Chiefs' weakened secondary now looks a lot worse with this development.

A silver lining for the Chiefs is that the other teams in their division aren't packing a lot of heat in the receiving department. The Las Vegas Raiders have Brock Bowers, but even with their efforts to improve their receiving room this offseason, Jalen Nailor and Tre Tucker shouldn't strike fear in their secondary.

The same goes with the Los Angeles Chargers. Their biggest strength is running the ball, and as shifty as Ladd McConkey is, I don't think he's anything the Chiefs' secondary can't handle. If Quentin Johnston gets it together, he could be a problem, but that's a big if. Another good sign for their secondary is that they didn't leave it out to dry completely.

Alohi Gilman has plenty of familiarity in their division, and Kader Kohou is an ascending young corner. They'll also have Nohl Williams in his second year, and he's coming off a promising rookie season. Steve Spagnuolo's defensive playcalling will be put to the test next season, with a secondary that's lacking star power.

Waddle adds another layer of explosiveness to the Broncos' offense, an offense that's shown to consistently give the Chiefs problems. I don't think the Chiefs will regret trading away McDuffie. That first-round pick carries a lot of value, but they'd better hope their secondary gets fixed quickly because the AFC West just got a new star, and he's here to stay.