What is the biggest question for the Kansas City Chiefs?

By: Jake Rajala

The Patrick Mahomes-led Kansas City Chiefs are confident that they can notch another Super Bowl victory and not decay in a similar way that the Russell Wilson-led Seahawks did after their lone SB win. With that stated, I’m going to simply pose the five biggest questions facing the reigning AFC West champions at this moment.

• What is the ceiling for Skyy Moore?

Mina Kimes and the rest of the NFL world feel confident in Travis Kelce’s ability to demolish opposing defenses. It is also anticipated that JuJu Smith-Schuster ousts 1,000+ receiving yards. Although, the question is: how productive will the rookie Skyy Moore be in his first season? I believe Moore is the real x-factory in the Chiefs offense and they will need him to perform at a high level to finish ahead of the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals in my opinion.

• Will Justin Reid play at a high level?

The Chiefs made a questionable decision to allow the Honey Badger to exit the building. They brought in Justin Reid, who is five years younger than Mathieu. Reid may be noticeable younger than Mathieu, but he still needs to be a strong replacement for the former Chiefs All-Pro safety in the near future. Reid had a 50.8 grade by PFF last season, per PFF. The former Stanford ball-hawk will need to return to the player that he was as a rookie (75.2 grade by PFF) and sophomore (76.7 grade) in 2022.

• Will Patrick Mahomes improve his turnover rate?

Patrick Mahomes is undoubtedly a gifted quarterback. Nonetheless, he is still human and he needs to improve his turnover habits. He threw a career-high 13 interceptions last season and he nearly had countless more interceptions. He needs to really be on his toes in the much improved AFC West division, as any AFC West team could upset KC if Mahomes makes 1-2 big mistakes against them.

• Will Chris Jones and Frank Clark stay healthy?

The Chiefs had two Pro Bowlers (Chris Jones and Frank Clark) on their defensive line last season. Unfortunately, Jones (career-high three missed games) and Clark (career-high three missed games) missed a chunk of playing time. It will be extremely important that Jones and Clark can stay on the field and help their Badger-less defense moving forward.

• Will Harrison Butker be Mr. Reliable?

The Chiefs will have plenty of fireworks on offense and they should also expect a modest performance by their defense. Yet, they will also rely on their kicker Harrison Butker to be a clutch performer. Butker has had an 88% FG% in each season of his career. They will need him to continue to be a Pro Bowl-caliber kicker and not miss a long field goal in pivotal moments.