As pretty much all football fans know by now, the Super Bowl LIV matchup this season was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. the Kansas City Chiefs.  With that said, both teams have had extremely different offseasons in terms of the draft and how they worked on their roster.  The Buccaneers have been more tame and kept all 22 of their SB starters, while the Chiefs have been revamping their roster quite a bit.

In this article, I will be going over which of these two teams is more likely to repeat their conference championship wins and return for SB 56 this coming season.

Signings/Cutting Comparison

Like I mentioned previously, these two teams have had vastly different offseasons.  The Buccaneers retained every starting 22 player from last season, while making a few signings such as:

• RB – Giovanni Bernard
• LB ”“ Ladarius Hamilton
• CB ”“ Nate Brooks
• CB ”“ Dee Delaney

Overall, they have not made too many moves to change their roster from last season, they are taking the “don’t fix what’s not broken” approach to things.  

Meanwhile the Chiefs have had a complete overhaul of a few different positions, and have really been moving their team around.  Their signings and cuts look as such:

Additions:

• OT Orlando Brown (via trade)
• RB Jerrick McKinnon (signing)
• LB Kamalei Correa (signing)
• G Kyle Long (signing)
• G Joe Thuney (Signing)
• C Austin Blythe (signing)
• CB Mike Hughes (via trade)

As well as other depth pieces.  In terms of losses however, they have the following:

• RT Mitchell Schwartz (released)
• LT Eric Fisher (released)
• WR Tajae Sharpe (released)

The Chiefs have definitely added more than they have lost as of now, and have made major additions to their offensive line.  The Chiefs have definitely made more productive moves than the Buccaneers have, as the Bucs were more focused on re-signings and tagging their players.

Major Draft Picks

In total the Bucs had seven draft picks that they used, and the Chiefs had six, so they were relatively close in quantity.  In terms of quality, the Bucs had a first round pick while the Chiefs did not (due to the Orlando Brown trade).  With that said, both teams got relatively even value our of their picks, both for future needs and current needs.

The biggest three players I would mention for the Buccaneers are Joe Tryon LB from Washington, Kyle Trask QB from Florida, and Jaelon Darden WR from North Texas.  Tryon will be a fantastic addition to the Bucs 3-4 defense, where they already have Jason Pierre-Paul (may move to edge with this draft pick), Devin White, Lavonte Davis, and Shaquil Barrett.  Kyle Trask is much more of a future pick, where he will learn from Tom Brady up until his eventual retirement, in which Trask will be prepared to take over.  Jalen Darden is just a nice speed addition to the receiving core who will likely fill the role of Antonio Brown once he either retires or leaves.

The three biggest Chiefs picks were Nick Bolton LB from Missouri, Creed Humphrey C from Oklahoma, and Cornell Powell WR from Clemson.  Nick Bolton will be a fantastic addition to the Chiefs front-7 where his run stopping and pure strength based game will be hugely helpful for KC.  Creed Humphrey will fill the center role likely between Thuney and Kyle Long, where he can learn from both while starting at this rate.  Finally Cornell Powell, who while being a relatively raw prospect could take over as WR2 in a year or two time.

Conclusion

Overall, factoring in divisions and offseason moves, the Chiefs should have the better shot to make the Super Bowl again next season.  Despite the Buccaneers retaining their starters, the Chiefs have new weapons to work with and hypothetically what should be an easier division depending upon how the Saints, Panthers, and Chargers all perform.

The post Are the Chiefs or Buccaneers more likely to return to the Super Bowl? appeared first on Pro Football Mania.

Why didn’t Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs win Super Bowl LV?

By: Martin Williams

One year on from winning their first Super Bowl in 50 years, and days after a crushing defeat to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as they looked to defend their title, the Kansas City Chiefs have a long offseason to think about what could have been. 

We take a look back at what changed in 12 months, and the four things that stopped them from taking the Lombardi Trophy back to Arrowhead Stadium;

1. Even the best quarterbacks need protection
Since he began as the starter in KC three years ago, there’s not a lot Mahomes hasn’t achieved. He’s set record after record. In his first year as a starter he became the league MVP and in his second he went one further, helping the Chiefs to the Super Bowl title, being named Super Bowl MVP in the process. He’s achieved more in three years than many will in their careers. But if Super Bowl 55 taught us anything, it’s that even the best need protection. 

There aren’t too many better than Mahomes when it comes to escaping pressure. In fact, the Chiefs are probably at their most dangerous when Mahomes gets out of the pocket before going off script. 

But Tampa Bay’s front lived in the Chiefs backfield on Sunday. Injuries to offensive linemen Mitchell Shwartz in week six and Eric Fisher in the AFC Championships game were too much to overcome against the Bucs. The signs were there during the Chiefs first set of downs, with Mahomes facing pressure from a relentless Bucs front. Mahomes scrambled for a staggering 497 yards during 60 minutes of game time. That one stat paints a picture of what went wrong on the night.

2. They were playing Tom Brady, not Jimmy G
In Super Bowl 54 the Chiefs faced a sturdy defense in the San Francisco 49ers that for the large part kept them at bay. They as good as nullified the Chiefs for three quarters only for Mahomes and running back Damien Williams to get it done late on. 

But as the Chiefs were unable to put points on the board against the Bucs, Tom Brady and his array of weapons went to work on Kansas. The trio of Antonio Brown, Mike Evans and Chris Godwin alongside tight end Rob Gronkowski, are as good as any in the league, and with Brady conducting things, they were always going to put points on the board. Against a Chiefs secondary that had impressed in their playoff run were no match for a Brady-led offense that wasn’t about to let the opportunity slip.

3. Mistakes proved costly
Against the very best teams in the NFL, making mistakes can be costly. KC made too many in Super Bowl 55. 

On offense, despite the pressure Mahomes was under, he still managed to find his receivers on several occasions. He threw for 270 yards on the night, and it could’ve been more but for three or four key drops from his receivers. The most memorable pass of the night was actually incomplete, with Mahomes scrambling and releasing the ball whilst horizontal to the ground, only for it to go through the hands of Darrell Williams in the end zone. 

On the other side of the ball, penalties in the first half gave Tampa all the encouragement they needed. Two penalties in succession, with the second against Tyrann Mathieu, put Tampa down at the one-yard line with seconds remaining on the clock in the second quarter. A touchdown followed, and Tampa didn’t really look back.

It’s rare that you can question Head Coach Andy Reid too, but his decision to take a time-out on that very drive just before the half, also proved costly. That and an inability to change the game plan when it clearly wasn’t working. They’re a pass-first team, but it took the Chiefs until mid way through the third quarter before they really got running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire in to the game. It should’ve happened sooner.

4. Tampa learned from their week 12 loss
In week 12, Kansas were 17-0 up after a first quarter that saw Tyreek Hill torch the Bucs for more than 200 yards. Tampa learned from their mistakes come the Super Bowl. By pressuring Mahomes, and by putting double-coverage on ”˜The Cheetah’ and Travis Kelce, they stopped the chunk plays that were so devastating in the regular season. 

Most teams have been trying to do the same thing to the Chiefs all season, the difference being that the Bucs were able to implement it with success. 

The Chiefs offence is anything but predictable, but they looked like they were out of ideas the longer the game went on. By taking away Mahomes’ first and second read, he was left running for his life, trying to create something from nothing. It was a masterful scheme from Bucs defensive coordinator Todd Bowles, and one that could get him another shot at a head-coaching role in the near future.

So, what does it all mean?
There’s no doubt that injuries to their offensive line were the key factor in their blowout loss. With Shwartz and Fisher available, it could well have been a different story. But the Chiefs now have an offseason to regroup, as they look to build the dynasty they continue to talk about. 

Mahomes is a generational talent. With Reid scheming up the offense, and with additions on the defensive side of the ball likely in this year’s draft, my bet is that they’ll be back in the Super Bowl next year, ready to put right what went wrong at Raymond James Stadium.

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