LA Chargers: The biggest weakness for each AFC West foe in 2022
By Jason Reed
Kansas City Chiefs: The entire defensive side of the ball
The Kansas City Chiefs have made it work without having a top-tier defense in recent years but the 2022 version of the defense could be the worst that it has been since Patrick Mahomes took over at quarterback for KC.
The Chiefs are losing some significant players and the players they are retaining are going to get worse with age. Sure, they will be able to fill some holes with the draft but that is trusting a lot out of a draft class that does not have a top-25 pick.
Kansas City is likely losing some massive names in the secondary in the likes of Tyrann Mathieu and Charvarius Ward. They did sign Justin Reid but he is a far cry from being those two players.
Frank Clark and Chris Jones are only regressing with age and the team is likely going to lose Melvin Ingram, who really helped them as a midseason addition last year as it allowed the team to put Chris Jones back inside as he struggled on the edge.
The Chiefs allowed 21.4 points per game last season and it ranked eighth in the NFL. Some Chiefs fans may not worry about the defense because of that but in reality, those defensive numbers were a mirage as Kansas City played some terrible quarterbacks during the middle of last season. They still allowed 27 or more points in eight of the 17 games.
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Kansas City's offense is as lethal as it comes, especially with the addition of Juju Smith-Schuster. However, the rest of the division is catching up with them and KC's defense could result in them not winning the division for the first time since 2015.