More passing from the Kansas City Chiefs in 2014?

The Kansas City Chiefs passed more in 2013 than we've seen in previous years due mostly to Andy Reid and his offense. You can expect that to continue in 2014.

Mike Clay of Pro Football Focus and Rotoworld has done some cool work on how often teams throw the ball vs. rushing it. He found that last season the Chiefs had an expected pass rate of 58 percent based on what other teams had done in similar situations. The Chiefs actual pass rate was 62 percent. (Note that these are counting called pass plays, so a quarterback scramble would be a pass.)

For the 2014 season, Clay projects the Chiefs will pass 64 percent of the time. Here's why:

Getting heat on the Chiefs rankings, which is weird. Andy Reid historically pass-heavy. KC was 12th pass-heaviest last yr despite going 11-5

— Mike Clay (@MikeClayNFL) July 8, 2014

...Chiefs led on 53% of 2013 snaps (4th highest). Balanced coach wouldve ran a lot more. They'll regress in 2014 = More passing

— Mike Clay (@MikeClayNFL) July 8, 2014

If the Chiefs regress, this makes sense to me. They'll be playing from behind more, which means they'll be passing more.

The way Andy Reid got Jamaal Charles the ball last season, I wasn't too upset with the pass / run split. Some of those shorter passing plays to Jamaal operate the same as a rushing play. And Jamaal was very good at those last year.

Also, this marks the first time this year (I believe) we've talked about how much Andy Reid passes. Expect roughly two dozen more of these posts before the end of the year.