Chiefs under-25 talent ranked behind Chargers, Raiders and Broncos

I remember when the Kansas City Chiefs were one of the youngest teams in the league with just a couple of players over 30 years old. That was a few years ago and as it turns out you get older as time passes (who knew?).

So who are the Chiefs next wave of younger players coming out? ESPN recently ranked every team's under 25 years old talent and the Chiefs ranked ... not all that great. They were 24th in the NFL. The Chiefs were ranked 23rd last year.

That is one spot BEHIND the Denver Broncos. Indeed, ESPN's sees Denver's under-25 talent as better than the Chiefs. The Chargers are ranked 11th while the Raiders are all the way up to 13th from 31st (!!!) last year. Meanwhile, the Cowboys were the top ranked team while the Seahawks were ranked last.

I read ESPN's writeup on the Chiefs in this ranking and I was about to throw the whole thing out because they didn't mention Travis Kelce but he actually does not qualify because he's 25 now.

The hope with Eric Fisher is that he turns into a competent left tackle (and he may be close to that). But ESPN is right, he's not going to be dominating at the level that folks think of with a No. 1 pick. The other tackle, Donald Stephenson, is already 26 years old so he doesn't qualify.

If WR De'Anthony Thomas continues to develop he could be one of the league's top return men. Look at last year's Seahawks game as an example of his ceiling. He impacted that game with and without the ball.

WRs Albert Wilson, Chris Conley and the other young receivers are all basically unknown. We're hoping that they turn into something but we either don't know (Conley) or we're working with a small sample size (Wilson).

Other under-25 players I'm excited about:

• CB Phillip Gaines looks like a starting cornerback.
• So does CB Marcus Peters.
• LB Dee Ford surprised me last week. Could he be turning into a complete linebacker?
• TE James O'Shaughnessy is looking like someone who will stick.