Kansas City Chiefs stock report: The closing bell

When the bell rings at 4 p.m. on Wall Street, the market is closed and traders take a minute to reflect on their day. They use the rest of their day to finish up other tasks, return phone calls, and eventually head home to see their families. The bell rang on the 2016 season with the Chiefs coming up painfully short one last time. Chiefs fans are like the Macy’s CEO in the picture, standing in an empty room, half-smiling and wondering what just happened. There’s a chance now for the team to self scout and look back, not only on this week’s game, but on the season as a whole. Changes will come over the next few months but for now, let’s reflect on a terrific regular season and a frustrating playoff game.

This week’s final stock report will try to capture those players that helped or hurt their stock the most over the course of this season as a whole.

Stock Up

Ramik Wilson

Wilson stepped in from the practice squad after a bunch of injuries at the inside linebacker position, and generally did well for himself. He ended the season with 76 tackles, one forced fumble, one interception, including a 13 tackle game against San Diego and a 15 tackle game against Pittsburgh. Not only was Ramik improved, he looked overall like a competent starting inside linebacker. When he’s aggressive and attacking in the run game, he can rack up the tackles. He still needs to improve at getting off of blocks, but Ramik appears to have a future with the Chiefs. He’ll have competition next year from a healthy Justin March-Lillard and maybe Josh Mauga or other

Chris Jones

The first defensive snap of the Chiefs playoff game on Sunday is why fans should be giddy about the future for Chris Jones. He instantly beat the interior of the Pittsburgh line and nearly got to the QB. Jones exceeded expectations this season, even if the 26 tackles and two sack stat line didn’t show it. Jones demonstrated brute strength, short area quickness, and even deflected four passes when he couldn’t get to the QB. The Chiefs nailed the 2016 draft, starting with getting Jones after a trade down. He’s a top d-line talent.

Tyreek Hill

The most controversial Chiefs draft pick turned into the team’s most explosive and exciting player in his rookie season. The Steelers defended him well, and the Chiefs should have been able to capitalize with their other playmakers. Obviously, they didn’t, but that doesn’t take away from the breakout performances Hill had on nearly a weekly basis in the 2016 campaign.

Stock Down

Phillip Gaines

His struggles staying healthy are well documented, but Gaines also struggled on the field at times this season. He ended up playing on special teams only, passed on the depth chart by multiple other Chiefs cornerbacks. Gaines has the ability to be a top cover corner, but his opportunities are running out with the Chiefs.

Charcandrick West

The fumble against Pittsburgh was strange and frustrating and a microcosm of West’s season. It was one of only three touches in the game, the other two were receptions. West had his moments this season, including the two touchdown performance against San Diego. But it’s safe to say the year was a disappointment overall. Only 294 yards rushing and 188 yards receiving for Moosey, and three total touchdowns. He clearly wasn’t healthy for much of the year, and didn’t get the opportunities that Ware did. Coming into the season, after Ware and West signed matching contracts, and hoping that Jamaal Charles would be healthy at some point ... the run game was expected to be a dominant strength. It turned out to be a weakness for the Chiefs, largely because Charles never really made it back, and West wasn’t able to make the most of the void Charles left behind.

Stock Flat

Mitch Schwartz

There were times when Schwartz’s season was described as disappointing. It now seems likely that those times were when he was suffering from an ankle injury. Schwartz was a stabilizing force on the right side of the offensive line, and brought the level of competency and professionalism we expected when adding him in free agency this year.

Eric Fisher

Don’t call this game the “Eric Fisher hold game”. The call was correct, but not consistently called, and brutal in that situation. Fisher matured into a GOOD NFL left tackle this season. He can still become a GREAT left tackle, but he’s not quite there. What we do know is that Fisher and Schwartz are locked into the Chiefs offensive line as bookend tackles that are generally reliable and competent. With them in place, the entire offensive line has a chance to be good, and maybe great.

Alex Smith

Smith is what he is. A good QB, not an elite QB. He didn’t play poorly, but didn’t do enough to carry his team to victory. He’s a big reason why the Chiefs were 12-4, and there were times this season when he DID carry the team to a victory (example: the Week 1 comeback). The story on Smith has always been that he won’t lose you games with turnovers. This season illustrated what happens when he did have bad turnovers ... arguably cost the team wins versus Houston, Tampa Bay and Tennessee. The Chiefs need to invest in their quarterback of the future this offseason, but not do anything rash with Smith. Think of it this way: QB purgatory is better than QB hell. Ask Cleveland, San Francisco, Houston, Los Angeles, Denver and others. We all want to see the Chiefs with an elite QB, but there simply aren’t that many available. Until KC finds one, Smith is what he is.

Dontari Poe

In a contract year, we expected Poe to dominate. Perhaps his most dominant performances this season were on the goal line offense. On defense, Poe was consistent and strong at the point of attack, but didn’t make the kinds of elite plays expected of an elite nose tackle looking to get elite money. It will be interesting to see how the negotiations for Poe go this offseason. He’s a valuable player, but the question is how valuable?

Spencer Ware

It’s not easy to categorize Ware’s season. He ran hard, and at times in 2016 was the spark for the Chiefs offense. He ended the season with 921 yards rushing, 447 yards receiving and five total touchdowns, and a 4.3 yards per carry average. That’s not bad ... it’s just not what I had hoped for Spencer Ware. He’s shown he can be a big part of the offense, but also that he needs a complementary speed back to help carry the load. We’ll see in 2017 who the other backs are, but it’s possible that we got a little ahead of ourselves when we thought Ware was an elite featured running back that could carry the entire offense.

Here’s a look at the entire roster: