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5 Chiefs-Raiders thoughts: they’re missing Eric Berry

Team Honey Thunder

Demarcus Robinson has a chance to be a very good wide receiver. He flashed in the X role last night. Him and Chris Conley are different types of players and both added their personality to the role. Conley is bigger, a better blocker, more physically imposing and deliberate in his routes. Robinson has looser hips, a more diverse route tree and more upside as an explosive playmaker.

If he continues to play like this going into next year, there will be some interesting personnel decisions in 2018. Robinson has rapport with QBOTF Patrick Mahomes already. The Chiefs might have another good problem on their hands.

*Seinfeld voice* “Witzmann!”

If Brian Witzmann starts on October 30th against Denver, I have a hard time believing Parker Ehinger will see the field as a starter barring injury. If the Chiefs value that continuity on the line, I understand why they did it. However, Witzmann’s performance to this date doesn’t warrant the leash he’s been given. If Ehinger can’t reclaim the role, I’d add guard to the draft list.

Big Fish

Eric Fisher is underperforming his contract. The Chiefs invested heavily in him and Laurent Duvernay-Tardif as ascending players. Fisher hasn’t ascended and LDT has been hurt. I think both contracts may have had something to do with John Dorsey’s firing. He waited too long to re-sign Justin Houston and Eric Berry, so he was aggressive in locking up those two. With Mitch Morse’s extension looming (or not), the decisions aren’t getting easier. The offensive line isn’t terrible. You just can’t have a ton of money tied up in not terrible.

The Chiefs need an enforcer

I think the loss of Eric Berry is finally starting to catch up to the Chiefs. One of my biggest issues with the Chiefense is they lack a physical edge. Berry at times was the tone setter for the Chiefs last year. The Chiefs need that desperately. The defensive personnel has a lot of athletic players, but no bullies. Maybe if Justin Houston moved from safety (kidding, sorry) back to an edge defender, he could help provide that.

They’re going to win a lot of games

Finally, the Chiefs are probably winning 12 or 13 games. They’ve already won five games in their most difficult stretch of the season. They have one of the easiest remaining schedules in the NFL. As many issues have shown up the last two weeks, players start returning, the schedule starts to get easier, and the Chiefs are well positioned to peak at the most critical time of the year. That’s all that means anything to the current fanbase anyway. We’ve seen a lot of regular season wins. There’s a few January (and dare I say February?) demons to exorcise. The Chiefs are well positioned to have a great shot at doing it.

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