Let’s Argue: “The Chiefs don’t need Tyreek Hill”

Welcome to this week’s edition of Let’s Argue!

Inspired by a video series created by music reviewer Anthony Fantano, Robert Rimpson’s weekly series takes a look at hot takes, unpopular opinions, wacky predictions and more from Kansas City Chiefs fans.

The cornerbacks aren’t that big of an issue

I’ll say this: the secondary had an okay game against Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday — but they still have some big problems.

At first glance, the boxscore from that game looks favorable for the cornerbacks. Jackson’s completion rate was under 50%, Baltimore wide receivers barely caught any passes and the Chiefs had six total pass deflections. But if you take a closer look, you’ll see that Tyrann Mathieu was the only member of the secondary to get a pass deflection (he had three all by himself) and if you watch tape of the game, you’ll see that a lot of the incompletions were just inaccurate throws from Jackson — not great defense from the corners.

You’ll even see that Kendall Fuller and Charvarius Ward each had an opportunity to make a play on what were essentially Hail Marys. In both cases, they failed to make a play — and allowed huge completions that kept the Ravens in the game.

Are they as bad as they were last year? Who knows? But they still have problems that good offenses will exploit — and that’s a big issue to me.

The Chiefs don’t need Tyreek Hill

To me, this is a very interesting take — and poses an even greater question: should the Chiefs trade Hill for Jalen Ramsey?

The more I think about it, the harder it is to deny the logic. Have the Chiefs proven they are the NFL’s best offense even without Hill? Yes. Are the Chiefs deep at wide receiver and thin at cornerback? Yes. Would Ramsey give the Chiefs a better chance to win the Super Bowl? Absolutely. The team would even have more money to give Ramsey the contract he wants if they traded Hill for him.

Despite all those great points, I don’t think they should trade Hill. Maybe the team doesn’t need Tyreek Hill, but players like him do not grow on trees. I don’t think you let a once-in-a-generational talent go unless you’re desperate — and for now, the Chiefs are far from desperate.

Besides... imagine how unstoppable they’ll be when Hill returns.

I dislike the Chiefs

How’d that get in here? Is that our sister SBNation site Baltimore Beatdown? Whatever you do, don’t click on this link and read their great column about Baltimore’s loss to the Chiefs.

Andy Reid needs to keep his foot on the gas

I understand the frustration with games being closer than they need to be — but at least to some extent, I disagree with this take.

If Reid plans on taking it easy against every opponent whenever he’s up big, then I agree: he needs to be more aggressive. But believe it or not, when you’re ahead by a lot, there are some positives to less-aggressive play calling.

Most important of these is that there’s a smaller likelihood that Patrick Mahomes will get hurt. The more often Mahomes has to sit back in the pocket behind this offensive line, the more chance there is that he will sustain another ankle injury.

Think about it. With Mahomes under center, when was the last time the Chiefs lost a game because they were coasting with a big lead? Whenever it looks like they’re in trouble, they just flip the offense switch back to on and score again. It’s a lot like how the NBA’s Golden State Warriors were at their peak.

I believe when it’s time to face other Super Bowl contenders, Reid will likely stay aggressive out of respect — but for now, I trust Mahomes and the offense enough to know when it’s time to turn it up.

Offense doesn’t travel in the playoffs

Hopefully the Chiefs won’t be traveling — because they earned the number one seed.

But seriously... I think if an offense is good enough, it can be the exception to some of these “playoff rules.” The Chiefs haven’t played a road playoff game since Mahomes became the starter; we’ll have to cross that bridge when (and if) we come to it.

Arrowhead needs a roof

I’ve thought about this a lot — especially after the heavy rainfall we had on Sunday. If they were to consider it, I think the Chiefs might ask taxpayers to help pay for a roof. So who knows how people would feel about that?

But Patrick Mahomes playing with the loudest fans in the world — inside a dome? Sign me up.