What we learned about the Chiefs this week

Mahomes Magic Crunch is leaving store shelves soon

The weekend brought news that Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ signature cereal was ending its run.

When it first appeared on store shelves, it was difficult to obtain. But as time passed, it wasn’t unusual to see large stacked displays of the cereal at local Hy-Vee stores.

But according to Public Label Brands Sports, Inc. — the firm that produced the cereal for the grocery chain — the days of scarcity are returning.

“If you want a Mahomes box, I’d go get it right now because we are absolutely a thousand percent not doing more of those,” PLBS owner Ty Ballou told Grathoff. “Hopefully, the people who want it have one, but if you want to add one to your collection, I would go out in the next week.”

Two bargain free agents who could pay dividends for the Chiefs

Also over the weekend, Arrowhead Pride reader saints_chiefsfan1979 contributed a FanPost that generated some discussion, arguing that Los Angeles Chargers linebacker Jatavis Brown and New York Giants wide receiver Corey Coleman could solve some roster problems at a bargain-basement price.

The Chiefs are in a tight spot against the cap — and need to find cheap, explosive talent. Neither of these players should cost more than the league minimum. The team has done well with several other lower-tier free agents. If they want to stay Super Bowl favorites in upcoming seasons, they must continue to do so. With Mahomes about to be paid a s fortune, it is imperative to find players who can overperform their contracts. Coleman and Brown might be a good place to start.

Patrick Mahomes: “It’s not about the top; it’s about the process of getting there”

On Monday, John recapped Mahomes’ appearance on the HBO series “The Shop: Uninterrupted,” where he talked about the team’s Super Bowl win — and his growth and goals.

From an excerpt of the show released late last week, we had already learned that Mahomes would admit to the other guests that he “didn’t understand how to read defenses until like halfway through last year,” and hoped to learn enough “to go out there and call plays and do that different stuff.” In the full episode, he expanded on that theme — recalling a red zone situation in the Week 15 game against the Denver Broncos.

“I remember [when] we played the Broncos in the snow. We had kind of moved the ball well in the red zone and they had played zone coverage every single time. And so I wanted to call a [play for that coverage], but Coach Reid called a man-beater. He was like, ‘Nah, I want to call this man-beater right now.’ I looked at Coach and I was like, ‘What are we doing?’ [But] we got out there, and those dudes were playing man coverage. Touchdown.

“He knew it,” Mahomes marveled. “I want to be able to be on that level.”

Five things that stood out from the Chiefs’ Super Bowl video

Tuesday was a day we had marked on our calendars, as it was the release date for the NFL Films DVD of the Chiefs’ 2019 season. Pete reviewed his advance copy of the film.

3. Eric Bieniemy, Mahomes and Frank Clark shine.

Throughout the film, it becomes clear why Andy Reid feels so strongly about offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy being able to lead a team. In Week 2 against the Oakland Raiders, Bieniemy calms Mahomes down while emphasizing team football. During the first game against the Tennessee Titans, he tells the offense it could score “70 points on their ass if we stop playing against ourselves.” And then against the Patriots, he would not let the Chiefs relent because they wouldn’t give the Chiefs the “benefit of the doubt.”

When the Chiefs were down 24-0 against the Texans, it wasn’t just Mahomes who rallied the team. Frank Clark is seen hyping up the defensive unit and keeping it in the game. Earlier in the season — in the Chiefs’ game against the Los Angeles Chargers — Clark shouted at cornerback Michael Davis, explaining how he left his ankles on the Chiefs’ sideline after being juked by Sammy Watkins.

Chiefs and Chris Jones will have to move fast under new schedule

On Monday, the NFL Players Association extended the deadline for players to vote on the new Collective Bargaining Agreement — and then the next day, agreed with the league to extend the window in which teams can apply franchise and transition tags to their players, essentially compressing a window that usually last for weeks into a period measured in hours.

The results of the player voting will (presumably) be known sometime on Sunday — perhaps in the early morning hours. Sometime after that, we expect to learn the total salary cap allotment for each team.

From then until 11 a.m. on Monday, there should be an avalanche of official tag designations — probably including Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones. We might also see a lot of player releases and signings — which might include Chiefs wide receiver Sammy Watkins. These kinds of moves are typically spread out over the two-week tagging window, but will now take place in a period no longer than 36 hours.

This will immediately be followed by the usual madness of the legal tampering period and the official start of free agency.

It’s going to be crazy.

Chiefs receive no compensatory picks in 2020 NFL Draft

With only five picks in the upcoming NFL Draft, the Chiefs were hoping to snag a pick or two from the NFL’s mysterious compensatory draft picks formula. But on Tuesday, we learned the team would have no such luck.

The Kansas City Chiefs were awarded one sixth-round compensatory pick last season, using it to select running back Darwin Thompson.

But there won’t be any additional picks in 2020.

A total of 32 compensatory choices in the 2020 NFL Draft have been awarded to 15 teams, including third-rounders to the Houston Texans, New England Patriots, Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens. The Denver Broncos, who received one fifth-rounder and two seventh-rounders, were the only team in the AFC West to receive a compensatory selection. The Patriots led the league with four additional selections.

10 Chiefs statistics to keep in mind this offseason

Also on Tuesday, Ron gathered up some significant statistics from the Chiefs’ championship season that could be important to remember as the team pursues its offseason agenda.

Tanoh Kpassagnon was third on the team in pressures with 16 and tackles for loss with 11

After the injuries to defensive ends Alex Okafor and Emmanuel Ogbah, Kpassagnon was put in a position where he needed to succeed. It’s fair to say he was significant for the defense down the stretch.

Kpassagnon’s most important performance was the AFC championship: He totaled two sacks and a pass defensed. Going into his contract year in 2020 (his age 26 season), it’s possible that Kpassagnon could take another step forward.

The Chiefs’ best defensive end fits in free agency and the draft

Recapping the Wednesday episode of the Arrowhead Pride Laboratory, Kent argued that re-signing Emmanuel Ogbah would be the ideal move for getting a defensive end in free agency — and pointed out that in the draft, the Chiefs’ best fit might be Miami’s Jonathan Garvin.

Garvin fits the profile that Spagnuolo has historically coveted at the defensive end position. He’s 6 feet 4, 263 pounds, with 34-inch arms and will still be 20 years old still on draft day.

There is still a lot of projection left to his game, and his best football is certainly ahead of him. Brendan Daly would have plenty to work with in Garvin, who gives great effort, has powerful hands and is strong at the point of attack. He helped himself immensely with an excellent performance at the NFL Combine, posting an elite broad and vertical jump. While that explosion doesn’t always show up in his get-off at the line of scrimmage, Garvin can rush with power and disrupt the quarterback. If the Chiefs took him late day two or day three, I’d be thrilled.

The Chiefs have a statement on the coronavirus

On Thursday, “postponed,” “suspended” and “cancelled” were the words of the day, as sports leagues and teams responded to the developing COVID-19 outbreak. The Chiefs issued an official statement.

All non-essential Chiefs personnel have been instructed to work remotely for a minimum of 14 days beginning Monday, March 16. Additionally, we have suspended business travel and all non-essential travel for our coaches and scouts for the time being as we continue to monitor the impact of COVID-19.

Andy Reid sounds uncertain when it comes to free agent-to-be Chris Jones

On Friday morning, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid appeared on local radio — and what he said (and the way he said it) didn’t sound like he expected defensive end Chris Jones to be on the team in 2020. Right on cue, late on Friday afternoon, Jones issued a tweet suggesting the same thing.

“Chris is a part of this team, a big part of this team — he helped us get where we were,” said Reid, before pivoting. “It’s crazy because in this business, we’re all expendable. That’s been proven over and over again. On the other hand, you’d like to keep everybody. But that’s not real. So would we like to keep Chris? Sure. But things happen in this business, and we’re all players and coaches. We’re all used to that, and so if he’s here, great, man. That’s a great thing. If he’s not, we’re going to keep plowing, man, and keep moving on, and we expect somebody else to step up and fill in that position. We get all of that... You’ve been in this thing long enough, I think we understand that. I think the fans understand that.”