Chapter 1: What are the highlights of the Chiefs offseason?
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Hour number three of the program on Sports Radio 810 WHB. I'm your host, Jack Johnson, filling in for Seren Petro. Curtis Seabolt here. Kyle Collier is producing this thing. Going to be talking some Chiefs football. If you've been waiting for the first two hours, we're pretty much going to have you covered over the next hour.
And we're going to start hour number three with Price Carter, lead draft analyst over at Arrowhead Addict. First things first, Price, how are we doing this evening?
I'm good. I'm glad to finally get to talk to you as a loyal, locked-on Royals listener. It's good to finally talk to you, Jack.
It's good to talk to you over the airwaves as well. The other thing that would have made it better is being here in studio, but this will have to do for now, and we still have tons to cover over the next 30 minutes or so. I want to start with the wide receiver room, and no surprise I'm going there because of the news of Rasheed Rice and everything that came out last week.
Where do you stand on this group as a whole? I mean, maybe Rasheed Rice will be ready to go in week one, maybe not, but they still have a lack of depth there, in my opinion. So do you see them sticking with the group that they have? Do you see them going out and spending on somebody, going and trading for somebody?
Because I have to imagine, Price, you're not completely satisfied with the wide receiver room.
Yeah, I mean, the questions around Rasheed Rice, they're not going to get clarified for us for a while. The situation is so unique. There's just not really a precedent for a guy with him, which, you know, shout out to Rasheed Rice for continuing to do things in Kansas City that make us scratch our heads.
But I think the thing that jumps out to me the most about the wide receiver room right now is just they don't have a person that's a volume player. Taequann Thornton, his role is valuable and hopefully he's able to continue to stay on the field as he was kind of put into witness protection about halfway through for some reason.
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Chapter 2: How does Rasheed Rice's situation impact the wide receiver group?
And I think he's okay as a gadget player, but you know he's not going to be able to break tackles. And for what he is as far as speed-wise, he's not incredibly shifty. So he's just not going to juke players out of their shoes. So that's the spot that I think this year we've got to see another step be taken.
And I certainly think the injury, I mean, I think I saw in some of the social media clips that the Chiefs put out yesterday of OTAs, he's still in a non-contact jersey because he had that shoulder injury in January and had this repair on it. So they've definitely got to unlock him down the field more. And that's a big part of the game where he's got to step up.
And now Tyquan Thornton's there doing the downfield stuff too.
And his straight line speed, I think, is mitigated by his lack of
instincts and knowing how to use it if you run in any way the wrong direction or to a wrong spot doesn't matter how fast you are or if you don't know where to go once you catch the ball and what i'm thinking about most is one of the highlight plays of last year i've seen it a hundred times on social media since the end of last season was
On Thanksgiving in Dallas, Mahomes does something similar to the play in the Super Bowl against the Bucs where he's flushed out. He throws a crazy pass to a wide-open Xavier Worthy who then turns toward a defender instead of turning left where he would have easily outraced everyone to the end zone. He turns inside.
to his left into a defender and is tackled about five yards after he catches the ball my hope is that a new receivers coach and a new offensive coordinator can can fix that but that that's something he's got to if he's going to be a middle of the field threat he's got to be able to make those type of plays or else that the to me the speed is greatly mitigated
Yeah, and I mean, I'll be honest, Curtis. I don't know about you. I feel like I do not see the 4-2-1 speed on the field for him like you would Tyree Kill. It's the difference between fast and acceleration. Like Tyree Kill, you felt his speed in so many different ways because he got 0-60 so fast.
Even with Cole Hardman.
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Chapter 3: What are the concerns about Xavier Worthy's performance?
It's not going to be a situation that he's able to do so. And I do think that he's going to be missing out on stuff. It does help that he's someone who's been in the offense for a couple of years and knows the system. But the biggest thing that you talk about Rice and the reason why you can't put him in those conversations as a top 15, top 21 receiver is
the availability right like you we've not gotten to see to really find a great uh rishi rice that you got to go and cherry pick these games and then cherry pick these games and oh if you go over the last 16 games he's averaging you know 77 yards a game well that's great but everything else in there matters too. So that's definitely part of it. That's the full story with him.
And look, will I be shocked if Rasheed Rice is able to start week one and have a really good season and string together a much-needed strong season because he does stay on the field? No, I won't be surprised because he certainly needs it. And there is talent there, and the Chiefs seem very willing to use his skill set. With all that being said...
That feels like a true best outcome for him, and we've not seen much of those from Rasheed Rice lately.
People of my generation would have said Burt Reynolds in that reference because that's the original Paul Crew from the longest yard, the real longest yard. Anyway, would you agree, though, that if the Chiefs were going to move on from him, they would have done it by now?
Yeah, I feel like they weathered the storm at this point, right? Like we've kind of seen this, like thinking back to Kareem Hunt, they wasted no time cutting him, even though that was more about him not telling the truth than it was him, the incident that he had. Yeah, I think that they're going to weather the storm here. And I understand people wanting to cut him.
At this point, I think it's probably just, it's a sunk cost fallacy of like, we've already, he's here.
we're not going to get anything of value from him from moving on from him the only thing you are getting is just the certainty of like we know he can't hurt us anymore right like we can't rachie rice won't get suspended if he's not on the roster for us um well i guess he could get suspended but he won't be suspended from our roster but yeah i i think that they're just going to write it out this year and then let him walk and i mean you want to talk about a complicated contract situation for him even if he does go out and have a great season
I don't know that the Chiefs could talk themselves into getting a comp pick for him because I assume that contract is going to be loaded with exclusive guarantees and those type of things that relate to him being on the field. So I think they're probably just going to weather the storm.
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Chapter 4: How does the Chiefs' offensive strategy need to evolve?
I think the first thing is the run game as a whole has to improve, not just the talent, which we know they've invested heavily there with Kenneth Walker and Emmitt Johnson, even bringing in Imari DiMarcato. They've got to get more explosive runs. They had two explosive runs the entire season that were not Patrick Mahomes from the running backs. That was the last in the NFL this year.
So it has to improve, and you can't count on those explosive runs from Patrick Mahomes either. That's why if you go and look at the Chiefs' EPA per run, It's actually pretty surprising how good the number is, but that's Patrick Mahomes-Scrambles and Kareem Hunt in short yardage, which are high EPA plays. So they've got to improve there, and it goes beyond that talent.
It's got to be the scheme's got to evolve. They've got to stop being this RPO-heavy offense. I tweeted this out yesterday. The Chiefs were second in the league in RPOs run. They ran 130 of them. They threw on 110 of those RPOs. So at an 84% rate, if they were running RPO, they were passing the ball. and they were barely handing the ball off.
Their pass rate on RPOs was the highest in the league by a wide margin. So they've got to get out of that world because it doesn't help their offensive linemen. Thinking of players like Trey Smith who like to get downhill and are road graders, they've got to get back to running some more traditional run concepts like duo and gap runs rather than this outside zone.
And I know Kenneth Walker can do some of that, but Kenneth Walker said himself he prefers to be under center. So I think as a whole, I was kind of disappointed that they weren't able to bring in a true blocking tight end because I think that that's an area. You've got those guys on the field blocking in the run game consistently. Why not upgrade that position to help the run game?
Hopefully Eric Bien-Ami can kind of fold in some of the stuff he learned from the Ben Johnson offense, which is a very creative run game. And the other thing is, and you hit on it there, like Josh Simmons, I think he needs to ā He showed the potential to be an all-pro caliber type of player. He's got to submit himself as a very good left tackle this year. I certainly think he's capable of it.
But with the questions at Jalen Moore on the right side, Kingsley Sumatia showing some promise. I think he's good, not great. But you can't have two tackle question marks going into the year with Patrick Mahomes coming off this ACL injury. Simmons needs to be said it and forget it, which they treated him that way last year when he was on the field.
He was on one of the higher island rates of any tackle in the league. But that way you can shade Jalen Moore to the right side. I know a lot of people wanted the Chiefs to take a tackle with pick nine possibly. But if you can ā every offensive line has a weakest link, and if Jalen Moore is your weakest link, I think you can get by.
I want to go back to that first selection in the NFL draft. The Chiefs trading up and taking Delane. Everybody thought at that point maybe that's where they're going to go get Reuben Bain. He falls a little bit further than people expect. Is that going to be the debate for the next five years where we're going to look at Mansoor, Delane, we're going to look at Reuben Bain and go ā
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Chapter 5: What are the expectations for Josh Simmons in the upcoming season?
Mansour Delane filled a bigger need for them at the time and was able to play more snaps simply because he's going to be on the field as a rookie right away playing on the outside consistently.
So when it comes to the defensive line, are you satisfied with how it shakes out right now? I mean, of course, there is still time to add some talent there. But you go over to ESPN, you go to NFL.com, starting edge rusher looks to be Felix Enrique Uzama. I'm not buying that because it's still late May at this point. But George Karloff is coming off the year that he did.
Not sure there's a whole bunch of confidence there. Yes, you have Chris Jones and Pete Woods and Omar Norman-Lott and Tonga on the inside. I'm okay with the interior of this defensive line, but you know you have to have a pretty elite pass rush.
R. Mason Thomas, you know he's somebody that maybe you don't put all the pressure in the world on, but I don't know what they're thinking when it comes to who's starting opposite of George Karloftis. Is there somebody that's popping up in your mind, or is it somebody that's not on the roster right now?
Yeah, I think for the defensive line to get better, I really think they are going to be relying on these rookies and the additions that they've made, making George Karloffis and Chris Jones better.
Because if you go look at the track record of pass rushers taken after pick 25 in the NFL draft, since 2020, there have only been three pass rushers that have ranked in the top 30 of pressures taken after pick 25. One of those being Kobe Turner. One of them being Kobe Durant, I believe, was the other. But regardless, if you're coming into the season and thinking that our Mason Thomas...
and Peter Woods are going to fix the Chiefs' pass rush, that's a gamble that hasn't really paid off a lot. Odafe Owe was the other one, by the way, from the Ravens. And look, I do think that those guys can make Chris Jones' life easier. If you're telling yourself a tale, you tell yourself it's not possible for the Chiefs' pass rush from the interior to be worse.
In 2026, Mike Pinnell, Derek Naughty, and Jerry Tillery combined for 419 pass rush snaps. They combined for 11 pressures on those snaps. That is abysmal. That's a 2.2% pressure rate. Omar Norman-Lott in his limited play had 69 pass rush snaps and four pressures in those.
So if you're getting more from Norman-Lott, if Peter Woods can come in and be better than that combination of Pinnell, Nottie, and Tillery, That might free up Chris Jones. And, yeah, George Kolophis, if he can, you know, get healthy. I know the hand injury was a thing for him. Can he get back to being a double-digit sack guy?
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Chapter 6: How important is Patrick Mahomes' health for the team's success?
Bryce, thanks so much for hopping on. As always, good to talk to you, and you have a good weekend. Thank you, sir. All right, there he goes. That's Price Carter. Does phenomenal work over at Arrowhead Addict. And you missed any part of that interview and any of our interviews. And tomorrow, earlier today, later on this evening, you can check him out on the podcast page after the show.
We'll take a quick break. Maybe continue a little bit more of the Chiefs talk here. Want to pick Curtis's brain of a few things that were popping into my mind. And maybe Kyle as well. That's dangerous. Maybe it's a roundtable that we'll do here when we come back here on the program.
All right, the Lafetta delicatessen, end of the hour answer. Before the Yankees, who was the last team to have at least nine players in a game have two hits?
Dodgers.
Nope. Red Sox. Nope.
This one's not fair, Kay.
It isn't fair. September 19th, 2025. Oh. Kauffman Stadium. Yes. Yes. The Royals had 10 players.
The eventual AL champions, too.
Yep. And a 20-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays. Caglione, Frazier, Gritchick, Jensen, Maley, Massey, Pasquantino, Perez, Rave, and Witt. If I remember correctly, I don't know exactly how many innings it was, but a lot of that was put up on a position player.
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Chapter 7: What challenges does the Chiefs' defense face this season?
Let's see. Runs allowed.
I got to expect it to be in the mid-2000s.
Let's see. And if not? I think A's threw 21 on them in a game here, like a matinee. School day at the K? When it usually happens? There it was. The last time was 2004, August 25th of 2004 at Anaheim. They lost 21-6. They lost 21-3 to the A's in 2000. That was the game I was remembering. And the most runs they've ever allowed in a game. 22 in a 22-11 loss to the Red Sox in 1994.
You can live with that one a little bit more.
Still put up double digits.
Let's check out the box who pitched on the 20 of the last game. Mike Wood, Matt Kinney, Sean Camp, and Scott Sullivan. They only went through four pitchers? Only four.
You talk about wearing it. I'm saying. Who threw the best in that game? If you've got the box score in front of you.
I just closed that, unfortunately. The game in 2000, Jeff D'Amico, Jose Santiago, Miguel Batista, Dan Murray, Dan Reichert, Jerry Spradlin, and Ricky Batalico. That sounds more like it. Botelico, they gave up 20 runs. D'Amico gave up eight as the starter in 1994 against the ā this is going to be some pretty good pitchers in this because this is a good Royals team.
Kevin Appier, he's pretty good. Appier, nine runs on three innings. Hipolito Pichardo, Stan Belinda, Jeff Montgomery, and David Howard, position player, came in to pitch the last two innings. So it has happened four times.
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Chapter 8: What are the implications of the Chiefs' draft choices for the future?
It's probably not healthy, but there it is. Price was with us for about 30 minutes or so, and you don't want to go too long, keep him from doing other things. I'm sure he would have been fine with it, but I just thought at the very end of that conversation about a few things when it comes to this offense. First, I want to start with Josh Simmons here. Mm-hmm.
because Josh Simmons, as we knew coming out of Ohio State, there was the questions, there were some of the red flags about maturity. The debacle that really hasn't been figured out since then, when he leaves before the Sunday night game against Detroit, and then week after week, I remember listening to press conference after press conference, He's working his way back.
But he was not at practice. It was just basically, we know where he is, we know that he is safe, and that's what we have for you. Or it'd be no comment, right? Nothing's changed from the last time we talked about you. When would you get to a point, not injury-related, where you'd say... We're not going to do this anymore. Or do they have the luxury to?
Because Jalen Moore was paid to be this team's swing tackle. I expect him to be the starting right tackle. Esa Pole got some run late last year. But Josh Simmons, by far and away, has the most talent of any of them. I thought when he was healthy and before he broke his hand in Dallas, that's a guy that you could say... top 10 edge rusher in the league, I'm okay with you going one-on-one.
Because I thought that his overall strength, I thought his overall movement, his footwork, it resembles a tackle that could be an all-pro. Down the road. I'm not there just yet. But we've done this before with multiple players of, man, he puts it all together. That's an all pro. And I kind of want to take injuries out here because he had the injury last year. It's also his rookie year.
You have a guy who's injury prone. Give me three years of that. And now you scream injury prone to me. Lucas Niang was one of those guys. But if there is another scenario where he is gone again. Do you have the luxury of saying, okay, we'll just wait? If he's playing at an all-pro level, and then what happened last year happens again... How do you handle it?
How do you go about handling the situation? Because it's different than I'm hurt.
I don't think you can just bail on a guy. I think if he's good and you've put what you've put into him, I understand the sunk cost fallacy, but that doesn't apply to every situation. If he's playing at a high level, I think you just have to, I guess, would depend on what it was. Yeah, absolutely. If it was a repeat of a year ago, I think then you have to try to find some way to deal with that.
That would seem to be a therapy, some type of a situation where you can manage it more effectively. But I don't think you'd, it would take something really significant before you cut on a guy who was a first round draft pick that plays the second most important position on the entire offense. He's going to get some leeway.
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