Blair, how are you? I'm great, great. Thanks for having me on.
Thank you for taking the time. Given what we saw yesterday with the offensive line and some of the adjustments that they've had to make, specifically moving Joe Tooney to tackle, were you surprised at what took place yesterday? Well, yeah, we certainly had a lot of fans who were happy, ultimately, with the result last night.
What does this mean for you? I think it's a surprising outcome. And the fact that it just started bad and then got worse as the game went on, I mean, 34 to nothing before the Chiefs even scored. I don't think anybody saw that coming.
Maybe nobody outside of Philadelphia, anyway. Well, yeah, we certainly had a lot of fans who were happy, ultimately, with the result last night. What does this mean for the Kansas City Chiefs in the offseason? I think the issues that they need to address were pretty much well known, but obviously they've now been magnified. What do you expect in the offseason?
Well, you're right. They did have issues during this really successful regular season and playoff run until the end. And they got by with a bit of a makeshift offensive line, with kicking Joe Tooney out to tackle from guard and starting Mike Caliendo, bringing him off the bench to start the final three regular season games in all three playoffs. And that caught up with them in the Super Bowl. Joe Tooney had played pretty well out of tackle, but that's not his natural position.
He's an all-pro guard, and he didn't have a great game, and Caliendo obviously did not. The entire offensive line did not hold up well against an Eagles defense that didn't blitz. They got the pressure with four.
Sacked Mahomes six times in the game, and that's the most he had ever been sacked in any NFL game. So Vic Fangio, the defensive coordinator, did an incredible job, and they had the Eagles ready, their ears pinned back, and got a lot of pressure on Mahomes, and I thought set the tone for the game. And so, yeah, offensive line is going to be an issue that the Chiefs are going to need to address. They've got to find a left tackle, and they might have to find a right guard, too, because of Trey Smith, one of the Pro Bowl right guard and one of the top free agents on the market now. So they're going to have a, looks like, I think, two starters they're going to have to find on the offensive line.
Blair Kirkhoff is here with us, covers the Chiefs for the Kansas City Star. When you look at the offensive line and you look at the wide receiver position, we know that Xavier Worthy, he certainly improved as the year went on. A lot of stopgap-type veteran receivers that they brought in, whether it's Hopkins or JuJu Smith, Schuster, do they have the cap space to plug these holes?
How do you expect for them to improve the roster on offense? Yeah, that's a good question because they already have, you know, as of now, they've got the highest paid quarterback and the highest paid tight end and the highest paid center in Crete Humphrey. When you've had the success that the Chiefs have had over the years, the best players deserve the big contracts, and the Chiefs have handed those out.
And now, in a certain way, the bill comes due on that, and now they've got to make some decisions about who they want to pay and who they're not going to be able to afford to keep. And on the offensive side, one of the things that at least they have going for them is, you know, they're going to have Xavier, you know, this was Worthy's rookie season, so he's in on a rookie contract. And, you know, Rashid Rice, who didn't play this year, only a couple of games, then he gets injured, a season ending knee injury, he'll be back next year also on the rookie contract. I think they're going to really go after Marquis Brown, Hollywood, bring him back next year, and that'll give him a nice core at wide receiver. We'll see what happens with DeAndre Hopkins and Jesus Masuister and Justin Watson, Mccoll Hardeman, players like that. You know, I suspect, you know, they'll lose a few of those guys.
Well, we think about the biggest name is Travis Kelce. We saw how dejected he looked at the game yesterday, and he's going to be 36 later on this year and next season. He'll be back, right? He's going to squeeze every bit that he can out of this career before he hangs it up and really goes Hollywood.
Don't you expect? I actually do think that. It's been reported that unnamed sources are suggesting that it might not happen. He's got a year left on his two-year deal that he signed before last season. At the Super Bowl, in the media events leading up to the game, he seemed to suggest that he wants to play another year.
I kind of believe that. But look, unlike a lot of players, he has a pretty good idea of what he wants to do when his career is over. He is already well into an acting career, and I think he's going to have even more opportunities in this offseason. I know Patrick Mahomes was asked about it after the game yesterday and basically said that Kelce would be supported either way. The thought that Mahomes had that I thought was interesting was he's just going to have to decide whether he wants to do the 20-game grind. For the Chiefs, who have been in the playoffs every year of Mahomes' career, a season that has never extended less than the AFC Championship game, that is a grind. It's a long season. For the Chiefs as well, they take training camp away from their facility, go up to a college, and live in a dormitory for a month.
That's part of the grind. So, you're right. Six-year-old Travis Kelce is going to have to decide whether that's all worth it or does he want to take that step into an acting career. I think he wants to come back. I don't think he wants to have his career end on this kind of sour note. I would lean toward him returning. Blair, when you think about the offseason, whether it's on offense or defense, are there any quote-unquote home runs that the Kansas City Chiefs can hit? We saw a few years ago that Tyreek Hill, he wanted to leave down for Miami.
He then apologized recently about wanting to exit Miami. But are there any type of home runs that we might see with the Chiefs or is it going to be relatively quiet given where they stand in the draft? They're obviously picking 31. I thought before the game, before the Super Bowl, the defensive line was going to be a priority in the draft. The only defensive linemen they have under contract for next year are Chris Jones and George Karlofftas.
Two good ones, but they just need some numbers there. I think they're going to re-sign a few guys like Charles Domenico and Tershawn Wharton, Mike Pinnell, our free agents. I think the Chiefs will bring one or two of them back. But to me the biggest question has become, if Trey Smith, the guard, is too expensive and commands something in the neighborhood of four for $100 million and goes somewhere else, with the money the Chiefs don't spend on him, will they bring back Nick Bolton, the linebacker, or safety Justin Reed, two players that they really like? Bolton's been with the Chiefs since he drafted him back when he was 21 and played at Missouri before then, so he's been in the area for quite a long time. It's just hard for a Chiefs fan to imagine a team without Nick Bolton, the green dot guy on defense and really an emotional leader for this team. So I think if they take a big swing in free agency, I think it will be to re-sign some of their guys and not go outside for that high profile player. Blair, a lot of people are ready to chop down Mahomes and his legacy, what he's accomplished.
People are ready to look at Andy Reid and just go, okay, yeah, well now you're 500 in the Super Bowl. This is still a team that will be back to competing for a championship next year. Yes? No?
Yes. Yeah, it will be. They'll be back and they'll be good. I think they'll be better on offense because they will have addressed some of those needs. I think the wide receiver, I think one thing that they wanted to do this year was get back to more of a deep ball passing threat that never really materialized, but you got a glimpse of it in the Super Bowl. It was late and it was after the game was well decided, but a couple of long passes to Xavier Worthy and with Rushy Rice back next year. I think that they want to open up the offense a little bit more.
There are some questions about were they going to be running back, and again, we talked about the offensive line. They've got some issues there, but the thing that I think about with the Chiefs for next year is the division is going to be better. The Broncos made the playoffs this year. The Chargers had a chance. I think that both of those teams are going to be threats that they haven't been in previous years. They both have the coach and the quarterback threat that they haven't had in previous years. Winning the division, which they've won, I believe it's nine in a row. It's not automatic for the Chiefs, but they've been to 10 straight playoffs, and I think they'll make it 11 next year. As they proved a year ago, the previous year, when they had to win four games to win the Super Bowl, as long as you're in the tournament, you've got a chance to win it all. Yeah, especially when you have one of the greatest quarterbacks that we've seen.
Hopefully this time he isn't running for his life. Hey Blair, where can we keep up with all of your work in the Kansas City Star? Hey, I appreciate that. Yeah. KansasCity.com is the website, and Blair Kirkhof, B-L-A-I-R-K-E-R-K-H-O-F-F is the Twitter handle. Hey Blair, thank you so much for taking the time to join us. I know things will be real busy this offseason as the Chiefs try to get things together. Appreciate you. Yeah, thank you.
