An Alternate Reality (M22)

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Ever wondered how the Seahawks would do in 2022 with Russ? If the Chiefs took a different offer for Tyreek Hill instead of the Dolphins' offer? If such coaching luminaries as Vic Fangio, Urban Meyer, and David Culley were still in charge of their teams? No comp picks for lost FA? A draft that doesn't see Travon Walker go 1-1?

With M23 looking like a dud, I'm rolling with M22 on GamePass and seeing how the league would unfold in 2022 and beyond, beginning with the most recent draft. The 2021 season was simmed to match exact records and player stats for accuracy up until that point, but what happens from here on out is random -- coaching changes, drafts, trades, injuries, free agents, game results.

I'll be controlling the Chiefs in online FM, but will cover league-wide events as well.

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Re: An Alternate Reality (M22)

Reserved 1

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Re: An Alternate Reality (M22)

Reserved 2

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Re: An Alternate Reality (M22)

Reserved 3

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Re: An Alternate Reality (M22)

Reserved 4 -- should be enough.

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Team News (02/23)

Hill to the Big Apple?

By Scott Williams | Kansas City Star | February 23rd, 2022

Well, it's finally happened -- the Chiefs have decided to part ways with their mercurial star wide receiver in Tyreek Hill, dealing him to the Jets along with a fourth-round pick for two second round selections, and a third round selection in the upcoming draft.

Miami was also interested in bringing Hill into the fold. The Dolphins had five selections they were offering, but would have only netted four selections for the Chiefs (they were also slated to send one to Miami), and the total value of the selections wasn't any better than what the Jets were offering.

It marks the end of an era in Kansas City as Hill moves on from the Chiefs after six seasons, including two Super Bowl appearances and a ring. He amassed 476 receptions for 6,600 yards and sixty-two touchdowns combined rushing and receiving, which also rank in the top five in team history in each of those categories.

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Free Agency Update #1

Chiefs' Free Agency Flurry

By Scott Williams | Kansas City Star | March 18th, 2022

After a pretty quiet start, the Chiefs have picked it up in recent weeks by signing players such as Juju Smith-Schuster (1-year, $13 million), safety Marcus Maye (1-year, $8 million), J.D. McKissic (1-year, $2 million), and re-signing others, such as defensive tackle Derrick Nnadi to a two-year, $14 million ($6 million guaranteed) extension.

Before that, they had only made waves by franchise tagging offensive tackle Orlando Brown, Jr., essentially putting the Chiefs on the hook to pay him $22 million this year.

Even with the Nnadi re-signing, they still need lots of help on the defensive side of the ball -- especially at linebacker and safety. They could also use the picks they received in the Tyreek Hill deal to bolster those positions, and it's also likely that they look to the draft to fill some potential spots on the offensive line, especially if they can't come to a deal with Brown as the franchise left tackle.

Along with Smith-Schuster, the Chiefs are also seeing Mecole Hardman enter the final year of his rookie deal, so the Chiefs could certainly use another wide receiver, either in the draft or in free agency. With Brown's cap hit at $22 million, the draft would seem to be a more likely spot to fortify the receiver room given that they are now carrying a heavier payroll than they were a few weeks ago at this time.

Brett, you know, he does a really good job with the cap, and there's a pretty good group of receivers in this draft," head coach Andy Reid quipped when asked about the team's future plans at the position. "Brett and Brandt (Tilis) have a pretty good idea on where we're at, and what kinds of moves we can make with what we have."

With the combine now firmly in the rearview, the team's attention now turns to individual pro days that are coming up over the next handful of weeks leading up to the draft in late April.

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Free Agency Update #2

Lock, Wallace Amongst Recent Signings

By Scott Williams | Kansas City Star | April 15th, 2022

After Chad Henne's surprise retirement after last season, it's been assumed that Shane Buechele would be the heir apparent to Henne as Pat's backup.

However, they put the backup quarterback question to rest by signing K.C. native Drew Lock to a two-year contract, as he was released by the Broncos following last season after three years in Denver.

"We had a high grade on Drew coming out of Missouri," said head coach Andy Reid. "He's a guy that's pretty familiar with our terminology and the way we do things, as in our conversations with him, he showed quite a bit of knowledge, so it made a lot of sense to bring him in. He's a quality player who I think would do well if called upon in a game situation."

Fan favorite Jerick "Jet" McKinnon was also brought back on a one-year deal, joining Clyde Edwards-Helaire and newcomer J.D. McKissic as the top three backs on the roster.

However, the biggest signing of the past handful of days was former Bills corner Levi Wallace, signing him to a two-year, $8.5 million deal, with about half of that guaranteed. They also signed former Colts safety Quincy Wilson to a one-year deal at the veteran minimum.

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2022 Draft Recap (5/1)

Chiefs Draft Recap

By Scott Williams | Kansas City Star | May 1st, 2022

On the first two days of the draft, the Chiefs went all out for offense, as they grabbed one of the top wide receivers in the draft in Ohio State's Chris Olave after trading up eleven spots with Philadelphia from 30th to 19th to get him. It cost them a second-round pick, but with two other second-round picks from the Jets trade, they had some ammo to move up to grab a player that both head coach Andy Reid and general manager Brett Veach had high on their boards.

"Chris is so good at getting open, and he's smooth with his cuts, he just makes it look pretty easy," Reid said of his newest receiver. "I think he'll fit right in with what we do pretty seamlessly. Getting him where he was taken was a great value, even if we had to give up a second-round pick in the process."

Kansas City also made another trade on day two, this time trading back six spots with the second of their two picks from the Jets with Cleveland and grabbing offensive lineman Bernhard Raimann with the 45th selection. In return from the Browns, the Chiefs picked up a 2023 fourth-round selection. They had already picked up Northern Iowa lineman Trevor Penning with their initial second-round pick (37th overall), the first of two from the Jets deal.

However, the best value the Chiefs had might have been in the third round, when they took North Dakota State receiver Christian Watson with the fourth pick of the third round, which was the final pick received in the Jets trade. Officially, the Chiefs traded away Tyreek Hill for a pair of bookend tackles and Watson, who is a big-bodied receiver that presents a different look from many of the other wideouts that Reid has employed in the past.

Most experts had Watson pegged to go in the late first or early second round, but a deep class of receivers potentially pushed him down the board. There was also the fact that he played against lesser competition on a weekly basis, and based on the combine and subsequent pro days, didn't have quite the upper-body strength that you would expect a bigger reciever to have. Still, with his size and speed, he presents an interesting matchup issue. He compares pretty favorably to Marques Valdez-Scantling, both with similar traits.

After the Watson selection, they didn't make another pick until the first pick of the sixth round, although they made yet another trade -- this time with Jacksonville. They acquired defensive lineman Jay Tufele and the 161st pick for their fourth-rounder (126th overall), bolstering the depth on the front four further. Tufele didn't do much due to some injury issues, collecting just two tackles in four games after being taken in the fourth round out of Southern Cal last year.

"Jay is a guy that you can move around a bit on the line," said defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo. "He's a big-bodied kid, quick off the ball, but he could also slide out and make some noise on the outside. He had some injury issues last year, but all the reports we had on him from our guys were positive, so we pulled the trigger on the deal."

They finally addressed the pass rush with that 161st pick, taking UAB end Alex Wright. With their two seventh-round picks, they grabbed linebackers Damone Clark (LSU) and Josh Ross (Michigan), as all three will probably figure heavy into the rotation there, given they barely addressed either the pass rush or the linebacking corps in free agency.

CHIEFS 2022 DRAFT SELECTIONS
1-19 Chris Olave, WR, Ohio State (from Phila.)
2-37 Trevor Penning, OT, N. Iowa (from NY Jets)
2-45 Bernhard Raimann, OT, C. Mich (from Cle.)
3-68 Christian Watson, WR, ND State (from NY Jets)
6-161 Alex Wright, DE, UAB (from Jacksonville)
7-204 Damone Clark, OLB, LSU (from Vegas via N.E.)
7-214 Josh Ross, OLB, Michigan

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Season Preview (09/06)

2022 Season Preview

By Scott Williams | Kansas City Star | September 6th, 2022

POSITIONAL BREAKDOWN

QUARTERBACKS (3): 3 Drew Lock, 6 Shane Buechele, 15 Patrick Mahomes
RUNNINGBACKS (5): 1 Jerick McKinnon, 8 Tyrion Davis-Price, 25 Clyde Edwards-Helaire, 35 J.D. McKissic, 45 Michael Burton (FB)
WIDE RECEIVERS (6): 2 Christian Watson, 9 Juju Smith-Schuster, 13 Chris Olave, 14 Cornell Powell, 17 Mecole Hardman, 85 Marcus Kemp
TIGHT ENDS (3): 83 Noah Gray, 87 Travis Kelce, 88 Jody Fortson*
OFFENSIVE LINEMEN (10): 52 Creed Humphrey, 57 Orlando Brown, Jr., 62 Joe Thuney, 64 Darryl Williams, 65 Trey Smith, 67 Lucas Niang, 73 Nick Allegretti, 76 Bernhard Raimann, 77 Andrew Wylie, 79 Trevor Penning
DEFENSIVE LINEMEN (8): 33 Alex Wright, 51 Mike Danna, 55 Frank Clark, 91 Derrick Nnadi, 92 Brandon Williams, 95 Chris Jones, 97 Jay Tufele, 98 Tershawn Wharton*
LINEBACKERS (5): 32 Nick Bolton, 36 Damone Clark, 47 Darius Harris, 50 Willie Gay, 56 Josh Ross
CORNERBACKS (6): 16 Levi Wallace, 20 Josh Jackson, 23 Joshua Williams, 26 Chris Lammons, 27 Rashad Fenton, 38 L'Jarius Sneed
SAFETIES (4): 21 Quincy Wilson, 22 Juan Thornhill, 24 Marcus Maye*, 39 Zayne Anderson
SPECIALISTS (3): 5 Tommy Townsend (P/H), 7 Harrison Butker (PK), 41 James Winchester (LS)

PRACTICE SQUAD (12): CB DiCaprio Bootle, LB Chance Campbell, WR Kendall Hinton, DE Joshua Kaindoh, K Tucker McCann, DT Otito Ogbonnia, TE Gerrit Prince, SS Andrew Soroh, OL Zach Tom, DT Tyrone Truesdell, OT Prince Tega Wanogho, RB Dexter Williams

Some thoughts on the final roster -- the Chiefs have decided to part ways with Blake Bell, who re-signed for $2 million this past offseason, but there is no penalty for doing so as he did not take a bonus. However, it's difficult to see him not making a roster due to his blocking skills, and he's been an able receiver when called upon. This leaves the Chiefs with just two healthy tight ends (Kelce, Gray) with Fortson still out for the first couple of weeks of the season, but the Chiefs rarely run any 13 personnel, so it's a worthwhile gamble to keep Fortson from having to go to the IR to begin the year.

They're also keeping ten offensive linemen on the 53-man, which is generally one or two more than in past years. They all won't play or be active for most games this year, but this is the deepest group of linemen that Andy Heck has had to work with since becoming the offensive line coach under Andy Reid. Wylie will get the first crack at right tackle to begin the season, but don't be surprised if Penning and/or Raimann eventually take his spot if he struggles early on. Lucas Niang could also be a factor at that spot, also.

Lastly, this could be a year where the offense will have to carry the load, much like in 2018. Patrick Mahomes has never had a truly great defense behind him, but even in the Super Bowl-winning year of the 2019-20 season, the defense was in the top-half of the league and could create extra possessions (plus-nine turnover margin). Unfortunately, Tyreek Hill isn't around anymore to stretch defenses vertically (and horizontally, for that matter). Could Mecole Hardman fill that role? It's not a deep receiving corps, as they'll rely on a pair of rookies in the top four. Gray could also take on a more prominent recieving role in the offense, especially with Kelce not getting any younger.

As a result, Steve Spagnuolo is likely to take more chances to get big negative plays -- tons of blitzes and more exotic looks. He has the athleticism in the back seven to do it, and one of the best interior pass rushers to execute it up front in Chris Jones. But will the youngsters be ready to handle it?

PRESEASON RESULTS

Week 1: Chiefs 12, Buccaneers 30
Week 2: Eagles 21, Chiefs 35
Week 3: Chiefs 21, Packers 38