Offense 

The first thing that sticks out to me offensively with this team is this OL. Losing a player like Joe Thuney will never be a good thing but replacing him with Kingsley Suamataia is a whole other issue. While I liked Suamataia coming out in the draft he really struggled last year and showed some real flaws with his technique, especially at the contact point of the block, which lead to incredibly quick losses which subsequently forced their hand into playing Wanya Morris in his place and later on even moving Thuney out to T because they didn’t trust him. 

• My worry with moving him into G is that if those flaws still aren’t cleaned up (Which I tend to believe with the Josh Simmons pick and competition talk with him and Mike Caliendo) those quick losses at G will only become more apparent and even more back breaking on the offense being closer to the QB and overall the middle of the offense. 

To touch on the rest of the OL.. I’m looking forward to seeing how fast Josh Simmons can get back and adjusted to the NFL from his injury (torn patellar tendon in left knee) and see if he can win that starting job from Jaylon Moore. If Simmons were to do so is there a conversation to play Moore over current RT Jawaan Taylor with how he has continued to struggle with penalties? (17 this past year, ranked 138th among tackles) I wouldn’t rule it out.

• Also keep your eyes open for Esa Pole. A UDFA, that shouldn’t have been in my opinion, that only started playing football in 2021 and while he shows that inexperience at times he has good athletic ability (1.87 10yd split, 4.72 short shuttle, 8.03 3 cone, and to top it off a former basketball player) and a really solid frame (6’5, 323, and 33 5/8 arm length) that helped him produce one of the lowest pressure percentages in all of college football last year. He will need time to develop and clean up some technique, especially with counter moves, but can absolutely make this team in some role and possibly have a long career ahead of him.

This WR room is also very interesting. You have a down year (mostly due to injury) from Hollywood Brown, a concerning off the field issue with Rashee 

Rice along with an major injury (ACL tear) on top of that, Worthy being more of a gadget guy at the moment, and an interesting set of depth pieces here that while unproven I actually believe in… overall this WR room will need some guys to not only get healthy but find and sustain a role on this team as they haven’t really had that outside of Rashee Rice in recent years. 

• Something to look out for is what they do with Jalen Royals. As far as his athletic profile and his projected role into the league.. he compares very similarly to Rashee Rice coming out of college (all credit to Matt Harmon of reception perception for that). It’ll be interesting to see if they view Royals as another piece to use in place of Rice while he gets back to full form from the ACL tear and possibly give Rashee a more expansive role moving forward or if they view him more so as a Rice replacement down the road due to the off the field issues he’s had plus the injury he just sustained.
• Also keep eyes on Elijah Badger, Nikko Remigio, Tyquan Thornton, Justyn Ross, and Jason Brownlee to see if they can push for roster spots/bigger roles over some of these guys that have been here longer and/or are more established in the league like Juju Smith-Schuster, Skyy Moore, and even Hollywood Brown.

I also really enjoy this RB room. While it’s not the flashiest and lacks that true game changer you have a lot of skill sets that complement each other really well. Kareem Hunt your short yardage between the tackles power back, Isiah Pacheco your athletic physical runner that can do a bit of everything and certainly brings an attitude you love, Elijah Mitchell while he’s continually struggled with injuries he can absolutely have a role as a better version of Hunt on this team and possibly be a lead back if healthy, and your new rookie Brashard Smith who is former WR that can line up in the slot, has great stop and start ability, and is much better between the tackles than his size would suggest.

Defense 

While there’s not anything ground breaking to speak of along the defense in terms of changes I think they did add some really interesting pieces in the draft/free agency that will not only compliment what guys they brought back from last year but also give them more depth and some more reliability moving forward. Getting Omar Norman-Lott to learn behind Chris Jones and adding Kristian Fulton and Nohl Williams to this CB room will allow them to play McDuffie in the slot again which is a huge part of not only their pass defense but run defense as well.

• There’s also something to be said for the continuity they’ll have on this defense, largely having the same group as last year with a few nice pieces added on. You pair that with Spags coaching them up this defense will once again be among the best in the league.

Overview 

• This team is of course looking to be one of the best in league again and hopefully for another Super Bowl. While there’s still a lot of high end talent with Patrick Mahomes, what’s left of Travis Kelce, Chris Jones, and Trent McDuffie I’m worried the rest of the roster may force those guys to be perfect just to win games. While I love the coaching staff and the high end talent here I think there’s legitimate questions to the rest of the roster and what they’re capable. With all of that being said when you have Mahomes at the helm you’re going to be competing for the division and certainly a Wild Card at the very least.