Mock (9/4)
 

Assumptions:

1. The Chiefs finish 12-4, win the AFC West, and secure a 1st round bye. They host the Steelers again and manage to fend them off for a trip to the AFCCG, where they lose badly to New England. HC Andy Reid and GM Brett Veach stay on.

2. QB Alex Smith is traded for a 2nd rounder in 2018 and a 3rd in 2019.

3. OLB Tamba Hali and ILB Derrick Johnson retire.

4. The Chiefs extend CB Terrance Mitchell 3 years, $18m ($7m guaranteed).

5. The Chiefs sign WR/KR De'Anthony Thomas for 2 years, $5m, OG/C Zach Fulton for 2 years, $5m, NT Bennie Logan for 3 years, $27m ($14m guaranteed), K Cairo Santos for 4 years, $11m ($4m guaranteed).

6. The Chiefs tender NT Rakeem Nunez-Roches, ILB Ramik Wilson.

7. The Chiefs sign FB Anthony Sherman, DE Jarvis Jenkins, ILB Kevin Pierre-Louis to minimal deals.

8. The Chiefs let walk QB Tyler Bray, RB C.J. Spiller, WR Albert Wilson, OL Jordan Devey, NT Roy Miller, ILB Terrance Smith, CB Phillip Gaines, CB Kenneth Acker, P Dustin Colquitt.

9. The Chiefs sign QB Matt Moore (Jaguars) for 1 year, $4m, WR Alshon Jeffery (Eagles) for 5 years, $55m ($24m guaranteed).

10. The Chiefs are picking 29th, and have one compensatory pick (a 5th) for QB Nick Foles. They have three conditionals: a 6th for OT Isaiah Battle, a 7th for DE David King, and a 7th for CB Marcus Cooper.

The draft:

1. OLB Dorance Armstrong, Kansas
The Chiefs combine both of their 2nds to move up into the 1st.

The Chiefs don't have that many roster spots free -- not after shoring up three of their biggest weaknesses in signing Alshon Jeffrey and extending Logan and Mitchell. Trading Alinex Smith, and the retirement of DJ and Hali opened up the team's coffers and it has allowed them to make a splash that could make them Super Bowl competitive.

Armstrong is an outstanding passrusher and would be an early favorite to becomes DPOY if not for him taking a year as a rotational guy. Ford will likely walk in 2019 unless he takes the next step, so Armstrong provides blue-chip insurance.

3. CB Carlton Davis, Auburn

A long corner with great upside.

4. QB Max Browne, Pittsburgh

Heady QB with some physical ability -- the Chiefs will need a #2 in 2019 after a one-year rental of Matt Moore.

5 (Nick Foles). CB Anthony Averett, Alabama

Another long corner from a competing school. The Chiefs let Phillip Gaines and Kenneth Acker walk this offseason, and DJ White just isn't up to the task.

6. TE Durham Smythe, Notre Dame
6 (Isaiah Battle). RB Ito Smith, Southern Mississippi
7 (David King). ILB Kenny Young, UCLA
7 (Marcus Cooper). P Johnny Towndsend, Florida

All kinds of special teams additions here, with some upside for each player.

roster:

QB: Mahomes, Moore, Browne
RB: Hunt, Ware, West, Smith
FB: Sherman

WR: Jeffrey, Hill, Conley, Robinson, Chesson, Thomas
TE: Kelce, Harris, Travis, Smythe

LT: Fisher, Schwartz
LG: Ehinger, Witzmann
C: Morse, Fulton
RG: Duvarney-Tardif, Witzmann
RT: Schwartz, Erving

DE: Jones, Jenkins
NT: Logan, Nunez-Roches
DE: Bailey, Kpassagnon

OLB: Ford, Armstrong
ILB: Ragland, Eligwe
ILB: Wilson, Pierre-Louis, Young
OLB: Houston, Zombo

CB: Peters, Mitchell, Nelson, Davis, Averett
S: Berry, Parker, Sorensen, Murray, McQuay

K: Santos
P: Townsend
LS: Winchester

Keep ignoring the fatties!

I know its not a lot of fun, and we just traded for a risky but talented swing man, but you are fooling yourself if you think the Chiefs won't invest in the oline in the middle rounds. Same with WR.

Where is Nicholas?

Put him in behind Armstrong, if you must.

And I'm sorry, folks, but this team is jacked to shit.

Mahomes' development is the only thing keeping it from going to a SB.

Sure QB's have insane value, but you're not going to get that much for a 34 year old QB that's already declining and one head shot from being Terri Shiavo.

They might get a single 3 or a 4 and be thrilled to get it.

Holy ****ing mother of god.

You're giving a 28 year old broke dick a $55 million dollar deal?

What in the mother of ****.

:facepalm:

Also, Matt Moore is a Dolphin.

Lower his contract value, if you must.

You want to go to the next level in this league, you gotta amp that WR corps.

Although Mahomes may take time developing, this is a roster that can take down New England.

Pat Mahomes
Kareem Hunt
Spencer Ware
Alshon Jeffrey
Tyreek Hill
Travis Kelce
Chris Conley
De'Anthony Thomas

That's mean weaponry, possibly the league's best, with a gelled offensive line and a stout D against the run and pass.

It's a Super Bowl team.

I love the Armstrong pick, all my favorite KU players always end up on the teams i hate the most. Chargers, Broncos, and raiders

Jeffrey while being part-broken the last 2 years still has the 9th most receiving yards in the NFL over the past four. He's productive when he's on the field.

But that's a rarity and most certainly not worth $11 million per for 5 years.

That's just stupid money.

Well, if history holds, we'll get two years out of Jeffrey for 140-ish catches, 2,000-ish yards, and 15-ish TDs.

In your scenario KPass plays this season as a OLB but next season as a DE. That's unlikely. Jeffery at $11m per is worse than the Maclin deal and if Ragland, Eligwe and KPL are all on the roster I doubt they draft an inside backer.

I like KPass more as a DE than I do as an OLB so I get what I want. Fair enough on ILB, though.

If you guys want to lower what Jeffrey will be paid, have at it, but we'd have to pay retail for this guy.

And acquiring him, with Mahomes still learning how to quarterback, would be invaluable in making us a Super Bowl squad.

You guys are all negative nancies. Let's talk about what this hypothetical offseason does:

As of now, we have five serious holes going into the 2018 offseason, in no order:

WR -- unless Conley shows up this year
OLB -- Hali is likely gone and Ford only has 2018 left on his deal
NT -- both of our NTs are walking, leaving only RNR
QB -- Smith & Bray are gone, leaving only Mahomes
CB -- hopefully we ink Mitchell, but we'll still need depth
both kickers -- Colquitt has lost some leg and is too expensive for our cap, and Santos is a free agent

Some of those are really hard to fill with the limited resources we have.

Fortunately, trading Smith and cutting/retiring DJ & Hali give us like $30m in cap space.

That allows me to secure Mitchell & Logan & Santos, ink a backup veteran at QB, and make one FA splash landing Jeffrey -- which again, makes our offense Super Bowl competitive.

That still leaves us with a gigantic hole at OLB, which I can fill by packing my two 2nds together (assuming of course that we get a 2nd for Smith, who just took our team to the AFCCG). I use a couple of my remaining picks to get the depth at CB our team needs and even add a potentially longterm backup QB.

The remaining picks I throw at special teams and a punter.

I've been mocking since roughly 2007 or so, and this is really the first time I've put together a roster like this and thought "wow, this is a Super Bowl caliber team."

But it totally is. We are just a couple pieces away and while we're on the doorstep this year, a strong offseason from Veach could ensure we get in the door.