2022 Offseason Assessment Tournament: 1st-Round (KC v. DEN)
Same intro everyday: Our annual series taking a look at each NFL team’s offseason (free agency, draft, trades) moves and assessing their impact for the upcoming season – simply speaking, 'did all of the offseason moves, en masse, project to make the team better or worse for just the upcoming campaign (not worried about the long-term effect)'?
We’ll list the key adds and losses for each team competing and then comment on them and anoint a winner that will move on to the next round, until we get down to the final two (the 'Super Bowl') and we name a winner for the top offseason (to date). Our way to review and judge what each of these teams have done halfway through the offseason.
1st-Round Matchup…
KANSAS CITY CHIEFS
Key Adds:
SAF Justin Reid (FA), WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling (FA), WR JuJu Smith-Schuster (FA)
CB Trent McDuffie (pick #21), DE George Karlaftis (pick #30), WR Skyy Moore (pick #54), SAF Bryan Cook (pick #62), LB Leo Chenal (pick #103), RB Isaih Pacheco (pick #251)
Key Losses:
WR Tyreek Hill (trade), CB Charvarius Ward (FA), SAF Tyrann Mathieu (FA), WR Byron Pringle (FA), OG Austin Blythe (FA), DT Jarran Reed (FA), CB Mike Hughes (FA)
vs.
DENVER BRONCOS
Key Adds:
QB Russell Wilson (trade), EDGE Randy Gregory (FA), DT D.J. Jones (FA), CB K’Waun Williams (FA), CB Bryce Callahan (FA)
LB Nik Bonitto (pick #64), TE Greg Dulcich (#80), CB Damarri Mathis (pick #115), DT Eyioma Uwazurike (pick #116)
Key Losses:
QB Drew Lock (trade), TE Noah Fant (trade), DT Shelby Harris (trade), QB Teddy Bridgewater (FA)
I’m really not in love with the Chiefs’ draft. Some useful players, but not any ‘wow’ players…guys to help keep up with the rapidly improving AFC West. They added a very good Justin Reid, but lost Tyrann Mathieu and Charvarius Ward…so they lost some ground at DB. They added JuJu and MVS at WR, and those two are a pittance of Tyreek Hill. The Chiefs needed to add ammo in their AFC West arms race…they did the opposite.
Denver made the big move to get into the AFC West arms race in 2022. All the Broncos lost was a really promising TE (Fant)…while they added a Hall of Fame QB still in his prime. They also added two DL starters in Gregory and Jones, and two starter-worth CBs in Williams and Callahan. Not to mention adding a few able bodies from the draft.
A huge, fantastic offseason for Denver…with another slow drip slide down from the Chiefs, who have gotten worse every year since their Super Bowl title.
WINNER = Denver, with ease.
1ST-ROUND RESULTS:
NYG defeats DAL
PHI defeats WSH
LAR defeats SEA
SF defeats ARI
DET defeats GB
MIN defeats CHI
ATL defeats NO
TB defeats CAR
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NYJ defeats BUF
MIA defeats NE
DEN defeats KC
