Alex Smith tends to draw a lot of ire from everyone when the Chiefs lose. This, typically, comes in the form of the now overused line about his 4-39-1 record when the opponent scores over 24 points (a stat that’s actually picked apart pretty well in this article.) However, the Reid-Smith era in Kansas City has, so far, not been defined by “mediocre” quarterback play, or necessarily bad coaching, but by their running game. Moreover, the lack of a physical running game when it really matters.
Luckily, this draft presents a lot of options to help them to address this problem, but if they’re to take the next step, and become a team that consistently wins playoff games, you feel Andy Reid needs to step outside his comfort zone and not draft a flashy, versatile running back, but a durable one that can carry the ball with purpose deep into the postseason and hurt defenses.
Bad Luck and Playoffs: Jamaal Charles’ Health
Jamaal Charles has been a major threat at running back for a number of years. He currently has just shy of 10,000 all-purpose yards and has the most yards per carry in NFL history, averaging a monstrous 5.5. Yet, when Charles gets injured, which happens with painful regularity these days, the Chiefs have greatly missed his presence come the playoffs.
The lack of a physical ground game was particularly evident in the 2013 postseason, when the Chiefs jumped out to a 38-10 lead over the Colts in Indianapolis, only for Charles to be sidelined with a concussion and watch his team surrender the second biggest comeback in playoff history to Andrew Luck and co. as the Chiefs couldn’t control the clock in the fourth quarter. In this game, Alex Smith threw for 378 yards, four touchdowns, and no interceptions.
Of course, last season the Chiefs were brilliant with a backfield combination of Charcandrick West and Spencer Ware, the former LSU quarterback. But as they reached December and January, their running game became monotonous and, ultimately, ineffective. In their playoff loss to the Steelers, the Chiefs rushed a baffling 14 times for just 64 yards, as the lack of an efficient ground game left Smith with the burden of having to make wonder plays from the pocket.
Charles will no longer be a feature running back in the NFL, and assuming the Chiefs will stick with Alex Smith (given how hard it is to find a reliable quarterback), it’s clear that he needs help to make up for his limitations as a thrower.
Running Game Draft Options
History has shown that Andy Reid loves a versatile running back: Brian Westbrook, LeSean McCoy, and Charles are all examples of this. If past success is the best indicator of future behavior, we can expect to see Reid make a move for someone like Christian McCaffrey or Curtis Samuel with the Chiefs’ 27th overall in the first round. The question is: does a player like this diversify the Chiefs’ offense any more than some of the other top ten running backs on offer? Kansas City already have Tyreek Hill, arguably the most explosive offensive player from last season, who should see a number of snaps at running back moving forwards. Charcandrick West is a decent receiving back.
As tempting as it may be to make a move on McCaffrey (assuming Leonard Fournette and Dalvin Cook are long gone) the Chiefs should seriously consider looking at the best available lineman left. There’s a chance that Forrest Lamp or Cam Robinson could still be there, and by all accounts, these are two interior linemen who are incredibly dominant in the running game. Whatever you may think about Eric Fisher, inserting one of these prospects into the interior of that O-line immediately makes it better – the Chiefs can then look for help at running back in the second round.
Someone like Texas’ D’Onta Foreman, once a candidate for last season’s Heisman, is a bruiser the Chiefs could really do with. He can punish tacklers and wear defenses down behind a solid o-line. He is 6’1” and all of 249lbs, and most definitely not your “typical” Andy Reid running back. Here’s some highlights of him rushing for 341 yards and 3 touchdowns against Texas Tech last year.
With the mass of depth in this class of running backs, there are a lot more options further down, with guys like Oklahoma’s Samaje Perine and Toledo’s Kareem Hunt who can also offer a physicality the Kansas City running game currently lacks. Both of these backs should be available late in the second round; Foreman may not be.
Kansas City are a good football team. Despite some flaws in Andy Reid’s clock management and Alex Smith’s limitations at quarterback, they are consistent and a nightmare to play at Arrowhead Stadium. If Reid wants to seriously contend for a Super Bowl, he may need to build his offense a little differently than usual.