Welcome back to the Arrowhead Pride Mailbag! Throughout the season, keep watching The Feed for an opportunity to submit your questions about the Kansas City Chiefs!
The Chiefs beat the New York Jets in virtually every aspect of the game in Sunday’s 35-12 victory. Let’s see what’s on our readers’ minds with a new weapon joining the team for Week 11.
Swaf asks:
Josh Downs. A 5’9″ 170-pound small WR. Is this what the Chiefs really need at WR? He was held without a catch on Sunday. Sounds familiar to me. I just don’t
think another small WR is the answer.
Downs definitely has a body type that many Chiefs fans are tired of, but he also plays the role the Chiefs envision much better than the other options they have gone through since Tyreek Hill left town in 2022. Downs isn’t a project where there is a major question about how he will fit or what he can do in the NFL. This is a player who has racked up 2494 receiving yards over three and a half seasons. When he joins the team on Wednesday, he will walk into the room as the most accomplished member of Kansas City’s wideouts.
The 2023 third-rounder has proven himself apt in the catch-and-run situations that make Kansas City’s offense go. What is encouraging is that he has been better on deep routes in 2026 than in his first three seasons. His average depth of target (ADoT) in 2026 is a career high of 9.5. He will not be Tyquan Thornton, but there may be a little downfield action to further unlock with him.
Throughout his career, Downs has generally played bigger than his size and has only missed three games in his career. He probably isn’t the superstar we continually ask Kansas City to add, but he should greatly raise the floor of the offense even as he works his way in over the next few weeks.
PettyMahomes asks:
Is there any sense that Josh Simmons will play this year? The o-line is terrible and needs a big infusion of talent.
Rarely does a player put themselves into head coach Andy Reid’s doghouse as Simmons appears to have done. Once those players play themselves out of the team’s plans (such as cornerback Marcus Peters or wideout Kadarius Toney), there isn’t a great track record for making their way back into the team’s good graces.
I do not have any inside information. If I had to guess, I would fathom that Simmons never playing for Kansas City again is a more likely outcome than playing in 2026. I definitely hope that I am wrong. Certainly, the ability to play a position at a level that is almost impossible to acquire outside of a top ten draft selection could see Simmons given another opportunity.
If there is another chance for Simmons to get back onto the field, I would watch for the weeks leading up to the Week 14 game against the Cincinnati Bengals, when Kansas City will come off of a mini-bye after consecutive Thursday games.
I don’t think anyone is counting on Simmons, and any contribution would be seen as a pleasant surprise.
KCDane asks:
Why aren’t offensive and defensive line part of the trade needs and discussions before deadline?
The Chiefs appear set to get a front seven reinforcement back in second-year defensive tackle Omarr Norman-Lott, who seems on the verge of returning from last season’s ACL tear. Perhaps Norman-Lott is activated ahead of Sunday’s road contest with the Atlanta Falcons. His 21-day practice window to come off of the Physically-Unable-to-Perform (PUP) list will expire before Week 12’s game against the Arizona Cardinals.
The Chiefs’ priority truly needs to be to get Norman-Lott back in the fold while working with rookies R Mason Thomas and Peter Woods to improve over the season’s second half rather than rental players.
We will see if Simmons presents a similar opportunity to add a player from within the system this season. Even so, the league-wide supply of starting tackles is so thin that such players are rarely available at the trade deadline. Even if teams fall out of contention and shift the focus to evaluating in-house talent, the offensive line has to hold up to make any real conclusions about players in question.
If the Chiefs had touched another position group besides wide receiver, I would have liked to have seen them add a safety or coverage linebacker with a proven history of matching up with tight ends.
BuckeyeChief asks:
Is there any chance the AFC West leading Denver Broncos stumble? For a hot minute, I thought the Carolina Panthers might sneak by and get a win on them, but that didn’t happen. Many are saying that the AFC West title is already lost for the Chiefs, but like Lee Corso says, “not so fast, my friend.”
It’s going to be hard to catch the Broncos based on remaining schedules. Simply put, Denver’s schedule is significantly easier the rest of the way than Kansas City’s.
The Broncos certainly aren’t perfect, and their dependence on second-half comebacks — as against the Chiefs and Panthers the last two weeks — will probably fail them once or twice. I won’t be surprised if the teams finish with the same record and with 5-1 division records.
One result that could prove unfortunate for Kansas City if tiebreakers go to common opponents is losing to the Seattle Seahawks while the Broncos were able to come out on top of them. Kansas City would do well to win against the Los Angeles Rams as Denver did. Beating the San Francisco 49ers (who handed Denver their second loss) would also greatly help Kansas City’s case.
Both the Chiefs and the Broncos have the Buffalo Bills and New England Patriots remaining on the schedule.
There is still much football to be played, and sometimes teams just don’t finish the season as strong as expected. The division should not be written off for Kansas City. For it to happen, the best thing would be simply to keep winning — while holding our noses and cheering on the Las Vegas Raiders when they travel to Denver in Week 11.
OzarkEd asks:
Will we play a complete game from start to finish this season?
The Jets possessing the ball for so long on their first two drives (resulting in field goals) probably gave Sunday’s game more of a sour note than the performance deserved. Momentarily fearing that Patrick Mahomes needed Tommy John surgery also did not help.
A better start would have been great, but I’d call that a pretty complete game, overall.
The Chiefs won 35-12, scoring five touchdowns without allowing one and shutting out an opponent in the second half. New York never advanced past the Chiefs’ 22-yard line after halftime. Kansas City outgained New York 391 yards to 229, even with the game ending almost evenly split in time of possession. The pass rush even came to life, delivering five sacks.
Perhaps the Chiefs can get off to a faster start in one of their next two games against opponents who have probably moved into player evaluation mode. But it’s hard to control a game against any opponent like Kansas City did in Week 9.
Thank you for reading this week’s Arrowhead Pride Mailbag! We will be back after the Chiefs try to keep the winning going in Atlanta. Keep watchingThe Feed for an opportunity to ask your questions.
