KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs insist that they are playing to win over the final three weeks of the season.
That's their competitive nature.
It wouldn't be the worst thing to lose.
The Chiefs
already are assured of having their decade-long string of postseason appearances end, along with a streak of nine AFC West titles, seven conference championship games and three Super Bowl appearances. Patrick Mahomes had surgery Monday on two torn ligaments in his left knee, and Kansas City is dealing with a multitude of other injuries on both sides of the ball.
In other words, the Chiefs have little to play for but pride beginning with Sunday's trip to Tennessee.
“We owe it to the players. We owe it to the coaches. We owe it to the city,” Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy said this week.
Which is fine. But pride won't help the Chiefs going forward as much as draft positioning.
They haven't picked inside the top 10 since 2013, when they took Eric Fisher first overall in their first draft after hiring Andy Reid as coach. In fact, their success over the past decade has meant more drafts without a first-round pick at all (four) than ones with a top-20 selection — one, which was Mahomes, whom they traded up to take 10th overall in the 2017 draft.
Yet the biggest silver lining to their 6-8 record this season is that they should be in far better position come April to pick impact players near the top of each round. Exactly how close to the top depends on how they fare over the next three weeks:
__ Last year, the Giants and Titans went 6-11 and picked sixth and seventh, respectively, while the five 9-8 teams began at No. 14.
__ This year, the 49ers picked 11th with their 6-11 record, while the Bengals chose six spots later after their 9-8 finish.
So, the difference between three wins and three losses for Kansas City is about a half-dozen spots in the draft.
Not just in the first round. In every round.
It's an opportunity for Kansas City to truly supplement a talented but aging core of players for the first time since Mahomes became the starting quarterback following the 2017 season. General manager Brett Veach has only picked in the first round seven times in the past decade, and five of those were within the final five picks of the round, a welcomed byproduct of all those winning years.
Throw Round 2 into the equation and the Chiefs have had nine top-50 picks total over the last 10 years.
Now, some of those early picks were traded away, allowing the Chiefs to trade up for Mahomes and land players such as Frank Clark and Orlando Brown Jr. from other teams. But it doesn't change the fact that it made the most cost-effective way to build out a roster — through the draft — a far more daunting challenge for them.
As it stands, the Chiefs do not have sixth- or seventh-round picks in April, but they have an extra fifth-rounder to go with picks in each of the first four rounds. That means plenty of chances to fill their many pressing needs, such as an impact running back — they haven't had one since Jamaal Charles a decade ago — along with help at defensive end, linebacker and in the secondary.
It all sounds good in theory: lose and get better draft picks.
But human nature is involved. The Chiefs haven't had a losing season since Reid became the coach, and that means something to the guys in the locker room. So does the name on their jerseys and the emblem on the side of their helmets.
Suck for Luck? Tank for Tua?
The Chiefs would rather "Win for Self-Worth."
"It's something that's important to us," Chiefs linebacker coach Brendan Daly said. “We understand as coaches, as players, what we do out there is our walking, talking, breathing resume, and you want that to be what you'd like that to be.”
Chris Jones was a rookie in 2016, which means the three-time All-Pro defensive tackle has never before missed the playoffs. And given that the 31-year-old may have only a few seasons left, Jones doesn't sound like someone willing to tank for anybody.
“Things didn't go as planned within the season, but you still have a name on the back of your jersey that you have to play for,” he said. “There's still opportunities, man. Still opportunities to finish strong as an individual and together as a team.”
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