But to say 'bailed out' suggests they got lucky. They didn't.

It was part of a concerted effort to lean into Mahomes ability to make lemonade on the side of the ball he has some control over.

Those sorts of players just don't exist very often on defense so you have to take a very holistic and expensive approach (in terms of draft and/or cap capital). So they aggressively attacked an overarching defensive rebuild while relying on Mahomes to make the offense work just well enough.

It worked to their script, IMO. Were Toney and Moore mistakes - yup. But every team makes mistakes and honestly I think a lot of those mistakes are built into the plan. They give themselves a 'fudge factor' even if they don't know exactly where some of those mistakes will come from.

Maybe it would be Jones and/or Smith. Maybe Kelce's decline would be swift and sudden. I believe they absolutely built a margin for error into their thought process and the failures of Toney/Moore were part of that.

Now to that extent, with both of them, AND with MVS? No, I don't think they counted on that. And had MVS not eventually unfucked himself, it would've been the teams undoing. But as the post-season proved, they built a team that could win without any contributions from Moore and Toney. And it did. So that tells you almost exactly where there margin for error was.
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This has kinda been my position. Having Mahomes is going to make a lot of things bad look OK and a lot of OK look great. But at some point I've got to agree with DJ. If the strategy is fix D and let Mahomes sort the O, it only sounds risky or lucky in a world where Mahomes isn't, well, Mahomes. Apparently he IS going to fix it, with Reid and Kelce. Kudos Veach for believing in the plan, because I sure as s*** didn't at times!

Plus, the defense is pretty damn good. McDuffie, Sneed, Williams, Watson, Chenal, Bolton, Tranquil...it aint perfect coughNnadicough but there's a LOT there he's really done well to acquire.

The next step in greatness for Veach will be winning a SB without Kelce and Jones. He does that and he's maybe the best ever.
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That hes the best GM in the league, yada yada, all good things.
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I've seen so many breakdowns I can't remember but one of the chiefs defensive breakdowns mentioned chenal on damn near every play. It was surprisingly good
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Brady was often running around out there with just about nothing at WR, besides an occasional dude or so at TE or WR. The QB can make everyone better, including the rookies like Rice. Draft, develop, rinse, repeat.

This will seem especially astute once we see the Justin Jefferson numbers.
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How about some love for Leo today. Bolton made the stop on 4th down, but it was Chenal that tied up the LT and clogged the flow. It opened the gap that Bolton went through to get the stop.
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Leo has been playing his role fantastic

I liked that they drew up a play for him on offense to block but it didn't work out
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He's basically a tweener DE, dude punches above his weight
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I know that people like to disregard RAS, and I fully agree that it does not guarantee a good football player to have a high score, but I DO think it tells you about someone's raw athletic ability. That, combined with football intelligence and a desire to be great are pretty good indicators.

Chenal, at 9.99 is a physical freak. And every week, he shows football intelligence and a desire to be great.

I love the kid.
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The whole locker room knows how strong the guy is and you can catch them mentioning it on a regular basis. Just imagine knowing the guy is going to eat any momentum the TE and LT throw at him every time leaving you an open gap to the RB.

Bolton: "It’s like a rule around the locker room man — if a tight end is blocking 54, he’s going to set the edge for you. So, I saw Leo [Chenal] set the edge and I just kind of went off his butt and made the play.”
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