Kansas City Chiefs: Defense may be the best in AFC West

So do the Kansas City Chiefs have the best defense in the AFC West?

The important thing that jumps off the screen is this, none of the AFC West teams have a complete defense. Yes, the metrics I use here are unproven, we can call this tool the Taylor metric.

There are sure to be injuries that sway these numbers one way or the other. There will be guys we have never heard of making strides this season that we didn’t see coming. From what we know, we take from what we’ve seen and what the individual players have done thus far.

Here are how the four teams faired.

• Oakland – Defensive line – 4, Linebackers – 1, Secondary – 2
• Denver – Defensive line – 3, Linebackers – 2, Secondary – 3
• LA Chargers – Defensive line – 1, Linebackers – 4, Secondary – 4
• Kansas City – Defensive line – 2, Linebackers – 3, Secondary – 1

By this standard, the Chiefs come away as currently having the best defense in the AFC West going into the season. Just barely, however.

The big thing for the Chiefs here is they don’t come up fourth in any of these positions. Although some may raise an eyebrow to the Chiefs leading the secondary when that group is the scapegoat on a team that must have holes, it’s nearly impossible to say anyone has a better group at this moment.

Berry, Amerson, and Fuller are a trio none of these teams have. If Watts is what we want him to be, this trio turns into a foursome quick. Perhaps it’s a stretch, but according to what these players have done up to this point, Kansas City is set up nicely to win their third straight division.

*Note: All statistical credits go to pro-football-reference.com

The metrics used are the property of the author and the author only.