KC Chiefs: Five pass rushing units Patrick Mahomes should fear in 2019
By Cullen Jekel
Week 1: Jacksonville Jaguars
Right out of the gate, Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs take on one of the best pass rushing attacks they’ll face all season.
The Chiefs open the 2019 campaign on the road against a Jacksonville Jaguars team that had a disappointing 2018 after reaching the AFC Championship Game the year before. While the Jaguars’ biggest moves came out the quarterback position–bringing in Nick Foles and cutting bait with the silent MVP of NBC’s The Good Place–Jacksonville still managed to add to its pass rush.
Last season, the Jaguars, who finished 5-11, only finished 22nd in the league with 37 sacks, but finished tied for 15th in the league with 93 quarterback hits. Veteran Calais Campbell led the team with 10.5 sacks with third-year defensive end Yannick Ngakoue right behind him with 9.5. Ngakoue finished with 11 more quarterback hits than Campbell with 33.
As a team, the Jaguars finished with a total of 130 sacks and quarterback hits, which ranks tied for sixth among the teams the Chiefs will face this season. In addition to the returns of Campbell, Ngakoue and linebackers Myles Jack and Telvin Smith, the Jaguars added a premiere pass rusher with the seventh pick in the NFL Draft, selecting Kentucky EDGE Josh Allen, who racked up 17 sacks as a senior for the Wildcats.
The trio of Allen, Campbell and Ngakoue could give the Chiefs some Week 1 hiccups, if not some outright blues.