Kansas City Chiefs: Five takeaways from preseason Week 3 vs 49ers

Well, Kansas City Chiefs fans, the most important preseason game is in the books. This is the dress rehearsal for the starters and the last time we will likely see them until Jacksonville in two weeks.

Now even though the key starters for the Kansas City Chiefs only played a couple of drives, there was still a lot that we can take away from this game.

Second Tight End Locked up?

We saw Blake Bell out there with the ones for a couple of snaps. With the way that the snap counts have been playing out, it might be safe to say that Bell will be the guy who gets called onto the field in the two tight end sets.

Look nothing will be officially set in stone until final cuts in about a week and a half, but the snap counts aren’t a bad thing to go off of. Bell looks to be the leader in the clubhouse as far as TE2 goes this season.

Starting Offense Looked Better

After last week, I had some concerns about the offense. They looked out of sync, but a lot of that could have been because of the defense the Steelers were playing.

This week was a whole other story. Before he was pulled, Patrick Mahomes was 8/10 for 126 yards with a touchdown and he really looked like the MVP we all know and love. Damien Williams looked great coming off the injury and even Sammy Watkins got in on the fun.

All in all the offense look great. Since a little bit of game planning likely went into this game, it is no surprise that the first time offense looked better. Do you think an Andy Reid offense with the talent they have was going to look bad for a second week, preseason or not?  I didn’t think so.

Defense is Definitely a Work in Progress

The defense looked good, but it is clear that this isn’t going to be an overnight thing. Too many times did the Chiefs make similar mistakes from last year; Blown coverages, missed tackles and over aggressiveness at times were things that drove people nuts last year and those were still there in this game.

That being said, they did defend the run quite well and Frank Clark looked fantastic out there.  After seeing defenses like Houston and Denver improve almost overnight in recent years, it was reasonable to hope that just maybe the Chiefs could do the same.

Obviously, preseason doesn’t count for much, but last year’s squad was one of the worst defenses in history. Anything will be an improvement but this isn’t going to be top defense this year.

Tough Cuts Ahead

I’m not going to get into various cuts that I think will be made, as that needs to be saved for the other fine folks here at KC Kingdom. That being said, there are going to be some decisions to be made and other teams are going to get some good players.

The Chiefs are deep at running back and wide receiver to the point where they could almost field two teams at those positions. Now cuts don’t start until after next week, but things are going to be interesting.

Special teams are going to play a huge part in all of this as well if the Chiefs keep two or three quarterbacks. Don’t underestimate the possibility of trades either, especially by teams that are low on the waiver wire. The cut day is going to be a wild ride.

Players are Human

My final takeaway from this game and the way you see the third and fourth string guys battling even in the fourth quarter reminded me that these players are human beings. They are fighting for jobs, not only with the Chiefs, but the 31 other teams plus the CFL and even the XFL.

Still boo and hiss at a bad play, but just keep that in mind as you do so. The preseason for many of these guys is no different than a seasonal job at Walmart or Target.

As I am typing this Andrew Luck has announced his retirement. Hearing him talk about the injuries and how they took a toll on him really drove that point home. The NFL truly stands for Not For Long and it goes to show how mismanagement can ruin not only teams but players.

With one game left in the 2019 preseason, a lot of vital decisions will be made by the Kansas City Chiefs front office. I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes right now.