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KC Chiefs: Raekwon Davis would be dominant force up front

By Chris Clark

ATLANTA, GA - JANUARY 08: Raekwon Davis #99 of the Alabama Crimson Tide celebrates a stop on defense against the Georgia Bulldogs during the College Football Playoff National Championship held at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on January 8, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. Alabama defeated Georgia 26-23 for the national title. (Photo by Jamie Schwaberow/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA - JANUARY 08: Raekwon Davis #99 of the Alabama Crimson Tide celebrates a stop on defense against the Georgia Bulldogs during the College Football Playoff National Championship held at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on January 8, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. Alabama defeated Georgia 26-23 for the national title. (Photo by Jamie Schwaberow/Getty Images) /
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The KC Chiefs are in a great position with the roster moving into the 2020 season. With 20 of the 22 Super Bowl starters returning, the team has a little bit more flexibility in the upcoming draft.

Kansas City Chiefs general manager Brett Veach has done a masterful job of maintaining his Super Bowl team. Only a few starters from the Super Bowl-winning roster have found homes elsewhere.

This bodes well for a chance to repeat as champions and allows the team to use the upcoming draft for a little fine-tuning, rather than filling major holes. At the same time, the Chiefs will certainly be looking to add young players to build for the future.

One of those young players could be Alabama’s Raekwon Davis.

Davis is a 6’6″, 311-pound defensive lineman who seems to make his presence known in the backfield often. Despite his massive frame, he moves fast enough to disrupt plays very early in their development. While NFL analyst, Lance Zierlien, compares him to the now-Colt, DeForest Buckner, he also resembles one of Kansas City’s most disruptive players in Chris Jones.

While the Jones contract talks seem to be dragging along at a snail’s pace, could the Chiefs be working on a secondary plan if Jones elects not to play on the franchise tag? With it being reported that Kansas City has interviewed Davis ahead of the draft, it appears as though they’re doing their homework on the Bama big man.

Thankfully, the Chiefs are looking decent along the interior defensive line with Jones, Mike Pennel, Derrick Nnadi, and Khalen Saunders headed into the season. But that doesn’t mean the team won’t continue to stack more depth at the position.

Fortunately, the Chiefs have a good mix of interior d-linemen who are able to generate quarterback pressure or stuff the run. Adding Davis would bring more of a Chris Jones-type of a presence, one that pressures quarterbacks into making bad decisions or kills pass plays instantly by batting the ball down at the line of scrimmage.

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In a pass-happy league, that type of player brings a ton of value. While Davis is projected to become a starter within the first couple of seasons, he’d have at least a year to adjust to life as a Chief in Steve Spagnuolo’s system. The thought of Kansas City working out a long-term deal with Jones while also drafting Davis would strike fear into the hearts of offenses across the league.

Although it appears that the Chiefs’ biggest need right now is cornerback, adding a disruptive force along the defensive line takes the pressure off of that position both figuratively and literally. Figuratively, in the sense that finding a star for the backend of the defense in the draft becomes a little less of a priority. Literally, in the sense that great d-line play helps the backend of the defense, especially one that lacks depth.

Also, with Kansas City being able to bring back Bashaud Breeland, it alleviates the burden to strike right away in drafting a cornerback. That doesn’t necessarily mean that Davis should be selected at number 32 overall, but it wouldn’t be crazy if that did end up happening. The Chiefs seemed to make a surprise selection with their first pick in 2016, picking Chris Jones with the 37th overall pick and that seems to have panned out pretty well.

With an offense that is already top-flight and a defense on the rise under Spagnuolo, adding a young and dominant talent in Raekwon Davis raises the bar for what this team will be able to accomplish in the years to come. This could truly be the beginning of the next great dynasty and an era of incredible dominance for Kansas City.

Hopefully, Chiefs Kingdom will get to see Davis impose his will on 31 other teams in a KC Chiefs uniform starting in 2020.

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