Chiefs Roster: January to April

This was the Chiefs roster that was one snap away from the Super Bowl four months ago. Red lines are players no longer with the team. Tyreek Hill is suspended and will likely be cut, so I marked him in blue. 

The Chiefs defense was one of the worst in the league. Not only did the Chiefs reinvent the coaching staff, the defensive roster is going to look very different.

The tough thing, a lot of defensive players with lines through their names are good players. But they were either making too much money or getting older. Changes had to be made and strange as it sounds, good players had to be cut to make room for new players, whom we hope to be good.

Here's the unofficial depth chart as it stands now after the draft. This does NOT have UDFAs which it's very possible 1 or 2 make the final roster. (Looking at you Gary Johnson, Darius Harris and Cody Thompson)

So the draft parks are marked in green text automatically. Other key additions from the January roster:

Frank Clark DE
Alex Okafor DE
Tyrann Mathieu SS
Bashaud Breeland CB
Damien Wilson LB
Blake Bell TE

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I feel good about the Offense. The line was pretty good last year and is mostly the same. Running back is deep: Damien Williams played well last year, Hyde is only 28 and the rookie Thompson is legit. Losing Hill's production hurts but drafting his replacement in Hardman was smart. Obviously he won't be the Pro Bowl receiver that Hill was, but you can't coach speed. And when you have the NFL MVP, it makes players like Robinson, Pringle, Coates look like quality guys. Kelce will be #1 and a lot more will be asked of Watkins without Hill.

On defense, two brand new safeties. The corners are young and have unknowns but I like them. The line should be good. It's the linebackers I'm worried about the most. But on paper this defense with new aggressive schemes could actually be a strength, not a weakness this year. Right now I'd project them as a top 12-16 defense.

The offense will take a step back but still should be a top 5 offense.

The ceiling for this team is the Super Bowl. The floor is a wild-card berth. Getting homefield advantage again is the best shot and it's not going to be easy. There's a bunch of teams that also got better this weekend.