Chiefs On SI Mailbag: Two Weeks In, Which Version of the Chiefs' Defense Is For Real?

Two games into the NFL season, the Kansas City Chiefs are undefeated. Sure, there are a few questions surrounding how they can maintain their current trajectory, but those are the kinds of quandaries we like to answer here in the Chiefs On SI mailbag, where we take your questions from @chiefs_kcsn on Twitter/X and @jbbrisco.com on Bluesky.

With our defense giving up 30 points after limiting the Broncos to just 10 in Week 1, are you concerned about that at all? Or do you just attribute that to having a much younger, rookie-led defense again, like in 2022? -@zandersahlia.bsky.social

This is a great question, and one I was asking myself as Sunday night's game got tense. Here's where I've landed: The Chiefs' defensive performance in Week 2 is more or less what I expected the unit to look like in early weeks of the season. Week 1 now feels almost like an ahead-of-schedule glimpse of things to come.

In the meantime, while Mansoor Delane has played only three snaps in two games and Chamarri Conner hasn't suited up yet, I think the "real" Chiefs' defense will have some fluctuations. I expected growing pains for the young players, and L'Jarius Sneed's role was always going to be something to watch weekly throughout a season-long experiment. Daniel Jones went after Sneed often on Sunday night, and to considerable offensive success. Sneed played 46 defensive snaps in Week 1 (90%) and 49 (75%) in Week 2, which feels a bit steep for a corner with considerable knee health concerns, but Steve Spagnuolo is trying to manage the secondary without two versatile starters, so I'm not ready to panic there either.

The linebacker room is thin and not especially athletic, and the pass rush will continue to be very reliant on Chris Jones and a pair of rookies who could see some ups and downs in their first season, but, again, those are all questions we had before the season began. I still feel better about the unit right now than I did before the season, but I have reminded myself to allow for those growing pains without hitting the panic button.

Is Travis Kelce being the No. 1 receiving option sustainable? And if not him, who else (besides Kenneth Walker) can pick up the slack? -@ReidsNuggies

Travis Kelce's alpha dog status is sustainable for games when necessary, but I hope the Chiefs don't need him to be the top weapon (as you aptly noted, aside from Walker) on a weekly basis.

I do fully expect Kelce to play an age-defying number of snaps every week, but he's especially dangerous when the opposing defense has to focus on someone else. Walker alone changes that dynamic, but it can't end there. I have a hunch that we'll be getting a Rashee Rice game sooner rather than later, returning to his role as a high-volume receiver who Mahomes can lean on for some easy targets. Still, Rice has to hold up his end of that bargain.

Xavier Worthy has had a tough start to this 2026 season, but I'm going to wait until at least the Chiefs' early Week 5 bye before I significantly alter my expectations for him. Tyquan Thornton was excellent against the Colts, and I do think he could take on a bit more volume this season, but I still expect him to hold the No. 3 WR role unless something significant changes.

If this was a two-year process to repair the roster, what are we thinking are the targets for this year? And which area does Brett Veach do as his overcorrection? WR? -@Janox89Merc

It's kind of funny to think about this with the team sitting at 2-0, but it's also a fair way to keep the future in mind as this season unfolds.

I do think that wide receiver is currently the leader in the clubhouse for a significantly overhauled room, with Rice in a contract year, but tight end should be on the radar as well. Travis Kelce could retire after this season—but at this point, who knows—and Noah Gray is on the books for a $7 million cap hit in 2027, which the Chiefs could lower to $1.5 million in dead cap if they were to cut him. If Kelce does hang them up after this year, I'd expect the Chiefs to spend decent money on a tight end in free agency while also looking to select one in the first two days of next year's draft.

A sleeper position: linebacker. Nick Bolton's 2027 cap hit is $19.25 million, with a $4.25 million potential dead cap hit. If I were betting now, I'd wager that Bolton will still be the defensive signal caller (without much serious doubt) in 2027, but Drue Tranquill will be a free agent after this season, and 2025 fifth-round pick Jeffrey Bassa hasn't seen an uptick in defensive reps, stuck behind some originally undrafted players who have earned Spagnuolo's favor. Even if Bolton simply plays out the final year of his deal, I could see Veach churning the second level of the defense.

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