Midseason Team Awards for the Kansas City Chiefs
The midway point of the 2020 NFL season has finally come and after prematurely giving the Kansas City Chiefs their midterm report card last week, it's time to hand out awards for the first half of the year.
Being prestigiously awarded today or the accolades of most valuable player, offense of player of the year (so far), defensive player of the year (so far), most underrated player, most disappointing player and worst take.
I wasn't alone in handing out awards. On today's episode of Roughing the Kicker, Arrowhead Report's Conner Christopherson and Jordan Foote joined me to hand out their awards as well. To see which players they gave which awards, listen to the full episode above or on your favorite podcast provider.
Most Valuable Player
While it's easy to give this award to Patrick Mahomes, I think Travis Kelce, who has been playing out of his mind this season, deserves the award. Kelce has over 600 receiving yards and 6 touchdowns in eight games, surpassing last year's touchdown total, and has been there when the Chiefs need him the most.
Kelce's reliability this season not only in the passing game but on the run blocking front has been crucial to Kansas City's success this season. Kelce is the Chiefs' highest-rated offensive player according to Pro Football Focus and the second-best tight end in the game.
Offensive Player of the Year (So Far)
I mean, if Mahomes isn't going to win the MVP, he's got to win this, right? Mahomes is having a great year with over 2,300 passing yards and 21 touchdowns while sneaking back into the league's MVP talk. The 25-year-old quarterback has the second-highest offensive grade behind Kelce and is the fourth-best at his position according to PFF.
Defensive Player of the Year (So Far)
While Tyrann Mathieu hasn't been lighting up the stat sheet, he's still the guy that holds the Chiefs defense together. Mathieu might not be the highest-rated player at his position or even on the defensive unit, but the intangibles he brings are astronomically important.
Call it what you want, the Honey Badger needs to be on the field for the defense to have success. That's why he's taken the most snaps of anyone on the defensive side of the ball. He's a big reason why the secondary is as strong as it is at the moment.
Most Underrated Player
Eric Fisher has been everything you want and need from a left tackle this season. The thing about offensive lineman is, they get talked about when something goes wrong but rarely get talked about if they're doing their job right. I'm here to change that. While there have been problems along the offensive front, Fisher hasn't been one of them. He boasts the third-highest PFF grade on the offensive side of the ball and has performed well when tasked with protecting The Franchise. Not to mention, Fisher is graded as the eighth-best tackle in the league. Hard to not appreciate that guy and what he has done for Chiefs Kingdom.
Most Disappointing Player
Charvarius Ward has had a rough go at things this season. He had a big opportunity to show he was a lock-down corner and the No. 1 option with the early four-game suspension of Bashaud Breeland, but an injury to his hand has slowed him down. Since then, we've seen coverage breakdowns, and other times he just gets beat. Ward acknowledged he's been in a funk with a tweet after last week's game. I have no doubt that Charvarius Ward will get back to his old self, but right now it's been disappointing.
Worst Take
For me, it has to be my take in the offseason about Chris Jones. I didn't think that Brett Veach had the devil magic that he did to pull off all the signings and I thought Jones was going to be the one to go. While I wasn't happy about it, I thought Jones would be the odd man out when it comes to who got paid and in what order. Turns out, Brett Veach is a wizard.
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