How Chiefs’ Super Bowl Stinker Could Affect Patriots’ Rebuild

The New England Patriots need to retool their offensive line in the offseason. If Super Bowl LIX is any indication, so do the Kansas City Chiefs.

KC got run out of the Superdome on Sunday night. The Chiefs’ lopsided 40-22 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles didn’t just mean the end of a two-year title run. It also exposed a major flaw in the Chiefs’ roster that needs to be priority No. 1 this spring.

The vision of Patrick Mahomes should be played on loop in the Chiefs’ building starting Monday. And if that’s the top priority for Kansas City, it’s bad news for the Patriots.

How the Chiefs’ failure impacts the Patriots:

The market just got tougher: The Chiefs were probably always going to be in the market for offensive line help; Mahomes’ 36 sacks this season were the most of his career. Watching the Eagles pressure Mahomes on nearly half of his dropbacks (it was 52.4% before garbage time) without blitzing should reinforce that notion. If the Chiefs are in the market for an O-lineman (or a few), that makes the market even more competitive. With a chance to play with Mahomes and under Andy Reid, that could mean teams like the Patriots will have to spend even more at a premium position.

So much for Trey Smith? NESN.com pointed to Smith as a potential Chiefs free agent the Patriots could pursue in the offseason. Now, there’s even more reason to re-sign the 6-foot-6, 322-pound behemoth. Here’s the other thing: If the Chiefs can’t re-sign him, it increases Kansas City’s own need to play in the free agent pool.

Draft competition, too: The Chiefs won’t pick until No. 31, but that’s nothing new for them. General manager Brett Veach is making it a priority, calling it their free agency. As they proved last year, though, they’re willing to move up if they see a guy they like, and they could do so again with four picks in the first three rounds. While the Patriots own the No. 4 pick, there’s a relative lack of offensive line depth at the top of the draft. That means they could be in a spot where another team — KC being a top candidate — could scoop up a high-ceiling lineman at the end of the first round, just a few picks ahead of New England.

What it all means
The big-picture takeaway here is that it won’t just be the Chiefs in the market for the line. The copycat league thing is for real, and everyone is now chasing an Eagles team that just showed the true potential of having a team that can completely dominate the trenches.